Author: Derrick Ambrose

Posted on

Final Reflections on SEMA 2009

Every year at this time, as the year draws to a close, we have an opportunity to reflect on the past and set some new resolutions for the coming year. For our business, I call this event SEMA. We wrapped up our annual visit a few weeks ago and now I’ll take some time to reflect on what we observed, learned, and have otherwise taken from the show to better position us to serve you.

First, what we observed, much of the same as in previous years albeit with a renewed optimism buoyed by the recovering economy; lots of tricked out cars (mostly exotics, Camaros and Mustangs). Compact performance seemed to take on a lesser role at this years show. This is certainly true with respect to Mazda. They didn’t have a booth this year or any formal presence as far as I could tell. I’m curious why Mazda did not participate. No matter the reason, it made for a less interesting show. Ford did an excellent job this year. You might expect this since they were the headline sponsor, but I was surprised. Their effort to appear as a financially strong domestic brand, separated from the troubles of GM & Chrysler, was enhanced by this strong showing.

I didn’t observe any substantial emerging trends in compact performance. Aside from the consumer electronics side of things, none of the new products really stood apart from the crowd. On the marketing side of things one clear trend has emerged in the larger industry, nostalgia based marketing. It’s based on capturing those warm feelings we have of when life was simpler and using them to motivate us to buy cars or upgrades for them. Or perhaps, if you buy a car that looks like your pops or some parts from a company that existed when he was a younger man, you’ll rekindle that connection you had as a young child when your father was working on his car in the garage. That’s the idea anyway.

We shut down our shop so that most of our staff could check out the show. What did we learn? Plenty. The seminars can be a great way to add tools to your toolbox. If you go to next years show, take some time out to rest your feet, and attend a seminar. We attended all sorts of seminars. One important point I recall from a seminar is that the brand paradigm has shifted. We no longer own the CorkSport brand. We share it with you. Out there in cyberspace, you do as much to build our brand as we do, perhaps more. This idea perfectly encapsulates how we approach things here. Check out this helpful tipbook, it is worth a look if you plan to go to SEMA next year.


We also learned from exhibitors. They are generally very willing to help and will give surprisingly revealing answers if asked the right questions. Some of the vendors participate in the seminars. This gives even more insight into the inner workings of those companies.

We took time everyday to reflect on the show as a group and record our ideas. As such, we took home lots of great ideas. Everyone loves video, we’ve already got a bunch of them here, and here . We got some great tips on how to make better videos and where to put them to make sure the most people see them.

How about our website? Are you finding what you’re looking for? We’ve largely received positive feedback on the redesign of our site. We learned about new tools to help us make sure you can find what you’re looking for.

We found several innovations in MAF sensors and manipulation of their signals to allow for customization. More and more cars come with these sensors now. As we push our MZR motor well past the 300 HP level, we’ll likely incorporate some new MA configurations. If successful, you’ll see these as new CS products next year.

The list goes on and on. We hit the show with a plan. We checked out the show as enthusiasts, learned some things about the industry and techniques to serve you better, and took home a long list of follow-ups. Whether you are a lifestyle enthusiast or performance enthusiast we think you’ll enjoy a trip to Las Vegas next year for the 2010 SEMA show. We’ll see you there.

– Jason

Posted on

Staged Dyno Results for 2010 MazdaSpeed3

We have received a lot of questions regarding the dyno numbers for our products for the 2010 Speed3. So far we’ve only released a Stock vs. (Intake+RacePipe) dyno sheet, and I figured it was time to add some clarity to the questions and comments in a centralized location instead of replying on specific forums and leaving other people in the dark. In the end, our Intake + Racepipe + Downpipe give customers the ability to crank out 51 more horsepower for $687. The key to getting the most out of your car isn’t just to make ample power increases, but to have money left in your wallet to add more options sooner. CorkSport has you covered at a cost of $13.74/hp with a peak gain of 51 Wheel Horsepower and 47 Ft Lb of Torque.

The 2010 Speed3 has a lot of power left on the table, and our product development has really brought that to light. Unfortunately, we stage build everything -starting with an Intake, adding a RacePipe, then the DownPipe…and Dyno and labor hours add cost to parts, so we try our best to get the data we need to validate our products without adding a lot of cost to the parts based on a variety of test iterations and combinations. This blog post details the results of the staged build on our 2010 Speed3. In addition, it makes some details clear about comparing our systems to other options on the market -what’s included in intake and downpipe packages to provide detail to costs vs. gains.

