Author: Derrick Ambrose

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More Thoughts on Mazda Design

Last week I wrote about the Shinari concept vehicle which is said to be the Mazda 6 of the future. The overall design theme shown in the Shinari is called Kodo which Mazda describes as the “soul of motion”. Yesterday I ran across a Youtube video released by Mazda Australia which posts videos under the alias ZoomZoom. The video shows the Kodo design applied to another future Mazda vehicle.

The video has an interesting view showing a clay modeled compact Mazda which could be either the Mazda 2 or Mazda 3 successor. The video shows different aspects of the vehicles design and form with lighting and shading to show the contrasts.

Based on what the video shows I am very happy with what I see. The hatch shown has great lines and is very visually appealing. After watching the video several times I am thinking this will be a probably be the next 2. There are several styling points on the car which look more like the Mazda 2 than the 3. For example the rear wheels are placed really close to the back of the car to give maximum space on the inside, much like the existing 2. The rear slope of the hatch rear-quarter area looks like the existing 2 as well.

The video is just a rendering but it does offer more great insight into the upcoming vehicles from Mazda. I will be keeping my eyes open to see what other styling surprises Mazda leaks out in the future.

– Derrick

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Look Upon the New Direction of Mazda, and Behold!

Mazda took the wraps off a surprise in Milan this week and introduced the Shinari concept vehicle.

Ikuo Maeda (Head Design Chief at Mazda) really made a statement with the new concept vehicle showing the direction that Mazda is headed. The bulging fenders from the RX-8 and other newer Mazdas are gone. This is kind of ironic since Ikuo designed the RX-8 and set the fender style in motion at Mazda. To me the long hood design says Jaguar or Aston Martin, sort of a new age low slung E-Type.


E-Type Jaguar


Aston Martin DB9

I personally like the long hood look for the car. It means you have lots of engine room to play with. When I get bored with the Mazda 2 in the year 2030 I can pick up one of these and build a 4 rotor engine to install in it.

The rear of the car reminds me of the FD RX-7 with the small rear lights and the curves. The small lip on the back of the hatch is there is well from the FD, though it is not as pronounced on the RX-7 as it is on the Shinari.

The name Shinari means “resistance to being bent”. I find this pretty funny as the Nagare styling which is on the way out the door was “flow” which does imply bending.

The car is setup as a 4 door i.e. replacement for the Mazda 6. I am happy to see something new come out the door for Mazda which gives a sign of the direction Mazda is going since Nagare was pronounced dead with the 2011 Mazda 5.

If the Shinari was released as is now I would totally rock one. What do you guys think?

– Derrick

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1 Month and 1000 Miles

Recently I took a several hundred mile road trip in the 2. With a full load of people I was able to test out the car under a maximum capacity scenario. The car had 4 passengers and several bags in the trunk. Initially I wasn’t sure how well everything would fit into such a small car. After loading up the hatch, everything ended up fitting in just fine. If it were an overnight trip it would have been a bit cramped with the extra baggage we would have had in the hatch.

The trip we took was down the beautiful Columbia gorge to Parkdale Oregon. The trip had plenty of hills, twisty roads, and elevation to really put the Mazda 2 to the test. The twisty roads and the hills were great fun even with the loaded up car. The 2 handled great even through the large sweepers with the extra weight. The car has plenty of power still to overtake cars in the passing lanes with a down shift to 4th gear. The only time I had any moments were I wished for more power was climbing the hill outside of Hood River to Parkdale. When the altitude starts really climbing the fully loaded car could use about 10-20 more horsepower.

The 2 averaged 33 miles per gallon on the drive. This was mostly at highway speeds of 55-60 mph with the hill climbs. I consider this really good mileage considering the driving conditions. The drive from Hood River to Parkdale was in 4th gear climbing the elevation for about 20-25 minutes. I also had plenty of spots where I was gunning it coming out of corners too. I had thought the drive would have made a bigger dent in the fuel economy.

The 6 speaker stereo in the 2 sounds great and is easy to use. The Aux input jack for the factory stereo made it handy to hook up an MP3 player and keep the driving tunes going without having to load CDs. I found myself adjusting the volume knob on the stereo and not the steering wheel though. I think it is just from habit from my old car and once I get used to using it more it will be natural.

After we returned I asked the other passengers their thoughts about our 3 hour adventure in the Mazda 2. There were no complaints and there were plenty of praises for how comfortable the seats are. One other complement for the 2 was about the drink holders. Counting the spaces in the front doors you have spots for 5 bottles of water. As the driver I did not have any problems finding a comfortable driving position.

Having driven the new Mazda 2 for a month and putting 1000 miles on it I can say that the fun driving factor has not worn off. I look forward to driving the car each chance I get. I give the Mazda 2 an A+ for a road trip vehicle.

– Derrick

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The Elusive MazdaSpeed 3 Cold Air Box Has Arrived!

People have been hitting us up via every contact point possible: phone calls, emailing, Facebook posting, Forum chatting, and contacting us via our webpage to find out when the CorkSport Cold Air Box for the 2010 MazdaSpeed 3 Short Ram Intake will be available. I am proud to say that it is finally here.

Way back all the way to the beginning of February, we had a blog post outlining the details of the depth we go into when designing a Cold Air Box. After finalizing the design and getting a production part installed in our project car, I went out and did some extensive testing. Using a laptop, data-logging software, and lots of thermocouples, I was able to log temperature changes over time.

The delta temperature in the graph below is the temperature difference inside the CAB (right at the filter) versus the temperature directly outside the box (inside the engine bay). The red line shows the difference over time using the box right off the shelf. The blue line shows the CAB with fully taped and insulated connections (the SRI to CAB mating area) attempting to reduce heat soak even further. The green line shows the difference over time with the CAB fully insulated and a direct pipe running from the fog light opening to the CAB (simulating a CAI).

Each reading was taking in the same atmospheric temperature (+/- 2 degrees) driving the same route at the same time each day. The route consisted of highway driving (both at highway speeds, and stop and go traffic) as well as city driving.

As you can see from the graph, all 3 designs yielded roughly the same result of about a 35-40 degree decrease in intake temperature once the vehicle has reached operating temperature.

As a conclusion to this experiment, I can confidently say that our CAB for the 2010 MazdaSpeed 3 paired with our SRI can bring your intake temperatures down to the same temperature as you would see with a cold air intake, without the drop in pressure or any worry about driving in the rain.

As always, if you have any questions about the product, or if you want to know more about how the data was obtained or evaluated, shoot me an email.

– Jake

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CorkSport’s 2010 MS3 Gets Chill

Our 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 project car is always a work in progress. It rarely gets put all the way back together, and when it finally does, another project gets set to take it apart again. This time, it was to get some cooler air flowing to the lungs of the MS3.

We recently installed our prototype front mount intercooler kit on our 2010 Mazdaspeed 3. After dealing with a new bumper, hood scoop, and other changes from the 1st gen MS3 to the current body style, we finally have a working kit. As it is currently installed, this is a bolt-on kit with no drilling or cutting required. The factory undertray and bumper also mount back on with room to spare.

We are currently in the testing phase and hope to have a final design set soon. If you have any input on what you would like to see (ie, silicone colors, piping powdercoat colors, etc) send me an email.