B-Spec Racing

B-Spec Mazda 2 racing action at Indy

The following post is from a race prep shop Chris Taylor Racing Services out of Texas. Chris purchased our Mazda 2 B-Spec car we built back on 2012 and it is still out racing and winning after a decade of use on the track.

The first race of the 2020 SCCA Hoosier Super Tour was at Sebring International Raceway in Florida. It would be my first time to drive this iconic track, and to say I was excited was an understatement. As is my typical fashion, I watched a few videos on YouTube, made a few notes on what I thought would be important corners to figure out, but otherwise went wholly unprepared. Going with me would be Kent Carter in his Mazda2 that got a full front end rebuild halfway through the 2019 season after he loaned it to somebody, and Tony Roma rented my blue Ford Fiesta, while I borrowed one of my customer and friends Jon Over’s Mini Cooper.

B-Spec Racing at Sebring

Before we get to the weekend, a little back story! Jon and I drove his Mini in a fun enduro at MSR-Houston in December, and it was there driving my red Fiesta in one stint and the Mini in the other, and watching the Honda’s and Fiesta around MSR that I decided the Mini was taking an automatic rifle to a knife fight… the car was so smooth and planted that I figured going to what everybody says is the bumpiest track on earth would make up for any shortcomings the car may have. And given that I was able to chase down and pass the 2019 National Champion in the car at MSR-Houston, and it didn’t have the new header, I really thought I’d be able to shine at Sebring!

So off we go, with a little detour through Houston to pick up some Spec Racer Ford’s to deliver to Sebring… but not before the trailer frame decided to crack over the rear axle and set the trailer wall on the tires! After a 6 hour wait and an amazing mobile welder, I was back on the road, even arrived in Sebring just a few hours after load-in opened! Kent and I signed up for the Thursday test day, having never driven Sebring, while Tony did his practice on iRacing. Joining us in B-Spec for the weekend were Joe Gersch (who skipped the test day as well but did this race last year) and a newcomer to B-Spec but a local to Florida, Bob Iverson. Bob was kind enough to let us follow the first 2 practice sessions and speed up our learning process, then he handed the car over to his coach for the third session. While Terry Borcheller drove off into the sunset in Bob’s Honda Fit, I was able to run under the track record in my third session on old scrub tires!

Friday comes and our morning practice is good but the track feels dirty and slow, I run an OK time but not what I was doing the day before. The afternoon qualifying is unpleasant with all the traffic, and it seems with the Prod cars any time we try to come up with a Plan to get good laps, the old adage attributed to many but originally from Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, “No plan of operations extends with certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy’s main strength” continues to rear its ugly head for us. I’m able to put the Mini on the pole, but not run laps like I was on Thursday. This part of the plan is still OK as I figure we’ll be able to run faster times Saturday morning with cooler temps as long as the track is clean. 

Helmuth, or Murphy, or whoever it is rears their head Saturday morning and a small downpour occurs during AM Qualifying, so not a single one of us in B-Spec goes out. Which is nice, because I still get the pole! My first EVER, much less at a Super Tour! I’ve always said I’m not a qualifier, I’m a racer… but apparently I can run a quick lap every now and then! Thankfully the race is dry, we’re doing a split start so we’ll have a few laps before we catch the backmarker Prod cars, and I’m stoked. As I’m new to the Mini I’m still learning the sweet spot in the rev range, and I was in the wrong gear and wrong RPM for the start, which makes for an exciting one. I slot in behind Bob out of T1 and plan to just push him away from the other cars so we can get a good gap and battle it out at the end. Finishing the first lap I get a hell of a run out of 17 and clear Bob into T1, but going into T7 I touch the rumbles inside and the RF axle snaps! I spend the rest of the race watching from outside the guardrail in T9 as Joe and Tony duke it out after Bob had a tire go down, with Joe ultimately getting the win! Kent rounded out the podium.

Once I confirm its an axle, the odyssey of finding one in central/western Florida begins. First a parts house just up the road says they have one. When we get there it turns out it’s not for a 1.6L, hatchback, 5 speed. Evidently Mini uses a different axle for everything, I think even different color cars have different axles! Thankfully Kent was my chauffeur and drove and helped find the proper axle at a 24 hour Autozone warehouse/parts counter near Tampa, or I’d have not raced Sunday! With the proper axle in hand we got back to the track at 11pm, and I decided then I’d just wake up early and put the axle in in the morning. 