Stock vs. Power Series Intake System
Our $239 intake system includes our aluminum turbo inlet pipe, billet MAF housing and CorkSport Dry Flow Air Filter. Again, this package includes the turbo inlet pipe -it is the only system on the market that is packaged including the inlet pipe -all others are marketed separately. The torque gains were nearly 20ft lbs increase on average. We also saw large sections of torque gain that were up to 33ft lbs of torque. The horsepower gains were equally impressive with the largest differential being a 36whp gain over the stock numbers. Our system works great, we have put a lot of time into the design and validation testing of it and it generates some serious power…at $6.63 per horse at the wheels.

Racepipes and Downpipes…*
The CorkSport TurboBack Exhaust packages are broken into three components: The Downpipe which evacuates exhaust gasses from the turbocharger into the main exhaust system; The Racepipe (available with or without high flow catalytic converter) which replaces the factory secondary restrictive catalytic converter; The CatBack Exhaust System which is comprised of the primary 80mm (3.15″) exhaust pipe and resonators and the dual 80mm tailpipe section. The main component to discuss is the comparison of the CorkSport Downpipe and Racepipe to other Downpipes on the market. A few other Downpipes cost substantially more -due partially to the fact that they include what we sell as a Racepipe. Despite our separate packaging, our pricing is still competitive at $448 for the combined package, and allow our customers to swap in the wide open 80mm Racepipe on track days and retain their factory catalytic converters or choose the Racepipe which features a high flow spun metallic catalytic converter (an additional $200). Whether you choose the Downpipe/Racepipe combination with or without a high flow catalyst, you’ll find our prices aggressively competitive.

Stock vs. Power Series Intake System + Power Series Stock Fitment Racepipe
This stage adds the Power Series RacePipe to the 2010 Speed3 w/ CorkSport Short Ram Intake & Turbo Inlet Pipe. Power goes up nicely to a combined gain of 41whp and 33ft lb of torque at peak and a blistering 50ft lb of torque at 3000rpm. Where the intake alone dropped low end (1600-2900RPM) torque by a few pound feet relative to stock, the addition of the racepipe puts the entire torque curve higher than that of the stock setup. If you’re running a rally car or just want blistering torque -this is your prime combination.

Stock vs. CorkSport Intake + Racepipe + Downpipe
This stage adds the Power Series Downpipe from CorkSport to the 2010 Speed3 w/ Short Ram Intake & Turbo Inlet Pipe. The CorkSport downpipe features a divorced wastegate dump design -providing a separate outlet for wastegate gasses and avoiding disruption of the primary exhaust pathway when the wastegate cracks open to bypass excess exhaust pressure past the turbine wheel. Adding the downpipe to the previously detailed combination of intake and racepipe, power jumps another 10 horse at the cost of a little bit of peak torque, but the low end of the torque curve increases nicely. As a combined package, the CorkSport Intake, Racepipe and Downpipe put down 51 horsepower and 47 pound feet of torque at the wheels. Watch for the release of our downpipe for the 2010 Speed3 in the coming weeks.

– Jason

* Consult with your local governing body regarding the legality of removal of a factory catalytic converter, whether it is for track or for street use and whether you are using the full race open pipe or a high flow catalyst. High Flow Performance Catalystsare ILLEGAL in the State of California, and will NOT be sold into California.

Posted on

Matte Colors at the 2009 SEMA Show

After spending two full days walking the SEMA show floor one trend in styling is really clear: matte colors. The cars that had the matte paint jobs were mostly exotics with a few imports mixed, in including the Lexus IS-F prototype:



There was a time when you would see cars in a matte color because they were in primer sort of an “Under Construction” phase. The owners of the cars were the “Do-it-yourself” types of guys who did their car build at home. This usually meant the suspension and engine were done but the body wasn’t, which made for a really fast car with no flash. It appears this has carried over into show cars.

Here’s a bunch of the cars we saw at the 2009 SEMA show done in the matte color scheme:



There was one car which didn’t stick with the black color, a Bentley with a matte grey color. There nothing better than a several hundred thousand dollar car looking like it missed its body shop appointment.



Love it or hate it, this style looks to be one we will see for the for at least the next several years. I am still undecided if I like it or not. One side of me thinks you would have to be insane to paint your Bentley to look like it was sprayed in your garage, but the other side thinks that the subtle presence of the cars paint gives off a vibe that means business, and gives it the cool factor, which I do like.

– Derrick

Posted on

CorkSport Goes to SEMA!

Our first day at the SEMA show went really well – the show hasn’t officially opened yet, but there was a full day of seminars covering a bevy of product development related topics. Most of the show cars are all in place and we ran across a few Mazdas in the bunch, and had some time to chat with their owners.



