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787B Race Car Coming Out Of Retirement

In celebration of becoming the first and only Japanese car manufacturer to win the world’s most demanding endurance race, the 24-Hours of Le Mans, Mazda will be demonstrating the winning Mazda 787B, on the Circuit de la Sarthe in La Mans, France on June 11, before the start of the race.

Le Mans Winning 787B

The Mazda 787B was jointly developed by Mazda and MazdaSpeed in 1990 to 1991. The 787 has a chassis designed to meet Group C racing car technical regulations and is powered by a R26B four-rotor naturally aspirated engine that produces 700 horsepower. 1991 was the last year that a rotary-engine car could participate in the 24 Hour of Le Mans.

R26B That Powers the 787B

At the 59th 24 Hours of Le Mans, Mazda was not the favorite to win, but the three 3.5 liter cars that Mazda submitted for the races were given first grid positions despite being the 12th, 17th and 24th fastest qualifiers. On the day before the race, the team manager instructed the drivers to drive as if it were a short sprint race rather than an endurance event, a decision he made based on the reliability the cars demonstrated and the car’s exceptional fuel economy.

At the 22nd hour of the race, #55, an outrageously painted bright orange and green Mazda 787B, took the lead and was the first to cross the finish line, completing 362 laps and covering just over 3,064 miles.

Since 1991, the winning Mazda 787B has primarily been displayed at the Mazda Museum in Hiroshima, Japan. Mazda carefully restored the winning 787B racecar back to driving condition and has tested it using one of Mazda’s in-house top gun drivers.

Drivers and Mechanics for the 787B

Mazda’s attendance at the 79th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans also coincides with the 50th anniversary of its development of the rotary engine.

– Gwynne

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Reach for the Sky

We have been blogging about the Mazda Sky series of engines over the last year but Mazda had yet to announce any specifics about them in terms of fuel economy, displacement, and size.

Sign at AutoExe HQ

1.3 Sky-G Engine

This week Mazda took the wraps of the first production Sky engine which will be available in the Mazda 2/Demio in Japan later this year. The engine will be showcased at the Automotive Engineering Exposition near Tokyo Japan from May 18th-20th.

The first engine will be a 1.3 liter displacement gasoline engine which is rated at 70 miles per gallon. This is from a gasoline engine alone, no expensive hybrid setup. The Toyota Prius for example is rated at 51 mpg for city driving and has to pack around the extra hybrid drivetrain. The Sky-G engine features a 14 to 1 compression engine (the highest compression mass production motor ever manufactured) with a direct injection system. The engine features a whole collection of new designs Mazda engineers have been working on over the last few years.

Despite all of the fuel economy goals and gas saving technologies, the engine still produces a decent amount of power for a 1.3 liter making about 80 hp at 5400 rpm.

Sign at AutoExe HQ

Specially Designed Sky Piston

Mazda mentions that the engine is an all new design except for the exhaust manifold. I bet we will see a trick exhaust manifold available soon after the Sky engine gets released to the rest of the planet next year which will help it with emissions in various markets.

There is another recent development which I have not seen any automotive news outlets mention. Two engineers Takashi Youso and Masahisa Yamakawa from Mazda’s powertrain division have been recognized by the Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan for an outstanding technical paper they have produced. The paper was on the development of HCCI or Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition which is when fuel and air are well mixed then compressed to auto ignition. You may think big deal, diesel engines do this already. Gasoline is harder to work with when you factor in how it can pre-ignite easier than diesel and the wide variety of fuel grades/blends around the planet. The paper is about gasoline HCCI, which has super low nitrogen oxide and carbon emissions output, and offers improved fuel economy. I can picture a Mazda 2 getting 80mpg+ which would be incredible from an all gas engine. This is a technical paper so the design is not in production but it gives some good insight on how much Mazda is pushing the envelope of the standard gas engine.

– Derrick

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The Game Plan

Many of you reading this blog are probably either a Mazda enthusiast or at least you have some interest in Mazdas. With CorkSport being a one make brand and not adding any other brands like Hyundai or Subaru, our success is basically tied to the success of Mazda. I personally check the news about Mazda daily to see what is going on, which leads me to this blog post.

About 8 months ago there were some rumors going around about Mazda looking to open a new factory in Mexico. Mazda officials dismissed the rumors and the story faded away. At the beginning of this month there was an executive change and Robert Davis was promoted to Senior Vice President of the newly created US Operations division. The new division is an effort by Mazda to capture more North American business.

2012 Mazda 3

All of these changes points towards Mazda’s aggressive goals for sales share of the US market. The Mexican based manufacturing plant makes perfect sense. Mexico is part of the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) which will give Mazda an advantage with less import fees on the cars brought in to the US along with transportation costs being lower, compared to shipping them from Japan. The new plant also gives Mazda a way out of the Auto Alliance plant they share with Ford in Flat Rock, Michigan which is costing Mazda a lot money.

Flatrock Michigan Auto Alliance Plant

Mazda is looking to get out of this agreement with Ford and they are serious about the change. There was news this week about Mazda saying that they are looking to discontinue the Mazda 6 built in the USA. This is to be a two part item with the switch to the replacement for the Mazda 6 and to switch to the new manufacturing plant.

