Our resident hooligan is Roman Maguinez, who has been storing Catfish frame #1 at his shop. Seeing an opportunity, he cobbled together a complete 1.6 drivetrain, wired a complete harness onto the frame and shod some old tires on the contraption. Voila’, the original Catfish is now affectionately known as the “Ratfish”. It’s actually got potential; David Taricani ran a Scotch Brite pad with WD-40 over the entire frame, making it gleam. He then coated the frame in carnauba wax so it looks bare but doesn’t collect rust. And if it does, a quick turn with the pad and some wax makes things shine again. Otherwise, it’s a bare bones car that’s already been timed under 1:30 at Streets of Willow. Stock engine. Bald 195 section street tires. No sway bars.
The next step for the Ratfish is a better suspension package, a front sway bar, and the coolest set of 13 x 9 Panasport wheels you’ve ever seen. Roman says he’s giving up cars and taking up knitting if he can’t get the car around Streets under 1:20 with a stock NA Miata engine. Nice. The video was shot at the balcony overlooking turn 4 at Willow Springs Raceway.
That’s awesome, glad to see some more videos to feed my addiction. I can’t wait to start on mine. It’s funny that the stick, which would generally be considered rather short in the Miata, looks like something out of a bus in this bare bones configuration.
LOTS more videos…they just take forever to edit.
13×9 panasport? Yes please!