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Featured Car of the Month September 2011 – Domii’s Mazda 2

It’s not often that you come across women that take the modified car scene seriously, but if you’re a female and know your way around your car, from installing a performance exhaust system to spending your weekend’s auto-crossing, there’s a place for you in the performance world too.

Domenique first became interested in Mazda performance when she went to the NEPOC meet in 2009 with her boyfriend Jordan in his RX8. She was immediately attracted to the great cars at the Spring Clean Meet and met some great people that turned her on to a whole new world of modding and performance. By June of 2009 she was hooked and knew that she needed a Mazda of her own to mod.

Initially Domenique wanted a Mazdaspeed 3, but when she saw the 2011 Mazda 2 Sport, she fell in love. “The car was the perfect size. I loved how light and small it was and how well it handled” said Domenique, “This was my first manual, but the Mazda 2 was so easy drive, it was cake to learn.”

Wheels and lowering springs were the first priorities on Domenique’s list when she began her new project car. After talking with one of our CorkSport experts, she settled on the H&R springs and also decided to purchase a CorkSport Rear Torsion Bar to add much needed roll resistance to the rear of the Mazda 2.

“What an improvement in handling!” said Domenique, “The car not only looked much better, but the handling got much tighter and the turn response improved greatly.”

She decided to go with 15’s on the wheels to keep the weight of the car down and went with powder coated Kosei K1’s 15×7 with a +27 offset.

As her first power upgrade, Domenique installed a CorkSport Short Ram Intake which gave the car a noticeable gain in power and a nice grunt to the engine and has since added a Power Pulse Muffler Exhaust.

Future projects include a CorkSport Lightweight Crankshaft Pulley, CorkSport Front Strut Bar, CorkSport Rear Chassis Brace, tint, and a sound system.

Domenique’s new love for car modding has translated into another new love for autocrossing. On August 20th, she took the MZ2 out for the first time Auto-crossing at Renegade Miata and learned just what the car was capable of.

“I never really thought I would have been so interested in customizing a car. I guess I can blame it on my boyfriend, in a good way of course,” says Domenique, when asked about becoming a car enthusiast, “I love to go to shows and now my goal is to get better at Auto-Crossing.”

If you want to keep up with Domenique’s new and upcoming Mazda 2 projects, you can follow her progress on her blog, https://piinkdem.blogspot.com

Gwynne-

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Customer Collaboration Designs Excellence

We say it a lot here at CorkSport, but it’s true, we really enjoy getting our customers involved with the development process and as an engineer at CorkSport, I get to interact with customers on new product ideas and collaborate on their development regularly.

Many of our new product ideas actually come from customer submissions which have been collected and reviewed during our development meetings. Once we have established whether the idea submission has merits and we feel it is a project worth pursuing, it gets added to our project plan and we begin the process of product development.

It’s important for us to keep our customers close to the development process to make sure we don’t lose sight of the original intention of the product or miss an important feature during development that was desired, so once an idea is approved, we reach out to the customers that submitted the idea and determine their interest level in helping CorkSport test the product and discuss getting involved in the development process by providing additional ideas or expressing concerns about the design.

We stay connected with the customer advocate and make sure things are progressing how they feel is best for the product. Once we have a prototype we will find customers who want to help with the testing and validation process to determine if anything needs to be adjusted prior to proceeding to production.

We also make sure to share our new products with the Mazda community through forum interaction. This gives us exposure to a larger audience of customers who may be interested in the product, and because forums can sometimes be brutally honest it really helps us see what may be lacking or needing change.

A good example of this would be our newly redesigned mud flaps for the Mazdaspeed6. We had originally released these using the same mud flaps that we developed for the Mazdaspeed3 but some customers felt they were too hard to install. We then went back and completely redesigned the front mud flaps specifically for the Mazdaspeed6.

I posted pictures of our prototypes on the Mazdaspeed Forum and Mazda6 Club to see if anything needed to be changed before we got ready to release them. During the discussion thread, some comments were made on the length of the front mud flaps and fitment issues that may occur depending in your ride height, so we incorporated a template into the installation instructions that allows customers to trim the mud flaps to their desired length.

Customer collaboration does not end once the part is released either. We like to follow up with customers who purchased our new product releases and get their feedback and have an active knowledgebase that customers can go to for questions and can contribute to with comments and feedback.

It is important for us to make sure that customers are happy with the product and that the installation instructions are clear, concise and easy to follow. If a step is identified that requires additional clarification or could use additional product pictures, we incorporate that feedback into the new version of the instruction sets that go out. This collaboration helps us improve our products and makes us aware of things that may need to be addressed on other projects.

We welcome questions and comments from our customers at any time. If are installing a CorkSport product and have any questions we encourage you to contact us so we can help and if you ever have any suggestions on ways we can improve any of our products please let us know. It is important to us to remain close to the Mazda enthusiasts that have made our company the success it is today.

Andrew-

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CorkSport Product Release – MazdaSpeed 6 Mud Flaps!

Adding to the success of our Mazdaspeed 3 and Mazda 3 Mud Flaps, CorkSport would like to announce an extension of the CorkSport Mazdaspeed Styling product line with the launch of the all new CorkSport Mazdaspeed 6 urethane mud flaps.

Designed specifically for the Mazdaspeed 6, the CorkSport Mud Flaps offer superior protection against the elements, road debris and high impact rocks that are kicked-up by your tires while also providing your vehicle a streamlined sport look.

