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A Transparent Pipeline? Brilliant!

Here at CorkSport, we recently held a focus group to help understand what we can do better as a company. One of the things that were shown to be important to you, the customer, is to be more transparent in regards to what products we are currently working on and what you can expect to see released for sale in the near future. This post will be about some of the new products we have coming down the line, but our knowledgebase is your one-stop place for FAQs, testimonials, install instructions, and new product development.

In trying to expand our product line, we are looking into branching out into some new types of products that we don’t currently offer such as the mudflaps in the picture below. We are going to be coming out with a set of mudflaps with our logo embossed, laser etched or screen printed onto the back of them. They will be made of high quality polyurethane and will hopefully be available for several Mazda models. They will utilize stock mounting locations and come with everything needed for installation.

We will be releasing our CorkSport Short Ram Intake kit for the Mazda 2 in the next week or two. This will utilize a redesigned MAF housing specifically designed for the 2 and shows gains of 5-6 ft-lbs of torque and 3-4.5 hp.

Next on the list is a license plate relocation bracket that will fill out just about all of the newer Mazda vehicles that we currently don’t offer a plate relocation kit for. The picture below shows that kit on our Mazda 2. The kit includes a smoked Lexan plate with our new logo milled in. It also includes locking screws to help reduce the risk of someone stealing your license plate.

Finally, our amazingly popular Aluminum Skidplate for the 2010+ Mazda/Mazdaspeed 3 will soon be available for the 2004-2009 Mazda 3 and 2007-2009 MazdaSpeed 3. This upgrade from the factory undertray offers a removable oil filter cover that does not require you to take off the entire skidplate to change your oil. It also offers added protection and increased ground clearance compared to the factory undertray.

These are just a few of the products that we have coming down the pipeline in the near future. Be sure to keep checking our knowledgebase for updates and new product postings.

Jake

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The Super 20

I normally don’t just write about show cars that are seen in a SEMA booth by themselves for my blog posts. Mx-5s are not a normal focus of mine either. In the Mazdaspeed booth at the SEMA show was a good looking Mx5. The MX-5 had fender extensions to give it a wide body look and an eye catching paint and graphic scheme with the Super 20 logos. Under the hood are a Cosworth supercharger, Mazdaspeed header, and a Mazdaspeed Japan front tower brace. Again you think so what; it is just a SEMA show car.

What I found interesting is the history on this car. I spoke with a Mazda insider who said this car was built to test the feasibility of releasing a supercharged MX-5 in the showroom. If the economy was better this could be a reality. This is really a “what if” statement but cars like this have become a reality before, which is what really interested me.

If you know your Mazda history another car like this one actually became a production vehicle. The 2003 Mazdaspeed Protégé was released. It was a Protégé built in Japan and shipped to the North America to have a turbo kit installed at the port before delivery to dealers. Mazda collaborated with Callaway to provide the turbo charging expertise. The same thing could have happened with the Super 20 and Cosworth.

Unfortunately with the product life cycle of the MX-5 ending in the next few years we will not see this car ever released. This is one of those cars that could have been and should have been.

– Derrick

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SEMA 2010

I had three 3 days to take in SEMA this year. I estimate that I probably I walked around 40 miles (it felt that way by Thursday afternoon at least). The aisles were busier this year with people and exhibitors when compared to 2009. The most common vehicles shown at SEMA were Camaros and Mustangs, new and old, tons of them everywhere.

The vehicle which I think had the strongest showing besides the usual muscle cars was the Ford Fiesta. I saw at least 15 or these cars which had been modified in one way or another with various themes. I expect to see more and more of these on the road over the next few years. Most of the themes shown on the Fiesta were more lifestyle oriented over sheer performance. Ford did have some trick rally ready parts available for the Fiesta if you wanted to go off road your car.

One car I expected to see more of was the Chevy Volt. I saw only one, and that was in the Chevy booth. For a car which GM has been touting for 3 years you would expect a few pre-production cars to be seen around the show. My thought is they are pulling another GM move and it will be several more years until they finally get the car into production. The car looks great in person even though I would never own one.

Weird item of the show was the Green Hornet car for the upcoming movie. The car was in the Royal Purple booth. It made for an odd combo of missiles, machine guns and lubricants.

I was disappointed this year though with the showing of Mazdas, I was expecting more. There was not one Mazdaspeed 3 or any other Mazdaspeed Mazda at the show. There were two nice Mazda 3s in the Mazdaspeed booth, one time attack car which started life as a world challenge car and a great concept vehicle turbocharged Mazda 3 sedan which was also shown at last years SEMA show.

Also shown in the Mazdaspeed booth was a Rolex 24 hour winning RX8 with a devious body scheme. The left side and the rear was the FXDD car and the other side of the car was in the Castrol Dark Grey.

