This Stop-Motion Tear-Down Of A Mazda MX-5 Engine Is Utterly Mesmerising

Want to get more intimately acquainted with the inner workings of an early Miata inline-four? You need to watch this amazing timelapse

Matt Robinson

15 Aug 2017

Engine build-up/tear down timelapses on YouTube aren’t exactly anything new, but we’re not sure we’ve ever seen one executed quite as well as this.

It’s been done using stop motion animation, and took four days of shooting and eight days of editing to make. Alex from How A Car Works has since been in touch to tell us exactly how the ‘floating’ sparks plugs were made possible. “The spark plugs were done by tying four pieces of cotton around them and using the bonnet stay as a fishing rod and lifting them out at an angle. We then photoshopped it out,” he said. Simple, but effective.

The video goes one step further than just showing all the engine’s various parts flying off, too: we’re also shown things like the crank turning and the pistons moving, giving an intimate look inside this Mk2.5 1.6-litre Miata engine.

Extra points must be awarded for the Pixar-style animated lamp, too…

Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.

Comments

Alex Kersten heavy breathing

Not hating, just reporting

Great, Android users have their buttful of bugs too, how awesome!

Thanks - for some reason the featured image hadn’t uploaded when we published. When that happens, the app auto-fills with another image. Should be fixed now!