With a new axle and a bit of apprehension, we take the green Sunday and my cousin and his son are there to cheer me on! The announcers got word of our axle adventures and talked about me at length as I drove away from the field, Bob dropping out with an engine issue after a few laps. With my first Super Tour win well in hand, I come upon a Prod car that I’m lapping for the SECOND TIME, unfortunately in a standing yellow zone (this would be the second lap we’ve passed this standing yellow), and he decides to come nearly to a complete stop before the incident. Not wanting to pass under yellow, I come to a nearly complete stop in Turn 16 too, which leads onto the back straight, and now Tony and Joe have been able to exit 16 at full tilt and overtake me. The B-Spec cars are not powerful and it takes me a lap to get my momentum back, and thankfully as we go through 17 and onto the front straight no white flag so I’ve got 2 laps to get by both of them! I follow for most of that lap and get a huge run out of 17 the next lap coming to the white flag, past Tony, and what-the-holy-hell-why-are-they-waving-the-checkered as the overall leader passes us at the line… because I guess his 15 second lead over 2nd place wasn’t enough to let us finish our race.

So it was a rough and tumble weekend, but I came away with a track record, a 2nd place, and my customers brought home 3 trophies! So while my weekend generally sucked, it was highly successful and a good way to kick off the 2020 season! 

Full race video from Sunday is above and track record lap are posted on my YouTube, check ’em out and give me a subscribe if you like hatchback / pizza delivery car content! Some cool postcards, B-Spec shirts and G-Loc Brake Pads are for sale through this and my other website, tracksideatthecircuit.com — pick up some sweet B-Spec merch today!

Ciao

Chris

Easy and Accurate Boost Readings: The CorkSport Mazdaspeed 4.5Bar MAP Sensor

Mazdaspeed 3 4.5 bar MAP sensor

We are proud to introduce the release of a new product: the CorkSport Mazdaspeed 4.5Bar MAP Sensor for Mazdaspeed 3, Mazdaspeed 6, and Mazda CX-7 Turbo. We’ve had the CS 3.5 Bar MAP Sensor for a while now as it’s a necessity when targeting over 21psi, however, while maxing out the CST6, we found the 35psi ceiling of the 3.5Bar sensor just wasn’t enough. Enter the CS 4.5Bar MAP Sensor!

Mazdaspeed 3 4.5 bar MAP sensor

Before I get into explaining what makes this sensor tick, lets quickly go over what exactly a MAP sensor does on your Mazdaspeed. Manifold absolute pressure (MAP) sensors in a nutshell just read the pressure present in the intake manifold of your car. During normal driving conditions, the sensor is typically reading vacuum (or negative pressure) as the engine sucks in air. While in boost, the sensor reads the positive pressure (boost pressure) produced by your turbocharger. In both situations, this pressure reading is being sent to the ECU so the ECU understands exactly what the engine is doing.

The OEM sensor is a 2.5Bar unit, meaning it can do 1Bar of vacuum (negative pressure) leaving you only 1.5Bar (~21psi) before the sensor runs out of accuracy. Both the CS MAP Sensors allow you to accurately read boost levels higher than the stock sensor, so your tuner can target a higher boost pressure for more power, provided you have the right supporting mods. The sensors themselves do not increase your boost pressure, they simply enable your tuner to safely do so.

Mazdaspeed 6 plug in 4.5 bar MAP sensor installed on Intake Manifold
Placement of the Mazdaspeed MAP on Intake Manifold

Enough learning, let’s get into the 4.5Bar Sensor! The CorkSport 4.5Bar MAP Sensor can read a maximum boost pressure of ~48psi before it starts running out of accuracy. Having a huge potential boost pressure means nothing without a fast responding sensor, so we designed the CS 4.5Bar MAP Sensor to have near instantaneous response of only 2 milliseconds. This means if you have the build and turbocharger to do so, this sensor is ready for just about anything you want to throw at it.

A true plug in MAP sensor for your Mazdaspeed no adapter required

The CorkSport 4.5Bar MAP sensor uses a custom injection molded body that mimics the OEM sensor. This makes it a direct install into the OEM location and a direct plug into the OEM wiring harness. No wiring or adapter harness needed. This results in a clean install that takes as little as 15-30 minutes! 

Everything needed for installation is included with the CS 4.5Bar MAP sensor. A new mounting bolt is supplied to ensure everything stays put, while a fresh O-ring is attached to the sensor to provide a good seal in your intake manifold. To top it off, calibrating for the sensor is easy as the calibration for use with Cobb Accessport is laser etched right on the body of the sensor.

Mazdaspeed 4.5 bar MAP sensor

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

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Oil Catch Can Kit for 2016+ SkyActiv Turbo 2.5L

Skyactiv Turbo OCC Kit

When you think of a performance aftermarket component you typically think of a part that increases the vehicle’s power, but some performance parts don’t. Instead, they have a more critical purpose, increasing the reliability of your performance engine and components.  The CorkSport Oil Catch Can Kit (OCC Kit) is just that type of component(s). 