2012 Mazda 6

The new plant gives Mazda the opportunity to expand their production facilities to meet their new goals set to increase sales to 2 million units yearly. I expect to see the official news about the new plant in the next few months once Mazda gets the personnel changes made to get the US operations division setup and going.

I find it exciting to see the very start of the changes Mazda is making to meet their new goals and I look forward to more information coming up later this year about it.

– Derrick

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Getting the Boot!

I have been competing in the local SCCA autocross season in our Mazda 2 which I have previously written about here. There is no set class that the Mazda 2 fits in listed with the SCCA. I looked to see where the Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa, etc were classed but there was no information available. So this left me to classify the car myself.

I ended up choosing the STS category based on several factors. The STS classification is for small cars with engines under 1.9 liters, like the Honda CRX, Honda Del-Sol, Miata, Porsche 914, etc. The 2 fit into the class wonderfully as all the cars in this class handle very well and would provide a perfect challenge for the 2. After the second event I received an email from the local solo chairman that someone had brought up a question about the Mazda 2 competing in the class and he recommended I take it the national technical person. I sent over an email to the technical service specialist, running down the information about the Mazda 2 and what was going on. My reply back from the SCCA was we needed to be in ST instead of STS. The reason being that the Mazda 2 has back seats. Never mind anything technical about the car with power levels, weight, or any factors that actually make a difference. Heck, I could pull the back seats out if they really want it to be a 2 seat car.

The real icing on the cake was in the email I received back I was told there will be a change next year for the classifications for the Mazda 2. The SCCA acknowledges that there is a problem but they are not going to do anything about it this year. I politely replied back to the SCCA asking if there is anything I can do about it and I was told I should go out there and have fun. I hate to be spoil sport but my goal when I go out and compete is to win.

Derrick tearing it up at the track

There is an upcoming autocross event soon which we will find out how well the Mazda 2 stacks up against the ST class. This should be interesting as we will be down around 60 wheel hp against several of the Honda Civics which inhabit in the class. I will post up the results after the next event.

–Derrick

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PRESS RELEASE: Mazda 2 Front Strut Tower Bar & Quick-Release Rear Chassis Brace

CorkSport Mazda 2 Strut Front Tower Bar

CorkSport’s Front Strut Tower Bar for the 2011+ Mazda 2 is a direct bolt-on Aluminum brace that stiffens up the front-end of your vehicle. The bar is made from black powder coated aluminum and utilizes stock mounting locations. The brace is optimized using an extruded and CNC bent cross member with laser cut mounting plates for a precise fit.

The bar mounts to the car’s 6 factory strut bolts and does not require you to relocate your brake reservoir.

Features:
The CorkSport Front Strut Tower Bar utilizes the factory strut mounting locations to maximize the effectiveness of the bar. The bar features a black powder coated aluminum design with our CorkSport Logo located on the top side of the bar (can be removed if desired). The one-piece design maximizes the stiffness of the bar and ensures easy installation.

Our one-piece strut tower bar design has been proven effective to reduce slalom times when tested at a local autocross event. Click here for details.

Testing:
The CorkSport Front Stut Tower Bar has been tested on our own vehicle to ensure fit, form, and function. The bar increases stiffness and reduces chassis flex in the front end of the vehicle by tying load points together (strut towers).

Available Now:
As with all our CorkSport Brand Mazda Products, the Front Strut Tower Bar ships with all the hardware you need for installation. Full color step by step installation instructions and telephone technical support are also included with your purchase.

CorkSport Mazda 2 Quick Release Rear Chassis Brace

CorkSport’s Quick-Release Rear Strut Tower Bar for the 2011 Mazda 2 is a direct bolt-on one inch diameter bar that stiffens up the rear-end of your 2. The bar requires you to trim a small square out of your cargo area plastic and utilizes stock mounting locations.

The bar installs in about an hour and a half and includes all the necessary hardware to complete the installation. It fits with all existing and future CorkSport brand parts and offers a design that will set your 2 apart from the crowd.

Features:
The CorkSport Quick-Release Rear Strut Tower Bar utilizes CNC machined all aluminum brackets that mount to factory locations and are completely hidden behind the trunk plastic. The bar features a black anodized aluminum design with our CorkSport Logo etched into the bar. The bar is attached to the brackets by aircraft grade quick-release pins that allow the bar to be removed quickly and effortlessly in an event that you need to fold down your rear seats and haul a large object in your 2. The end links are threaded for full stiffness adjustablility. Turn the bar one way to stiffen the rear end, turn the bar the other way to lessen the stiffness.

Testing:
The CorkSport Quick-Release Rear Stut Tower Bar has been tested on our own vehicles to ensure fit, form and function. The bar increases stiffness in the rear end by tying load points together. This results in reduced chassis flex that is a common issue with the hatch-back’s open cargo area design.

Available Now:
As with all our CorkSport Brand Mazda Products, the Quick-Release Rear Strut Tower Bar ships with all the hardware you need for installation. Full color step by step installation instructions and telephone technical support are also included with your purchase.