When, some years ago, I started looking for an RWD car which was fun and had a good amount of aftermarket parts, the Mazda Miata was the obvious choice. At that time they could still be found for a reasonable price, and once I found one that matched what I was looking for, I went ahead and bought it.

The car is a joy to cruise in, but when on spirited drives or in the track, its flaws come to light: it’s not a fast car, and the brakes aren’t spectacular either. That’s the truth. The best thing about this car is the gearbox: direct and precise, it feels great to change gear after gear on twisty roads, where the car feels like at home. I still haven’t met anyone who has something bad to say about the MX-5 shifter feel.

That’s exactly why I was so surprised when I saw that IRP had built a Miata-specific short shifter kit. With so many things to improve, why start with its strongest point?

A year ago I traveled to London, where I saw an RWB for the first time. It was also the first time I met Nakai-san.

By that time, Adrian was in the same situation as me. He had spent years seeing pics and videos of 911’s modified by Nakai-san on the Internet, and when he learned that he was going to the UK, just an hour away from his natal France by plane, he decided that he could not let the opportunity of watching him work pass.

Coolest places often do not appear on travel guides. Being my third time in Japan, this time I wanted to explore some places which are difficult to get to using public transport, and in one of my day trips I ended up in Gunma prefecture, about 65 miles northwest from Tokyo.

Mountain passes around Gunma were witnesses of drift’s beginnings in the 80’s, and to this day they still are gathering points for Japanese enthusiasts to practice this sport when the Sun goes down.

I’ve needed some days off until I could sit and try to write down my experiences during the 4 days in which the Goodwood Festival of Speed took place. I could have done it while I was still in England, but upon arriving at the apartment we rented for those days after leaving the event, I had the same feeling every day: I wrote some words and then realized that I was lacking perspective. I was surrounded by almost every car a petrolhead would like to see at least once during their lives and, after the initial surprise, it just felt absolutely normal!

Maybe GruppeM is not a familiar name for some of you, but in our last trip to Japan, it was one of the places I was more eager to visit.

Its founder, Mr. Mamoru Ogose, has always been someone to look up to for me since I first heard of him. A self-made man who decided to create his own business when he found out that what he wanted didn’t exist. That’s how GruppeM was born in 1996, with the intention of creating the best carbon fiber intake systems that money could buy.