There were four Mazda 2s at the show. Two were in the Mazda booth, one in the H&R suspension booth and the 4th in the booth across from the Mazdaspeed booth. All of the Mazda 2s at the show were equipped with European bumpers and two had the European market lighting. The lip kits on several of the cars are designed for the euro bumpers so they do not work with North American market vehicles but they do look good. I spoke with the company who produced the kits and they are working on them for North American cars. The roll cage and race car prep on the grey Mazda 2 was done by AWR racing out of California and it looked good. It makes me want to tear out the interior of my car and go racing.

If I was to compare the show overall to last year it was better. There were plenty of new ideas, great looking cars, and people to meet with all week. Maybe next year we can see more Mazdas at the show.

– Derrick

If you are looking for more pictures of cars from the SEMA show check out the CorkSport Facebook page.

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Anything You Can Do, I Can Do… Also?

Returning to us this week is previous guest blogger Kelly:

I thought I had squelched the discussion but apparently installing the CorkSport front strut bar on my Mazda 3 wasn’t enough to get the boys off my back. My point of view: “Why install a part when I have the boys to do it for me?” has failed. I’ve spent my entire driving career successfully avoiding getting involved. My tried and true method has carried me far, why would I want to rock the boat? I can take the grief; it’s only talk, right? Yeah right. You boys, once you get your meat hooks in, there is no stopping the you. Now it’s personal.

I first thought CorkSport Cooling Panel, easy enough, but I don’t have sedan. (Jake, product engineer god, I need a panel please.)

CorkSport Motor Mount Inserts? No… I have an automatic and a small child, and don’t want the car to vibrate that much.

Install the CorkSport SRI? Fortunately it’s on the car already. Plus, I read the instructions, way out of my league.

I finally settled on the CorkSport LED Kit– now there is something I can get behind and I don’t even have to open the engine bay, hurrah!

Step one: read the instructions. They look pretty straightforward. I briefly thought about taking the part home and giving it a try, but opted to stay here at CS. My reasoning was two fold- one, it’s the rainy season in the great Northwest and two, if I get in to trouble, someone can save my bacon.

The install: Per the instructions it should only take me 20-30 minutes in boy time. In girl time it took 45 minutes and I successfully installed every bulb backwards. Great.

I was totally stressed about pulling the map light out at the start of the project, come to find out that is the easy part. When I had to climb in my trunk for the trunk light and the license plates bulbs it got interesting, but I got it done without help. Then came the glove box light, lets just say things got a little hairy. I got the trim off easy enough and headed back inside to get a Philips screwdriver when Chris, aka Boy Wonder intervened. First just to get the correct screw driver, then he opted to follow me out to the parking lot to see how everything was going, knowing full well what was coming next…pulling the glove box out. I think he decided to help before I was having him order new clips and possibly fix the mess. Thank the manufacturer above, because I had no clue and it was quite a bit harder than I expected. Chris points me in the right direction and gave a helping hand, then took pictures that I’m sure he’ll hold against me in the future.

Overall the majority of the installation was easy. The glove box was a little harder than expected, but I’m glad I did it, the bulb was burnt out anyway. If you’re new to the performance part game this is an easy part to start with and it looks fabulous when you’re done.

– Kelly

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SEMA – Gorgeous Girls, Hot Cars, Celebrities, and …Education?

Being a product development engineer at CorkSport has many perks, but the latest one was a chance to go to SEMA (Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association) in Las Vegas. The weeklong event is the culmination of a year long process that thousands of companies have put into various vehicles and aftermarket parts. There was everything from smaller companies showcasing a new line of off-road vehicles, to Ford’s new police vehicle (long overdue).

The part that the majority of the public does not know is the education side of things. Being a member of SEMA allows us to go to seminars that are specifically geared towards helping smaller businesses (like CorkSport) evolve. These seminars are put on by successful people in the industry (usually a panel of experts in the related field). They had everything from how to make a viral video, to industry trends and what car manufacturers and planning for the future. This helps us get a head start on continuing to make quality products at an affordable price.

The other side of things that you may not realize about SEMA is the networking side of things. I know this is true for me, and most likely for a lot of you as well: the majority of the people I communitate with for various parts, hardware, equipment, etc, I never actually meet in person, rather only via email or phone. SEMA is a great chance to put a face to a name and get to know the person I am doing business with a little better.

I was also able to squeeze in a little non-work related fun such as getting to sit in the actual car Ken Block used in the Gymkhana 3 video and watch some trophy trucks race around the parking lot.

I will end with a couple very helpful hints for any future SEMA goers. Wear comfortable shoes! This is a must. I’m guessing I walked a minimum of a marathon in two and a half days. My second tip is to bring a backpack. You will get lots of little lanyards and posters and a backpack is much easier to walk with a place to store them. Finally, bring lots of water. The heat and walking around will dehydrate you and paying $3 for little 12oz bottles can get expensive.

– Jake