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“Because You Never Know”

Chris Rock said it best “because you never know”. I had one of those moments in the Mazda 2 heading to a MazdasNW monthly meet in November. The weather was less than exciting with it being dark and raining while driving up to Seattle for the meet. Kelly (check out some of her blogs) was riding with me to meet some of our customers.

About an hour into the drive traffic bunched up a little bit but we were still doing the speed limit then I got a surprise. The sport ute in front of me kicked up a truck tire re-tread. My options were pretty limited on what I could do so I just held the wheel straight and took the hit. The re-tread was about 2-3 feet long and it clipped the hood and hit the windshield with the majority of its mass. This caused an instant spidering of the windshield right in front on my view. Kelly mentioned in her surprise a colorful 4 letter word and we kept on driving. There wasn’t much point in trying to stop to look at the damage with all of the traffic.

Back to the “because you never know” quote, as I had one of our Xcorders installed in the Mazda 2 I have the entire video of the tire being kicked up and impacting the 2. The shock sensor in the Xcorder recorded the video in the event save folder automatically.

The tire hit the windshield at a force of over 2gs that the Xcorder registered. I had someone ask me where it happened. I honestly couldn’t remember where. I took a guess and said around Ft Lewis. When I went back and looked later at the video it showed it happened just North of Olympia with the exact location shown on the GPS in the Xcorder which is about 20 miles away from where I thought it occurred.

The good thing is my insurance company did not give me any difficulty in getting a claim going for the repair of the damage. The total damage to the Mazda 2 is over $2000. A good chunk of that cost is to take apart the front end of the car to re-spray/blend the silver paint. I didn’t even have to break out the video to show them what happened. If there had been some questions I would have been able to provide them with enough information to remove doubt as to what had happened all from the inexpensive $200 Xcorder.

– Derrick

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I’m a Mazda Girl

To all the Mazda’s I’ve loved:

It started with a toss-up between an MX-3 and a Millennia. The MX-3 was amazing and built with all the fast and furious stuff a girl could even need. The MX-3 was a beautiful car, and it has the magazine article to prove it. However, I have a lead foot and the driving record to prove it, so I opted for the float-a-cality of the Millenia. Good thing too, not to long after I purchased it my commute got very long and full of traffic hell.

The Millenia began to have issues, so off it went to the shop and I spent the summer in my 1st gen RX7, a super rare convertible no less. I love convertibles! The sun, the wind, it was the best! But like any older car with rotors and a history of drama, I knew it would be a short-lived love affair. Plus, convertibles in the Northwest during the rainy season are zero fun; cold and leaky.

Next up was a MX-5 Miata ‘M’ edition. I loved the car. It was fun to drive, took corners like a dream and was super sporty, really the perfect fit for me. But like all good things, it too came to an end.

Then came the CX7, wow, I could haul my skis up a mountain AND it had a turbocharger! What more could I want? Better long-term leasing options, could have solved that problem. Good by CX7 I’ll miss you…

Next up was the Tribute – purely functional, good for camping and that’s about it. No love lost when this one went to a new owner. It drove like an old, slow, tired, beast, but it got me to my next Mazda.

Wee, this is a great car, sporty, fun and I can get my kayak partially in the wagon (though with most of its 13ft hang out the back-end). I refuse to put a rack on the roof, in my opinion it would wreck the look of the car. It has been the only car that I have actually installed parts on. Even without a turbocharger it has proven to be a fun car to drive with great handling and plenty of gitty-up on the freeway.

I have two other affairs, a second gen RX-7 convertible and an RX-8. Both out of this world and not even remotely daily drivers. Their beauty and engine tenacity make my day when I have the opportunity to drive or ride in either. My grumpier half won’t give up the keys to the RX-7 since it’s big engine swap. Apparently it has so much power that my husband fears I will either kill myself while I whip the crap out of some poor Honda dork or there will be a high-speed police chase. My vote it would be some combination of the above, while on the way to Mexico.

I’m a Mazda girl now.

– Kelly

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Gone Racing!

We have had our CorkSport brand products out on the race track this year in several venues. The first was Dobson Motorsports Mazdaspeed 3 in the USTTC series and the other in the Mazdaspeed Motorsports Mazda 2 at the NASA 25 hour Thunder Hill endurance race.

