When Mazda engineers were faced with the task of designing the fourth-generation of the company's iconic MX-5 Miata, the paramount importance was not lost on them.

The MX-5 is revered in enthusiast circles—an entire generation has grown up with it

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So to insure their baby stayed true to its featherweight roadster roots, the team adopted the "gram strategy"—similar to that used by Formula One teams—where every component is analyzed to see if weight, no matter how minuscule, can be shaved off.

Because as Miata Product Manager Dave Coleman explains, "When you're trying to make a car perform well, you can do it with brute force and lots of power and big tires, or you can go completely the opposite way, and reduce the amount of work the car has to do to respond to the driver's inputs."

Equally important was the idea of a 50/50 front-to-rear balance—including the driver. And to insure they'd achieved it, the team set up a relatively simple test.

Watch the video to see if they passed.

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