Off Road Mazda Miata ~ deactivatedieidee

Off Road Mazda Miata

And without any outside help, either.

The Mazda MX-5 Miata is one of the most affordable budget sports cars out there, and because it's so cheap, people have chosen to modify the car into all kinds of other things. We've seen one turned into a classic Formula One car, another into a modern version of the Cosmo, and others still into off-roaders. Today's story is also of a modified Miata that has been turned into something very far away from the original purpose envisioned for it, and the result is a sports car that made it up Imogene Pass Road in Colorado without the help of spotters. That's impressive enough, but get this - it made it up on the stock suspension setup.

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Joel Gat/Facebook

As you can see, the car has had the decorative rocker panel covers removed and its wheels and tires swapped out for Sparco alloys wrapped in off-road rubber, but that's about it. Speaking with Grassroots Motorsport, the man behind the project, Joel Gat, explains why he chose the Miata: "I travel to a lot of mountain events and trailheads, and I prefer to have something fun to drive. What good is a fun Miata for 90 percent of the trip if it won't take me the last 10 percent of the way, though?" That's not a bad way of looking at it, but we suspect that 90 percent of the drive is a little noisier than normal, as the cutting blade has been at work on the car.

Joel Gat/Facebook

Gat explained his 'modifications' to The Drive: "[I] removed the side skirts, cut away [the] fender liner, and a little love with a hammer to clear some metal on the chassis side of the wheel wells... Oh, and Weathertech floor mats." The 27-inch Falken tires help with ground clearance, but Gat says that it remains a challenging drive on the trail: "I was wishing for AWD in a few spots." But for the most part, the Miata is excellent. Gat continues: "Turns out that despite all the Jeepers' complaints, this part of the trail had two really tough obstacles for me, and the rest was just a little finesse." It seems that the Miata is seriously versatile, even where you least expect to find it.

Joel Gat/Facebook