The popular CorkSport Mud Flap line is constructed from 80A durometer 1/8” thick urethane and includes a CorkSport logo laser-etched directly into the mud-flap that will never fade or wear off in even the most extreme elements. The adjustable design allows customers to install the rears to match the height of the vehicle and includes a template giving you the option to trim them to your liking.

Unlike rally style mud flaps, these mud flaps are a sleek 10” at the widest point on the backs and 8 ½” on the fronts providing your vehicle the optimum level of protection while maintaining a sport style design.

Demonstrating CorkSport’s mission to offer unparalleled service to the Mazda enthusiasts and support every make and model of the Mazda line, this is yet another product offering CorkSport has designed with the Mazdaspeed 6 in mind. The CorkSport Mud Flaps represent just one of the many products that are set to release in the coming months to support the Mazdaspeed 6.

The CorkSport Mazdaspeed 6 Mud Flaps will be offered competitively at $119.00 and include full color installation instructions, all of the needed installation hardware, and a template for customized trimming of the rear’s to accommodate the ride height of each individual vehicle.

For more information about these products, please visit CorkSport’s online catalog at https://www.corksport.com/corksport-mazda-mud-flap-set-mazdaspeed-6.html

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Compete and Win!

The Oregon Region SCCA Solo Director stopped by CorkSport this week and during our discussion, he brought up the topic of the national event and contingency awards that he and the other driver for his car had won. I missed the national tour event this year from other obligations, but it got me thinking, “what if I had competed and won my class.”

So I hopped on the computer and took a look at the SCCA national webpage to see what contingencies are offered to the winners of the National Solo tour.

#1 Mazdaspeed. Mazda pays out $200 for first and $100 for second for any Mazda who is registered with their program.

#2 Kumho. I am currently running #2 Kumho EXS tires on the CorkSport Mazda 2 and Kuhmo pays out big time if you win especially in the street tire classes. First place pays out $600 in product credit, second place is $400 in product credit and third place is $300. The tire size I use is 205/50/15 which goes for around $90 a tire. Even third place would almost pay for a set of new tires.

If you wanted to give it a shot in the Pro-Solo event (the Pro Solo event was the weekend after the national solo tour) there is even more available if you can get a class win.

#1 Mazdaspeed. Mazda pays out $200 for first and $100 for second for any Mazda who is registered with their program for a class win. If you go on the challenge they bump it up to $400 for a win and $200 for second place.

#2 Kumho. Kumho pays out the same for the street tire classes as the national solo win. For the challenge first place pays out $300 in product credit, second place is $200 in product credit and third place is $150.

#3 Hawk Performance. Hawk gives out $100 per class win and $100 for the challenge win.

So hypothetically if I could pull off a class win for two weekends of racing it would add up to a total of $2500 in products. Not too shabby for having a great time driving around cones. I am fortunate that the events are only 2 hours away for me. Some of the competitors I saw in the entry list came from as far as Texas.

Remember, even if you think you might try to attend a national event, make sure you register with the contingency sponsor before the event. Some require registering at the beginning of the year so read the fine print.

-Derrick

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CorkSport Announces Expansion of Mazdaspeed 3 Front Mount Intercooler Product Line

CorkSport Performance is pleased to announce another addition to our Front Mount Intercooler line for the 2010+ Mazdaspeed 3. The latest kit is designed specifically to accommodate the CorkSport Power Series Short Ram Intake, giving customers the flexibility to purchase a kit that will accommodate a short ram intake while providing the maximum air cooling capabilities that can only be achieved with a front mount intercooler.

The factory top mounted intercooler can easily be over worked and overheated due to its smaller size. In return, the intake air temperatures rise causing a loss in power. Rather than mount the intercooler under the hood where it receives minimal air flow and is constantly surrounded by engine heat, the CorkSport Front Mount Intercooler Kit for the 2010+ Mazdaspeed 3 features an optimum front mount position to maximize exposure to ambient airflow. This not only increases overall cooling at every boost level, but dramatically reduces heat soak.

Unlike many other front mount intercoolers, the CorkSport Front Mount Intercooler for Short Ram Intake does not require any cutting or trimming of the vehicle and features a 24x6x3.5” aluminum core with custom cast end tanks and 2.25” aluminum mandrel bent piping with bead rolled ends connected with your choice of black, red, or blue silicone couplers and stainless steel T-bolt clamps.

The CorkSport FMIC Kit for SRI has been developed and tested specifically for the 2010+ MazdaSpeed 3 in all types of conditions including hot and cold, rain and snow, freeway driving, and stop and go traffic. During testing, the Front Mount Intercooler saw a pressure drop of approximately 2psi and a maximum efficiency of 85%. When coupled with the CorkSport Short Ram Intake, customers will benefit from substantial gains in torque and horsepower.

The best value on the market, CorkSport will be offering the new Front Mount Intercooler Kit which includes all of the needed installation hardware and a two-year standard warranty. As an added value, customers will now also be able to purchase the CorkSport Power Series Short Ram Intake at a reduced price with the purchase of the Front Mount Intercooler Kit.

For more information about the CorkSport 2010+ Mazdaspeed 3 Front Mount Intercooler Kit, please visit https://www.corksport.com/corksport-2010-mazdaspeed-3-fmic-kit-for-short-ram-intake.html