Category: Motorsports

Mazda Motorsports is important to CorkSport. We do make parts which are motorsports or can be used in motorsports as well as the street. We race what we sell to make the parts better.

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Travis Goes Racing

After over-sleeping for the second event I decided to make a run to Packwood, WA for event #3. Chris had out of town plans so I convinced a friend/local Mazda geek to come with me the night before. Thanks Kyle. The drive was relaxing at about 2 hours and I could scarcely have gotten lost if I tried, take I-5 north to Highway 12 East and continue on to Packwood. I forget the name of the place we ate breakfast at (1 of 2 places in town I believe) but the portions where huge nap inducing offerings and the view was magnificent.

Weather was perfect on that Sunday and the course size was significantly larger than PIR events allow for. Indoor parking was a huge plus but the birds coming through caused me some concern. Sure enough a bird marked the top of my car during its wait for what I hoped would not be a laughable assault on innocent cones. Kyle and I walked the course several times but there was no map available so I kept a good eye out trying to keep the course in my head. Also, I got a ride-a-long in an FC with a V8 swap during the morning session to help get a feel for things, fun!

The 3 is equipped with MS coil-overs set on full dampening and rebound in front with full dampening and 2 clicks short of full rebound in the rear. I set tire pressure, marked the side walls, applied numbers and class magnets, loaded my lower boost MAP into the ECU then proceeded to my work assignment. After working first group my farmers tan was complete and it was time to run. I used an instructor, the same guy that set the course, to help me get through the problem areas I was fighting with. Smooth runs, looking ahead and course knowledge paid off……….. after the first three “official” runs, which sucked as I managed a 55 second run to demolish my previous 1 minute plus runs while coming out of 2nd gear twice. The car comes out of 2nd gear in the same areas on every run I made, which is the same thing that happened at PIR during the first event. I am looking at competition style engine mounts for the weekends to see if they will help. Most of the guys out there use R compound or competition tires and wheels, me, I am sticking with the street tires. After comparing my last lap time to others I found the MS3 to be more than capable of competing in this venue despite my lack of traction and experience. At the end of the day I was glad I came out and I am anxiously looking forward to the next Packwood event. I’ll be working on a little more throttle control and left foot braking in the mean time.

Somewhat surprising to me is the number of families that come out to these events, some times as support for a driver yet often enough couples or parents and kids (18+) are driving the car. Two drivers per car is a regular thing.

– Travis

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CorkSport Goes Autocrossing

Today’s blog entry is written by a guest blogger: Travis! If you’ve ever ordered anything from us then odds are Travis assembled it, packed it, double checked it, triple checked it, sealed it, and shipped it to you!

I checked the online flyer for my local region to find out the weekend schedule for March 27 and 28. You can get on SCCA.com and then search by selecting “Find your region”. The season began with practice on Saturday and Race #1 on Sunday. Our class, DSP, would race in the afternoon both days. There are morning and afternoon sessions, each with 2 run groups (1 group works the track while the other runs and vice versa). We found out that Saturday is open practice, anyone can run morning or afternoon session and everyone gets 6 runs each session. The weather was great Saturday and we learned a lot, since both of us come from Drag Racing backgrounds. Sunday was rainy off and on but tons of fun and the previous days coaching and practice had us off to a good start.

Now before I go on with the weekend recap, I’d like to explain what got Chris and Me to this point. Both of us have raced, mainly drag, and are at least familiar with spirited driving and some technique. A big problem for many people who take up auto racing is that a learning curve can easily resemble a rising cost curve when exploring the possibilities various venues offer. “Pay to Play”, is not an unfamiliar adage, but fun is not always overshadowed by unexpected costs, damage or mental suffering. As some people know Corksport has in the past run a ’99 Protégé at Woodburn and PIR but getting bugs sorted out has been generally been time consuming and occasionally expensive. It was decided that Autocross/Solo was more novice and budget friendly. When things go wrong in Drag Racing it tends to make things explode in a huge, expensive way. I would provide the car, my 2007 Mazdaspeed 3 GT, and CorkSport would contribute some parts, a pair of drivers and entry fees. A perfect match. I’ll give racing costs and car details in a later post.