Most of the seminars were related to marketing and other customer facing activities and we took a lot away from these. We also had some time to chat with the SEMA Tech Transfer team that provides a variety of Computer Aided Design (CAD) data connections between OEM manufacturers and automotive aftermarket specialists. With connections of programs like this and other efforts, we could cut our time to market substantially and also prototype a lot of new systems without a major up front fabrication investment. Modifications that rely on surface data (dashboard, fender and headlight geometry) can be designed entirely in the computer and rapid prototyped for short run evaluation and product qualification without investing in any hard tooling.

One of the Mazdas we saw today stood out among the others- a 1st Gen Mazda3 Sedan owned by Jeremiah of International All Stars featured a two tone finished Cosworth Focus Short Ram Intake Manifold and an F2 Turbo Kit. As with a lot of cars that show up to SEMA, adding finishing touches at the last minute is almost expected – and when we left tonight, Jeremiah was modifying the front grille to show off the front mount intercooler and was working with the guys at Cosworth to get some further visibility of their product on his car. We’ll try to put a video up of Jeremiah’s car tomorrow – gotta find our USBa to USBmini cable.

Beyond that we’re certainly having a good amount of fun here in Vegas. Chris Tran, has come out of his retirement as our former shipping guy and narrowly avoided getting beat up by a group of high school girls last night.

We’ll keep you updated!

– Jason

Posted on

Mazda Intake System Design: Part 1

photos of short ram intakes for Mazdas



In the last few months, we’ve invested a good amount of time into working on making our intake systems more modular. The benefit to our customers is that we’re dialing in the building blocks to roll out a number of new intakes that will backfill our inventory for vehicles that we haven’t supported with induction systems. At the same time, having modular systems allow us to get better material pricing, and invest less in mill and lathe setup times by using like parts across multiple make and model product lines. We have also sourced custom filters from one of the top domestic performance air filter manufacturers and we’re very excited about cultivating that relationship.

As our intake product line becomes more modular, we become more able to tailor our intakes to our customer’s interests and styles as well. With our new anodized MAF housings and custom CorkSport synthetic media air filters, we have new opportunities for configuring color options. No matter how much of a function-over-form kind of person you are, a product that looks cool while it does a top-notch job is always better than one that looks like it was made out of scraps from the appliance aisle at Home Depot. We know you want your car to not only look good, but to make your car your own, and utilizing like parts and manufacturing techniques across multiple model product lines will allow us to give you higher levels of customization. Bottom line – tell us what you want your parts to look like. Have an idea for how to make something more customized or unique to the person who is buying the parts? Use our product submission form and let us know what you want.

Cutting Edge R&D

Airflow design of the Short Ram intake



On the R&D front, we’re utilizing some cutting-edge techniques in computational flow dynamics and test equipment so that we can gather data from our existing intake systems and build complex computer models that will allow us to rapidly prototype and develop new intake systems as well as other induction systems to improve the performance of your Mazda. As we move into mastering some of these techniques, we’ll become more and more able to intuit ways to improve the flow of gasses through your engines. In this respect, intakes are unbelievably simple, but a number of factors can cause pressure drops across the length of the intake and effectively act as the same thing as a restriction in the system. We’ll talk more about that in the next few installations of my intake system-related blog posts.

The most important goal for us at CorkSport is to meet your needs for quality performance parts that match the style and aesthetic appeal you’re seeking when you modify your cars. While I aspire to have a decent capability to design trick parts, my input alone on what our systems should look like most certainly isn’t enough – we need your input. Just have a small comment about a color or variation you’d like to see?

Also, if you’ve got a 1999 or later Mazda in need of an intake and live in the Portland, Oregon area, let us know – we’re always looking for cars to use during our prototype and development process. We’re specifically looking for Mazda 6’s, 2007-2009 Mazdaspeed 3 & 2010-2013 Mazdaspeed3 in 4 and 6 cylinder versions. I’m also looking for a 2.0 liter 2004-2009 Mazda3 and a 1999-2000 1.6 liter Mazda Protégé.

On and off in the next few months, I’ll be discussing more about intake design: Differences between long tube cold air intakes and short ram intakes, filter selection and misconceptions, factory warranty concerns, effects of water in the combustion process, our testing and validation process and the tools we use to get the job done right. Hell, I might even go into some details of some of the modular intake manifold designs and concepts I’ve been toying around with for my own cars that might show up in our product line come next summer.

Connect with us


You may also like

Stay up-to-date on the latest news and product updates from CorkSport.

* indicates required