Here's some video from two (!) years ago. Try not to laugh when you see the speeds at Laguna Seca...it was our first tentative laps around the track, and the first time for the Catfish anywhere outside of a garage.

catfish 1.1 on Vimeo

Gotta change your avatar now!

Like this? :)

So did the hub situation ever get figured out? I always had the impression that it was going to use the Miata hub stuff (less weight = less hub stress) but I took several hours to read this thread in one sitting and that is not the case. Does the "base" model use the Miata stuff and the 5x114.3 hubs will be optional?

The bottom line is that at this point every time we start engineering something new for the Catfish or the Miata community, it starts to feel like tilting at windmills. I have an actual hub manufacturer (they supply OEM's) who can builld much stronger hubs, but the minimum quantity is also OEM-like. Maybe I can talk Mazda into buying some. :)

Until then, we've taken stress off the hub by reducing the weight of the car.

It might be another story when we start adding V8 power...

So add the car above to the bodywork below:

Impressive and way to chase a goal. I saw FM's at Laguna Seca last fall, and it looked like a blast.

How did you make headlight lenses? Full injection molds seem like they'd make this impossibly expensive. Also, do you make a version of the LED bolts that projects light axially along the bolt's axis? It'd be an awesome solution to lighting wheel wells and maybe some interior stuff.

The headlight lenses started out as a male vacuum mold, and ended up as a simple drape mold; you puts the flat plastic in the pizza oven, and the drop it in the female mold once it's nice and hot.

The LED lights are more decoration than anything else. It's crazy to think that an M5 aluminum screw can be gun-drilled, and then have an LED circuit small enough to fit in it. The light generally shoots directly out of the hex on the top of the screw button, but I do make one with a side cut under the head. You can see the side light in the included picture. These lights were made to install on clear plastic so it would light up. Okay--a little bit disco--but pretty cool looking on a Harley.

Those are freaking awesome. Any retailers? Amazon Prime eligible yet? :)

On Amazon. :) company name Motorcycle Parts House, called Sportbike LED Headlite

I think he meant the car :)

Haha no I did mean the leds.

Too bad, i want the chassis on prime with free shipping and 50% discount using my amazon credit card :D

Bruce's Catfish...home stretch
 

Bruce's bodywork was installed on the car for a final fitment test. I hate to say it, but it's all coming off for some final tweaking. I hate moving painted bodywork around, but details will make a difference.

Bruce wanted a red car with silver wheels. It wouldn't have been my first choice before seeing it up close, but it might be now. :)

Check out the custom aluminum seat brackets that we made for the Lotus Exige seats. They're made to fit perfectly on the stock Miata sliders. What do you think...are they worthy to be offered on their own?

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God bless you sir.

*single tear*

Beautiful...

I'm sure the lotus seat brackets would sell just fine. Not too many off the shelf options for them that I've seen.

zoom zoom Flyin' Miata video
 

Nice, but they could have at least mentioned where the Catfish came from.;)

We didn't write the script.

Cool vid :bigtu: