In the grand culture of motorsports builds, it’s not all that common for a drift car to be turned into a time attack car, but the two are relatively related. They’re both forms of competition that are heavily based on car control at the absolute limit of grip, just in two completely separate disciplines. Because of this, it makes perfect sense to repurpose a drift build for time attack, or vice versa.
Pro drifter Kyle Mohan is a rotary drifter extraordinaire based in Long Beach, California, and he just started that exact type of project. He’s turning his three-rotor (20B) turbocharged ND Mazda Miata drift car into a proper time attack racer.
This cat’s been in the drift game for a long time and is known as the dude who seems to have always competed in some form of rotary-powered Mazda, mostly in the later-gen R2 RX-8. That’s thoroughly rad, but I’ve got a soft spot for his insane ND Miata.
For some reference on how epic this little beast sounds and how well it performs, he’s been fairly prolific on his YouTube channel over the past few years. In this video he discusses how he’s able to reliably push over 1,000 horsepower through its mighty bees nest, and this one shows what it’s all like behind the wheel. His YouTube channel doesn’t have as many subscribers as it should, especially considering he’s got a massive following on Instagram (definitely give it a follow).
It appears his intentions are to jump into time attack, presumably Global Time Attack, which is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), and I bet he’ll bring a ton of driving skill to the table. Anyone who can slide the hell out of high-horsepower cars in a controlled manner is more than equipped to easily set a blazing lap time.
The video above is neat: Kyle describes how his tuner in Texas is remote tuning the ND to get it ready for racing prep. He ensures all sensors are working properly and nothing’s going to throw a wrench in firing this beast up after having sat for at least a year. Sure enough, after some careful examination and presumably some fresh fluids, it screams to life in a fury of noise and smoke and is ready for some high-horsepower grip driving.
I actually saw his 20B ND in person at the Long Beach Grand Prix’s Super Drift competition in 2018. It looks and sounds as insane as all of his photos and videos make it out to be. This video has some clips from that glorious evening and reminds me how much my ears were ringing for the following day or so.
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