---
title: "Buy This Spec Miata for Its Record-Setting Backstory—and for Charity"
description: "All proceeds from this land speed record-setting turned spec-racer Miata will go to The Piston Foundation, to fund trade education."
date: "2023-10-24"
modified: "2023-10-24"
authors:
  - name: "Andrew P. Collins"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/andrew-p-collins"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/buy-this-spec-miata-for-its-record-setting-backstory-and-for-charity"
categories:
  - "Builds"
  - "Culture"
  - "For Sale"
  - "Mazda News"
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
tags:
  - "Coupe"
  - "mazda"
  - "miata"
  - "sports car"
---

# Buy This Spec Miata for Its Record-Setting Backstory—and for Charity

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/23/sMiata-IMG_9734.jpg>)
*\<em\>Andrew P. Collins\</em\>*

Today, [this 1999 Mazda Miata](<https://pistonfoundation.org/blog/the-rookie-record/>) is ready for track work, with a pretty standard Spec Miata setup. But the coolest thing about it is its history. More than a decade ago, this very car set a land speed record of just over 165 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Now, it's [being auctioned on Bring a Trailer for charity](<https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1999-mazda-mx-5-miata-66-2/>) with no reserve. Would you rather fling this thing around a circuit, or put it back to salt-flat mode and try to beat its standing record?

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/23/2160Mazda-bonneville-9-1.jpg>)
*The 2-160 car in its element—on the salt flats. *Courtesy of Harvey Siegel**

[The Piston Foundation](<https://pistonfoundation.org/about/>), a charity that aims to bring young people into classic car preservation, will collect all the coin that comes from the sale (including BaT's buyer's fees) and use the money directly in its educational programs.

I took a few casual laps around Lime Rock Park's infield autocross course with the red-and-yellow roadster last week, which is how it ended up on our radar. But the car's real claim to fame is the land speed record it set in 2011.

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/23/IMG_1862.jpg>)

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/23/IMG_1900.jpg>)

Running a naturally aspirated Miata motor bored to 1.99 liters and belting out 290 horsepower (did I mention it's N/A?!), the car hit 165.296 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats, with then-owner Harvey Siegel's son Luke at the wheel. That was enough for the G/GT class land speed record. (In the parlance of officiating Southern California Timing Association, "G" means 2.0-liter engine, and "GT" means two-seater.)

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/23/IMG_0054.jpg>)

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/23/IMG_0249.jpg>)

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/23/IMG_0257.jpg>)

That magnificent engine build is credited to engineering outfit Marcovicci-Wenz out on Long Island. Besides porting the cylinder head and intake manifold, the engine got upgraded rotating assembly and individual throttle bodies to pretty much double the Miata's stock horsepower output.

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/23/IMG_1681.jpg>)
*NASCAR driver and racing commentator Parker Kligerman took some laps on Lime Rock's real course. The car looked good out there! **Photography by Automotive Restorations, Inc.***

It's got a regular 1.8-liter Miata motor in it now, per Spec Miata regs, but the sale includes the record-breaking beast and those cool moon disc-looking wheel covers that were used on the Salt Flats.

The car felt plenty planted in my hands and sounds great as-is. If I won this auction, I'd probably try my hand at Spec Miata with it, but ultimately would put it back to its Bonneville configuration and find out what 160-plus feels like in a car that weighs about as much as a leaf.

https://youtu.be/i_IIyu217TE

If you'd like to learn more about Team Siegel's quest to go to 160 (hence "2-160" on the side of the car), there's a whole feature-length video on YouTube you can check out. Otherwise, keep scrolling down for more images of the car.

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/23/sMiata-IMG_9792.jpg>)

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/23/sMiata-IMG_9791.jpg>)

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/23/sMiata-IMG_9759.jpg>)

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/23/sMiata-IMG_9754.jpg>)

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/23/sMiata-IMG_9749.jpg>)

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/23/sMiata-IMG_9745.jpg>)

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/23/sMiata-IMG_9741.jpg>)

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/23/sMiata-IMG_9738-1.jpg>)

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/23/s_miata-IMG_9790-copy-scaled.jpg>)

## Author
As Executive Editor, Andrew touches everything on the site from daily news coverage to feature stories, sponsored content, product reviews, road testing vehicles, ecommerce, and more. He's held pretty much every role there is to have at an automotive news site and has been with The Drive's publisher Recurrent since 2020. Andrew's a lifetime gearhead and longtime writer with a particularly strong penchant for road trips, off-road adventures, and archaic vehicles. His passions outside of the automotive world include skiing, obsolete video games, and his dog Bramble who occationally helps review cars.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/andrewatlarge>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpetercollins/>)