Mazda MX-5s belong on twisty roads. Everyone agrees on this. Paco Motorsports disagrees.
They spent years lifting the original NA model into a rally-ready mess. Now they’ve done it to the current ND. The goal? Make Broncos look boring.
Born in Dubai
It began with the Beachster. A lifted ND built in Kentucky for a customer in the Virgin Islands. Then came Simba. Built for the Tanzanian desert.
Wait, not in Kentucky.
Parts shipped to Dubai. A local shop did the welding and wiring while Paco watched from thousands of miles away. Remote consulting. Weird approach, maybe. Fitting, probably. After all, where else would you build a desert toy than… not in America?
Steel and Mud
These cars don’t do subtle. Steel fender flares. Tubular bumpers. Recovery hooks. They wear their armor. LED lights poke forward like eyes in the dark. Side skirts act as rock sliders. A custom rack sits at the back for… well, anything you want to haul.
Then the sport bits. Vented hood. Lip spoiler. Mesh tailgate panel. Twin center exhaust tips. They try to look fast. Mostly they look angry.
The real story is under the body. FOX shocks. Custom springs. The chassis rides higher, farther off the pavement. AT tires chew up what was once pavement. The Beachster even stretched its wheelbase to fit bigger rear tires. A staggered setup. Unstable on paper. Stable enough for sand.
Is it capable? More than a typical SUV. Is it fast? Not anymore. Acceleration died. Fuel economy took a hike. Body roll exists, yes, it is real and pronounced. But that’s the trade-off.
Paco kept the engine stockish. The 2.0L NA engine is retuned. Punchier throttle. That’s it. They did steal a secret though. The limited-slip differential came from a Fiat 124 Abarthat. Shorter final drive gears. More torque to the wheels, less to the tachometer.
The Beachster lives literally on the shore.
Inside, the split is cosmetic. Both use RF hard tops. Beachster gets black interior. Simba wears tan. The Beachster’s owner uses his $50k supercar to haul trash cans to the curb and buy beer. In St. Thomas. The ground there is vertical, he says. His car climbs it.
How Much Pain?
Nobody knows the exact price. But Paco sells NA conversion kits. The base Offroadster runs $4,999. The heavy Conqueror hits $7,999. These numbers assume you already have the donor MX-5 RF. And a welder. And time.
Probably.
