Rocketeer Mazda MX-5 review - the 340bhp V6 sports car you never knew you needed

There’s something genuinely refreshing about the Rocketeer MX‑5. First and foremost, it has a modest brilliance. Much like its creator, in fact. The Rocketeer name may be dripping in evocative NASA-spec connotations, but Bruce Southey prefers to think of it as a neat way of describing ‘men in sheds’ and the great things they create when left alone to indulge their ideas.

The unreconstructed nature of Hampshire-based Rocketeer’s workshops might be anathema to the ultra-glossy Insta-fabulous image portrayed by most restomod brands, but there’s nothing better than seeing a small group of highly skilled people doing great things. Especially when the cars they are creating aren’t reserved for ultra-high-net-worth collectors.

Southey began by converting the original ‘NA’ MX‑5, founding Rocketeer back in 2013, having worked on a V6 MX‑5 as a passion project for years before it became a business. Naturally enough he then turned his attention to the second-generation ‘NB’. It’s this car we’ve come to drive, though we’ll be back in the summer to try Rocketeer’s first third-gen ‘NC’ build, which is currently in late-stage development. 

The NB demo is surprisingly muted looks-wise, but given the donor car was a super-low-mileage, completely original car in mint condition, it made sense to build a car focused solely on the hardware changes for which Rocketeer is renowned.

Engine and gearbox

The heart of the conversion is the 3-litre Jaguar V6. Part of the ubiquitous Duratec V6 family found in countless Fords, it’s easy to be sniffy about the engine’s humble applications, but given it was originally designed by Porsche, refined by Cosworth and further developed by Jaguar, the engine has terrific pedigree. 

That Southey saw potential in this overlooked gem is testament to his knowledge and indicative of the nous that pervades Rocketeer’s engineering philosophy. The V6 also neatly embodies the ‘Four is too few, and eight too many’ thinking behind the quest to endow the MX‑5 with more performance and drama without compromising its balance or intrinsic rightness.

Lift the bonnet and it’s so beautifully presented you’d swear the little Mazda was born with this engine in its nose. Indeed, Mazda engineers looked at doing just this with the same Duratec V6 (donated by a US-market Lincoln and using the suspension and gearbox from an RX‑8, apparently) more than two decades ago. According to Tom Matano – father of the MX‑5 – it showed great promise, but fears that it would undermine the RX‑8’s position as Mazda’s halo performance model meant it got shelved. Never has the difference between Marketeer and Rocketeer been more clearly demonstrated…

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The genius of the Rocketeer conversion is that the Jaguar V6 is actually a few kilos lighter than Mazda’s four-pot. It fits nicely beneath the standard bonnet so there’s no clue as to what lies beneath, and being a cylinder shorter in length than the in-line four means it sits well back in the engine bay. It also responds very well to tuning, which in the case of this demo car means a rowdy 340bhp and 250lb ft; the former arriving at 7250rpm (the limiter is set at 8000) and the latter coming at 5000rpm, with 80 per cent of that torque peak simmering away in the background from 3500rpm.

Changes to the engine include uprated injectors and valve springs, an increased compression ratio, refacing of the block, cylinder heads and valves, cylinders rebored and honed, replacement bearings, replacement coil packs and spark plugs, a new oil pump, and an uprated timing chain kit and gaskets. The completed engine is then dyno-tested by Rocketeer’s engine builder, Bassett Down Balancing.

The mods are extensive, at least compared to modern tuning-by-laptop, but the re-machining and honing releases additional performance without enlarging engine capacity or radically reinventing things. This particular engine is something of a development piece, so it’s halfway between Rocketeer’s regular Stage 2 and Stage 3 engines. There is a Stage 4 in the works, which has all the Stage 3 goodies plus throttle bodies and further induction-system improvements. That’s good for 360+ bhp and according to Southey sounds ‘erotic’. 

It’s doubtless very easy to get carried away with a build project, but there’s an argument to say this particular car is peak Rocketeer, for no other reason than it just looks like a mildly modded MX‑5. You approach it with mixed emotions, tickled at the secret it’s concealing yet craving just a little bit of extra drama, though any urge to show off fades when you open the door and drop into the lowered Corbeau seat. 

With the squab essentially on the floorpan, you find yourself freefalling the last few inches before landing with a thud. It’s a bit like missing the last step coming down the stairs, but you soon learn to keep your core engaged until touchdown. The upside is you’re sitting in the MX‑5 rather than on it, which helps locate you nicely behind the wheel and makes you feel part of the car. A new gearknob and a set of Rocketeer gauges add some nice touches, the ‘Groundspeed’ notation on the speedo being especially amusing. Otherwise, there’s little to set it apart from stock, but that’s okay because the MX‑5 has always traded on a basic but timeless cockpit layout.

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What's it like to drive?

The main event is starting the engine. It’s not shy, but the brassy exhaust note settles into a meaty idle. A prod of the throttle elicits a snappy burst of revs, which is encouraging as regular Duratecs always seemed to have a slightly leaden response. This feels like a proper high-performance engine from the moment it sparks into life.

Pulling away, you really would have no clue that this NB wasn’t built with the Jaguar engine at the factory. The clutch is light and progressive and the standard Mazda gearshift (five-speed in this car) is typically sweet and snickety. There’s a slight stammer on-off throttle but otherwise it’s glassy smooth.

