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Las Vegas is the venue for the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Marketing Association) show next week, and manufacturer specials have tended to almost outnumber the variety of tuner cars on display in recent times. This year promises to be no different, and Mazda is bringing along two concept versions of its seminal MX-5 to add to the fray.
Created by Mazda's American design arm, the MX-5 Speedster and RF Kuro concepts take inspiration from the MX-5 Cup racing cars. The Speedster Evolution builds on (or should we say builds off?) from last year's Speedster concept, with a further 45kg of mass taken out. It's finished in a special White Ether colour, and is nearly 160kg lighter than the production soft-top model. A full face helmet is mandatory unless you enjoy picking dead flies out of your face though, because there's no windscreen...
The RF Kuro is based on the new retractable folding roof model, with some tasty details like the 17-inch RAYS Engineering wheels (cue salivating from JDM fans) and the Cup's adjustable suspension and BF Goodrich slicks. Kuro translates to charcoal, and it's this hue that covers the outside of the RF.
Both cars were built in-house by the Mazda Design team in California, and if you happen to be one of the 60,000+ people attending you can check out the MX-5 concepts at booth #11647 in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.