I signed Chris and I up for SCCA and used the online rule book to find a class the car would fit in. I had read some forum posts in the past and had a pretty good idea what class we would end up in. No surprise, the car would be in DSP (D Street Prepared), not terribly desirable for a couple of novices but oh well, we would not go blindly into this new endeavor. I contacted a friend who has been racing for many years and got him to agree to some personal coaching for the practice day on Saturday. A few extra hours after work to prep the car and Chris and I are ready for the season to begin.

I’ll post details on fees and expenses along with the cars setup and, of course, the results of our first weekend next time.

– Travis

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Taking it to the Track

It’s easy to lose sight of ‘Performance’ during the daily grind of developing and selling performance parts. This means different things to different people, I understand. To Travis (Shipping) and Chris (Sales) this means getting involved in Autocross/Solo. Both of them are new to this form of motorsports, but both are veterans of sanctioned drag racing. How will that translate to quick turns on asphalt parking lots? Stay tuned during the upcoming season to find out. Or even better, get involved and join us!

Below is their planned schedule. They decided to take turns running a 2007 Mazdaspeed3 loaded with CS parts.

Oregon SCCA where you can get on the race track, autocross or rallycross

Practice Day Saturday, March 27th – PIR North Paddock
Event #1 Sunday, March 28th – PIR North Paddock, $25
Novice School Saturday, April 24th- PIR South Paddock (Pre-registration is required.), $50.
Event #2 Sunday, April 25th- PIR South Paddock, $25
Intermediate School Saturday, June 12th, Packwood, WA (Pre-registration is required)
Event #3 Sunday, June 13th – Packwood, WA, $25
Event #4 Saturday, July 10th – Packwood, WA, $25
Event #5 Sunday, July 11th, – Packwood, WA, $25
Event #6 Saturday, August 21st – Packwood, WA, $25
Event #7 Sunday, August 22nd – Packwood, WA, $25
Event #8 Saturday, September 18th – PIR South Paddock, $25
Event #9 Sunday, September 19th – PIR South Paddock, $25

The plan is to make each PIR event, the novice school and at least 1 Packwood weekend event. The car will likely be classed in DSP, details still to be worked out.

We’ll post a blog introducing the car, Travis & Chris, and progress so far after their first event later this month.

Do any of you guys autocross your cars? Let us know what you think.

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Considering the Mazda 2

This is a message for Mazda North America; Why is the Mazda 2 not in North America?  Ford no longer has their hand in the cookie jar so what is the hold up?

I have various personal theories as to why; it will cut into Mazda 3 sales or perhaps production output for the 2 isn’t high enough. The economy is in the tank so we know Mazda isn’t at its max capacity. People are broke! We cannot afford the more expensive cars so a smaller car like the 2 makes sense. Its biggest competition would be the Fit, Yaris, and the soon to be offered Fiats. The Mazda 2 gets great gas mileage, and would argueably be car the best in class if Mazda sold the DI diesel model in the states.

Personally I want one because they are super light and prime for upgrading. I would try and fit a 2.3 DISI engine under the hood. Actually, I will fit a 2.3 DISI engine under the hood! A lightly modded 300hp DISI engine in a 2100lb car would produce an absolutely crazy-fun car to drive. Even in stock form the stock 1.6 liter is rated at 120 hp and torque.  If/when Mazda brings the car to the North America you can bet we will be getting more power out of that engine.

When I was in Tokyo last year I had the opportunity to ride in the AutoExe tuned Demio heading to a lunch meeting with them.  The car is just like a Mazda 3 in terms of fit and finish.  The interior was nice, not over the top.  Despite the 2 being small it was not uncomfortably small for 4 adult men.

There are rumors we may actually get the Mazda 2 late this year but nothing is available to the dealers yet.  Cross your fingers!

– Derrick