Along with the engine, Rocketeer fits new springs and dampers. It’s hard to imagine a car that’s better served by the aftermarket scene than the MX‑5, and the popular Meister R suspension package provides a great entry-level solution. With combined two-way bump/rebound settings, spring preload and ride height adjustment, these coilovers retain proper pliancy but feel noticeably taut and more controlled than the factory NB suspension. You’d want more for trackday use, but they’re spot-on for the road.

The stock brakes have also been switched out for uprated items, with a combination of larger Brembo discs and calipers of the same spec as those found on a Clio Cup. Combined with Ferodo DS2500 pads, they have plenty of bite and a nice firm pedal, with reassuring stopping power and progressive response so you can squeeze into them without standing the car on its nose.

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You’d think putting 340bhp into an MX‑5 would turn it rabid, but the truth is it carries the extra muscle well. There’s an ease to progress that’s incredibly satisfying, with in-gear flex that sends you surging along on a gentle squeeze of throttle. The five-speed gearbox gives you time to savour the reach and tractability, with third or fourth delivering a wonderful feeling of elastic propulsion.

It makes for a surprisingly mellow machine, but don’t be fooled. Explore more of the throttle’s travel, wind the needle round the tacho and the Rocketeer really lights up. The engine is a revelation, with a fabulous appetite for revs right the way round to the 8000rpm red line and instant response that energises the whole experience. Roof-down, the exhaust note is very naughty indeed. Close your eyes (not advisable if driving) and you could be standing trackside at the Goodwood Revival, such is the volume, induction bellow and brassy note from the twin tailpipes, a welcome echo from the sports car’s less stifled past.

As you’d expect from a car with 340bhp and weighing a mere 1100kg, straight-line speed is vivid to say the least, though not so ludicrously rapid that you can’t explore the performance without immediately finding yourself the topic of a viral social media post and accompanying outrage. Think 997 GT3 levels of pace and you won’t be too wide of the mark.

Corners have always been an MX‑5’s forte and the Rocketeer upholds that tradition in much the same style. You do the same things to make it work, smooth inputs carving clean lines through sweeping curves, with a bit of a lift just as you turn in to get the weight on the nose and the tail ready to rotate as you pick up the throttle in tighter corners.

It’s playful and intuitive, but here the throttle has a much greater effect on what happens once you’ve turned in. Torque unlocks more mid-corner options, as you can keep the rear tyres working harder, but the added reach of that generous 8k rev limit means you can also power out of the corner without things tailing off or the need for an awkward upshift.

It all equates to upscaled enjoyment and amplified performance without ever feeling like the gains have been excessive or exacting a penalty in terms of progression or exploitability. In pretty much every respect you get more of the things the MX‑5 was already great at, plus a whole new side to its character thanks to the far more potent and vocal V6 and the associated brake and suspension tweaks. 

To date, more than 180 Rocketeer MX‑5s have been completed, though a large number have been self-build projects for which Rocketeer has supplied the necessary parts for individuals to complete the conversion. More recently the firm has made a conscious push to also promote the build of cars in-house. It’s a nice balance that ensures the conversions remain within reach of those for whom doing the work themselves is all part of the experience, but also allows Rocketeer to reach customers who don’t have the necessary mechanical skills, time or inclination for a DIY project and instead prefer the opportunity to have a professional team build their perfect MX‑5. 

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The cost of having Rocketeer do the work to your car is far from exorbitant; this turn-key straight engine swap, plus wheel, tyre, brake and chassis upgrade with associated structural work comes to £29,154 (including VAT). That, my friends, is a ruddy bargain. 

Naturally Rocketeer will also do the full restomod number, even sourcing you a base car if you want to take the most frictionless route. A nut-and-bolt build around a fully fettled body with bare metal respray, hot Stage 3 motor, sorted suspension and brakes, along with a nice wheel and tyre package and bespoke interior retrim, will set you back around £110k. 

That’s chicken feed compared to the usual £500k restomod price of entry, but a large sum of money to spend on the world’s favourite affordable sports car. Yet when you weigh up exactly what you’re getting, even with the six-figure price tag attached, you don’t need a degree in Man Maths® for it to make sense.

Where else are you going to find a small, analogue, rear-drive sports car that weighs a little over a ton, has a close-to-perfect combination of grunt and grip and sounds like a mash-up of Group B Metro 6R4 and an air‑cooled 911 on throttle bodies? 

The base MX‑5 has never been a car to inflate your ego, but if you appreciate the purity of driving a light, endlessly exploitable, modestly powerful car, then there’s nothing quite like it. That said, there are times when more go and a better soundtrack would be welcome. Rocketeer gives you just that, yet the real magic is in doing so without trading any of the MX‑5’s legendary poise or fun. If anything, the extra power and torque make it even more amenable. 

A small car with a big heart, the Rocketeer remixes the MX‑5 with a unique and hugely appealing combination of classic charm, charismatic multi-cylinder combustion engine and a level of capability that copes admirably with the significant increase in performance. It rewards driver input in a way vanishingly few new cars can match and recaptures the pleasures that have been lost to progress. In short, you’d love it.

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