Miata Turbo Forum - Boost cars, acquire cats. - Guess what I saw while out for a spin today...

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Originally Posted by pusha

High altitude is tits for turbo cars, no? In my B5 S4 days, I remember sooooooo many of those dudes were from Co. but AWD helps too, I guess.

I think it's more to do with AWD than turbo, because if you have a good excuse to go AWD (snow) why not? I think 90% of my friends with turbo'd cars have AWD models of some sort. Cooling isn't as effective up here, and we still have power disadvantages when compared to sea level FI cars, though not quite as bad as NA cars get dinged comparatively. The general consensus seems to be about a 15% power loss up here at 6000'.

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Originally Posted by ianferrell

Those aren't legal for use on the street right? Or does he have one of the few converted ones?

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Originally Posted by Godless Commie

The car is fetching an incredible price even before it has reached any sort of an antique status, so, the majority of the 959s are kept in climate controlled garages, an never touch the pavement.

They were never crash tested for the US market, according to the Wiki page, so never got any safety certification here. But these days the Show and Display importation rules allow for them to be here and driven occasionally, and I think this was his mechanic running it around. Apparently his cars don’t get driven much and live in a garage that’s nicer than my house. My GF has seen a couple of the others out for the “keeping it running” drives but doesn’t know much about what she saw. A friend of mine saw the owner in the GT1 a couple of years ago, out on the street one night.

From NHTSA: "A vehicle eligible for Show or Display may receive NHTSA approval to be driven on the highway. The odometer must not register more than 2,500 miles in a 12-month period. NHTSA approval of limited on-road use is to allow the vehicle to be driven to and from nearby displays of similar automobiles. Another reason permission is granted is to maintain the vehicle's engine, braking, lighting, and other dynamic systems in good working order. The vehicle is still required to meet EPA requirements. If the original engine in the vehicle will be replaced with a non-original engine to meet EPA requirements, it must be identified in your application since it may impact on the technological or historical significance of the vehicle."

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Originally Posted by RotorNutFD3S

There was one on Bring A Trailer not too long ago actually, might be the same one considering the location:

I actually saw that but couldn’t find it again yesterday to have a look. My first thought was there’s no way there are two of these in Colorado. But the license plates don’t match, the one I shot has a rollbar (diagonal to the right of the driver), and the BaT one’s in the Denver area (although it’s not a stretch to guess that he has two residences), so maybe there actually are two locally.