Categories: Cars

This Company Is Turning the Miata Into a Ferrari F40 Fighter

The Mazda MX-5 Miata is a phenomenal little sports car; it’s also an excellent sandbox for tuners and modders looking to get even more out of it. Rocketeer Cars, a UK outfit that builds some pretty badass Miatas, is launching its most extreme car yet. It’s called the “Keiryo,” and it’s a modded MX-5 with the same power-to-weight ratio as the Ferrari F40. Impressive.

The company says the Keiryo (Japanese for “lightweight”) weighs just 1,874 pounds (850 kilograms) while producing 375 horsepower. That’d give it a power-to-weight ratio of 441 hp per ton, putting it in the same league as the Lamborghini Huracan V-10 and McLaren 620R.

The engine that Rocketeer uses is an upgraded version of Jaguar’s 3.0-litre V-6, which it rebuilds and fortifies for more power. The company doesn’t explain how it plans to achieve the car’s target weight, but the first example is currently in production with a scheduled delivery date of early next year.

Rocketeer plans to build just 10 Keiryo Miatas, while also offering a less extreme “Touring” version. The company notes that the Touring model will add back “certain creature comforts,” so we imagine the hardcore version lacks many of the amenities you’d expect to get in the roadster.

Photo by: Rocketeer

The company is also working on an Mk3 NC version of its Rocketeer RestoMod. The first NC build is almost done, and it’ll be delivered in early 2026. It features a revised version of its V-6 engine delivering 300 hp and 265 lb-ft of torque.

Rocketeer isn’t a massive operation—the company has built just a few hundred cars since its inception nearly a decade ago. The company delivered more than a dozen RestMod builds last year—its most in history—so a Miata from here is something unique.

The company has built cars for people living in Antigua, Brazil, and the United States and has sent self-build kits around the world. The Keiryo is just another example of how versatile the little roadster remains.