CNC machined Mazda Oil Catch Can

Why is an Oil Catch Can Kit critical for your Mazda?  Despite the huge advancement Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) technology there are still some downfalls.  Compared to the more conventional port injection fuel systems, GDI is much more prone to engine oil fuel dilution.  This is primarily due GDI injecting directly into the cylinder; in low speed operation and cold starts the fuel simply does not have enough time to fully atomize into a gas before ignition.  This results in some excess fuel seeping past the piston rings into the oil along with any combustion chamber blow by the pistons.  This is fuel dilution. 

OCC catch all the nasty build up from entering your Mazda Skyactiv engine

Here you can see the results of a CorkSport OCC installed for ~3000 miles on a 2018 Mazda 6 2.5T.  This engine only has 500 miles and has an average commute of 15 miles & 20 minutes of mixed traffic and speeds. 

Mazda’s OE design attempts to resolve some of this with a valve cover breather that vents directly into the turbocharger compressor inlet and a PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) valve in the engine block that vents to the intake manifold. 

How the Mazda OCC works

Mazda’s setup depends on the fuel and water vapor inside the crankcase being drawn into the intake manifold and intake system to then be re-ingested by the engine.  This has two major flaws:

  1. The direct crankcase ventilation via the PCV valve only works while cruising (no boost).  Combustion gas blow by will occur most often while in boost under high throttle application when the PCV valve is closed.
  2. This forces the engine to re-ingest dirty air that carries contaminants in the form of fuel and water vapor along with carbon debris.  These containments then build up on the inside of the intake manifold, cylinder head runners, and the intake valves slowly degrading performance over time. 
Carbon build up on a Mazda engine without the catch can

The CorkSport OCC Kit provides you with two major features:

  1. Both the valve cover vent and the PCV valve are drawn from the turbo inlet directly ahead of the turbocharger compressor. Thus both the valve cover and PCV valve have constant vacuum in all driving conditions, both cruising and high throttle application.
  2. The oil catch can itself acts as a “filter” for the vapor and debris that would normally be directly ingested by the engine. The drawn crankcase vapor and debris is separates and collects in the catch can for easy removal during normal oil changes. 

As you saw above, there is a significant amount of vapor and fine debris that is being filtered out of the crankcase air that would have normally been ingested.  As you continue down the path of modifying and demanding more form your Mazda, the need for a OCC System only becomes more and more critical. 

Bolt on Mazda Cx5, Cx9, and Mazda 6 turbo

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Front Strut Tower Brace for the 4th Generation Mazda 6

Bolt in STB for the Mazda 6

We’ve heard you asking, we’ve even seen you trying to fit our strut tower brace for the 2014-2018 Mazda 3 onto your 6. We are proud to announce the challenge is over.  We’ve created a new design specifically for the 4th generation Mazda 6 and its available now!

2018-up-Mazda-6-STB

You may have a goal of improved driving experience or you just want a visual improvement to the engine bay.  We are offering both to you. 

The polished aluminum strut bar and powder coated steel brackets look great under the hood of the Mazda 6 and the added chassis stiffness provides improved handling and driver feedback. 

Bolt in STB for the Mazda 6

Install is a breeze with color step-by-step instructions and included hardware.  If you’re looking to get even more out of your Mazda 6 in those curvy back roads then we suggest a rear swaybar and sport springs to go along with the CorkSport Front Strut Tower Bar

This package will really wake up the chassis of the Mazda 6 providing you with a sports car feel from your big sedan. 

2018 and up Mazda 6 lowering springs

Don’t hesitate! Gets your today!

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The Solution to all those Boost & Vacuum Hoses – CorkSport Boost/Vacuum Block

Do you ever open the hood to you Mazda and cringe at all the boost and vacuum hoses – You know, the string of hoses and T-fittings winding in every direction?  Here at CorkSport, we’ve had this same feeling and decided to do something about it. 

CNC Vacuum Manifold

Introducing the Boost/Vacuum Block and Fitting Kit…the simple and effective solution for your boost and vacuum accessories.

Mazdaspeed 3 Vacuum Block

This simple part for your Mazda allows you to consolidate your various boost/vacuum hoses to one single source. You can finally rid your engine bay of the numerous T-fittings that plague that single hose that connects your intake manifold and BPV.

All the ports needed for your Speed 3 install

A central boost and vacuum source is plumbed to the block and then distributed to six standard ports with 1/8-27 NPT threads.  If you have a plan and setup you are going for then opt for the Block and Plug Kit.

Easy Mazdaspeed 6 installation

If you are unsure about what you need now or in the future,  then the complete block and fitting kit is your best option.

Optional fittings for the easy installation

Either way you are sure to make a huge visual improvement to your engine bay.  A little effort now will go a long way later with this billet aluminum and anodized boost/vacuum block.

Check it out here and get your today…your Mazda will thank you.

-CorkSport