With roughly 200 horsepower, what this little Mazda and its driver are capable of is truly staggering. Miatas have always been respected within racing circles for their natural handling prowess but this particular example shows just how adept they can be with the right driver and the right modifications.

Speaking of the “right” driver, this car is owned and driven by a certain Robert Serwanski, the Valentino Balboni of Koenignegg. While Robert, the chief test driver for the Swedish manufacturer, spends his weekdays testing hypercars, he races his Miata at the Nurburgring on the weekends and his formal racing experience clearly shows here.

Serwanski sits in repose on one of his older Miata.

Couple a talented driver with a modified NC Miata and you’ve got a recipe for success. With an engine reflash, road legal track tires, coilovers, RX-8 anti-roll bars, track pads and fluid and a carbon seat, the resulting Miata comfortably laps just under an 8-minute lap time at the ‘Ring, even with some pesky traffic, as we get to witness.

The main adversary in this video is a 997 GT3 RS which, while driven fairly well, is no match for Robert in the corners. However, the GT3 RS has more than twice the horsepower of the Miata which allows it to claw back the distance it loses in every tight, technical section. Robert and the driver of the 911 trade places throughout the lap, seeing the Porsche fly by at incredible speeds on the straighter sections of the twisty, seemingly endless circuit.

Robert responds with some gutsy late braking and sublime car placement, pressuring the flappable Porsche driver into a succession of amateur mistakes. Though we’re aware that the 911 is comfortably the quicker car at the Green Hell – as the Nurburgring is affectionately known – this video clearly demonstrates how capable the Mazda Miata is in right hands.