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Reminder: Come hang out with Autoblog and the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata on Tuesday, May 19

Do you love chilidogs, French fries, meeting new friends, and the world's most popular convertible? Do you live in Southeast Michigan? Do you like lists of questions? If you answered "yes" to any but the last of those, we'd like to invite you to a little get-together we're hosting next week. Driving impressions are still under embargo for the US-spec 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata, but somehow we've conned convinced company PR reps to show the car to you, Joe Public Autoblog Reader. We're enthused about telling you more about the ND Miata, but before we do we'd love to share a Coke and talk about cars. Here's the skinny. A group of Autobloggers will be hanging out at the Athens Coney Island, in Royal Oak, MI, next Tuesday, May 19. We'll have the car on display from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM, and we'd love to see you. If you're a Miata owner, we'd also love to for you to bring your car along for the party. The more convertibles the better (just be prepared to have your picture taken). Go ahead and set your navi for Athens – 32657 Woodward Ave., Royal Oak, MI 48073 ­– and we'll look forward to seeing you Tuesday. Mazda Geeks unite. Related Video:

Bauer Catfish is a Miata-based trackstar in the making [w/videos]

We're not trying to make a joke here. The creation you see above really is called the Bauer Catfish, and while the name is about as attractive as your average bottom feeder, the car itself is built on a sexy notion. Take the mechanical bits of one 1990-2005 Mazda MX-5 Miata, add in a tube chassis for as little weight as possible, complete with some custom body work and go forth. Bauer says the finished product weighs in at just 1,550 pounds, and the company will be happy to pull the stock four-cylinder to drop in a healthy General Motors LS V8.
The pre-production prototype shown above competed in last year's 25 Hours of Thunderhill, finished the race and earned a spot on the podium in the "anything goes for sports racers" ESR class. Very cool.
If you're looking for a dedicated track car, it may not get any better than this for the money. Expect to pay around $13,900 depending on options, plus the cost of your donor Miata. That's a good sight cheaper than a used Chevy Corvette Z06 and likely to be quite a bit more fun. After you're done watching it in action in the brief videos below, check it out over at Bauer Ltd.

Mazda CEO closes door on talk of RX sports car revival

Some rumors in the auto industry simply refuse to die. Over the last decade, a few of the strongest have focused on Japan. A few years ago, we could have explained away the constant whispering over a new Toyota Supra, Acura NSX or Mazda RX-7 as nostalgia for Japan's golden era of performance. Today, though is different.
We already have the Nissan GT-R, and, thanks to the Toyota FT-1 Concept, a Supra successor finally appears to be on the way. Acura will someday, allegedly, deliver on its promise to put the NSX on sale. So where does that leave the third member of the Japanese performance trio mentioned above? Well, um, it still isn't happening.
"We don't have that kind of vehicle in our future product plan," Mazda CEO Masamichi Kogai told Automotive News when asked about a successor to the rotary-powered RX line. "If you increase the number of segments, then the resources we can allocate to each will decline and that will prevent us from developing truly good products."