From a Supercharged Miata to World Class ECUs: The Shiv Pathak Story

Fresh out of college, Pathak bought a Miata and immediately bolted on a supercharger. Back then, plug-and-play engine management didn't exist. Tuners relied on an unstable cocktail of auxiliary timing boxes, NOx sensors, and rising-rate fuel pressure regulators.

"The fuel management lagged behind the boost," Pathak remembers. "You’d get on the throttle, boost would spike, but you wouldn’t get fuel. You'd get a lean run and a massive bog. It drove me nuts."

Fed up with the status quo, Pathak did what he had to do: he gutted his Miata’s electrical system and wired in an Electromotive Tech 2 standalone racing computer from scratch. The stakes were high — the Miata wasn't a dedicated track toy; it was his daily driver for his job at a trading firm in the World Trade Center.

Learning the fundamentals of calibration by trial, error, and sheer necessity, Pathak eventually began manufacturing pre-made wiring harnesses and custom tunes for other Miata and Subaru Impreza enthusiasts.

A twist of fate later redirected his career entirely. After surviving a severe rollover accident as a passenger in his old Miata, lingering migraines forced Pathak to leave his high-stress Wall Street job. He pivoted to automotive journalism from 1999 to 2003, a stint that exposed him heavily to the wider aftermarket industry and ultimately laid the groundwork for his tuning enterprise, Open Flash Performance. As a motorcycle enthusiast as well as a car aficionado, when Pathak discovered how rudimentary motorcycle ECUs were (and still are) compared to cars, he found a whole new avenue to take his business, thus expanding Open Flash Performance to both four wheels and two.

Check out the Bore & Stoke episode with Shiv Pathak here to listen to the full interview.