When Miatas Ate Sam’s Brain

Laguna Seca. Nineteen privately owned Mazdas. And one man, lapping all those cars for Road & Track, quietly losing his mind.

Car magazines: It’s a weird gig.

In this episode, Sam relives one of the more unhinged story pitches of his career: A nonstop weekend wrangling 19 wildly different Miatas. Modded and stock. V-8 swaps and K-swaps. Turbo four-cylinders that made everything from hamster power to some 360 hp at the wheels. Plus one car that looked suspiciously like an Ariel Atom... but wasn’t.

What you get here: another story from Sam’s unlikely life in automotive journalism. And a broad, deeply weird, and strangely joyful look at the everlasting appeal of the world’s most beloved roadster.

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this format “One Rare Day.”

RELATED TRIVIA: The Miata was engineered as a love letter to classic British sports cars. All three INTC co-hosts have owned English roadsters; Ross and Jeff still do. Jeff’s is a Triumph Spitfire he once raced with the SCCA but hasn’t driven in decades. Got ideas (or sass) about what he should do with it? Email us at [email protected]!

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

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ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver, a bestselling author, and a world-renowned performance coach. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning writer and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the meatbag at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.