The Dobson Motorsports Mazdaspeed 3 in the USTCC was driven by Ken Dobson and Gary Sheehan for the 2010 season. The Mazda finished 2nd in the championship for the year missing the championship by 1 point. The car placed first 3 times during the season. The car builder Greg Garneau chose the CorkSport Ram Air Front Mount Intercooler kit and CorkSport Turbo Back Exhaust for the major power adders during the construction of the Mazdaspeed 3. The car ran great the entire race season with the only mechanical problem coming up was a cooling issue from a radiator problem.

The Mazdaspeed 3 is tuned to a maximum of 270 wheel horsepower due to the class rules but the torque is unlimited which puts the Mazdaspeed 3 at an advantage due to the output of the Mazda 2.3 DISI engine.

The Mazda 2 was built by Mazdaspeed Motorsports to showcase the just announced B Spec race series. The modifications are limited for the B-Spec class to suspension, safety, and some bolt on performance parts. We supplied the newly released CorkSport Short Ram Intake to give the 2 some extra power for the 25 hour non stop race. The Mazda 2 performed well during the race with no mechanical problems. There were several offs while racing do to the weather conditions (lots of rain). I was told by one of the drivers Tim Buck, “Everyone that drove went off. The weather was pretty ugly, and if you didn’t go off occasionally you just weren’t trying hard enough”.


25 hours later

I would like to thank Greg Garneau and Tim Buck for the information about the cars and the racing I used in the blog post. If you have been using your CorkSport products in any racing, pro or amateur we would like to hear from you. Feel free to email me with any information.

– Derrick

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Injured 2 Gets Some Early Christmas Presents

After a semi trailer’s re-tread tire shattered our Mazda 2’s windshield and ruined the hood (I’ll leave that for Derrick to write about since he was driving), it was time for some much needed TLC. To start with, we fitted the 2 with a new CorkSport Stainless Steel exhaust (still in the testing phase). It includes a cat-delete pipe, full mandrel bent piping, and a 90mm rolled dual wall tip. The exhaust gives a nice, but not overbearing tone that even your significant other will not complain about.

The next Christmas present the 2 received is a new front strut tower bar. There was not much clearance for this bar to fit, but we managed to make it work. The bar utilizes laser cut mounting plates and even allows you to keep the brake reservoir in its stock location. As shown in the picture, the bar is black powder coated and installs in just minutes.

The last item that hasn’t made its way on to the 2 yet is a quick-release rear hatch brace similar the the Mazda 3 version that we currently sell. The prototype bar utilizes cnc milled mounts that will be totally hidden behind the hatch molding except for the actual mounting holes.

My initial impressions of the 2 were that it was simply a commuter sub-compact. Now that I have spent several days working on and driving this car, I have come to like it’s fuel efficient and nimble stature.

Have a new product idea or question? Feel free to email me.

– Jake

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Traveling the Northwest, For Show

Today we’ve got a guest blog from good friend of CorkSport and owner of a gorgeous (CorkSport sponsored) MazdaSpeed 3, CJ!

Before the show season started, I was doubtful that there would be shows left that would keep the import car show scene in the Northwest alive. Two major show events canceled out due to economic reasons and show websites were not being updated. Fortunately for people like me, the scene did not die and the Northwest managed to put together a list of fun car events.

Import Face Off was the first show of the season and featured both a car show and drag racing. I learned a few things that day like what car owners do before the show begins (clean, shine and clean their cars some more). What they do during the show to pass the time better (bring chairs, camera, snacks, water,
canopy, and sunblock <– very important).

The next show was the Fatlace One of One Showcase at Formula D in Monroe, WA at Evergreen Speedway. This was the first big event of the year with tons of booth vendors giving away a lot of free swag, an open to the public pit area, and tons of drift action from both amateurs and pros.

On July 18, NOS Forum Fest was held at PGP Motorsports Park in Kent, WA. This was a popular event that gathered a large number of enthusiasts through the power of the internet and forums. It featured both drag racing and drifting so there was plenty of stuff to keep you entertained. With the help of Derrick and
Chris from CorkSport making the trek north and bringing 2 cars, MazdasNW managed to win the Best Forum Representation award. My 2008 Mazdaspeed 3 managed to win Best Mazda, which was my first award ever.

The farthest event I went to this year is the Excelerator Car Meet at Silverwood Theme Park in Athol, Idaho. Registered attendees were treated with admission for 2 into both the theme park and water park, which made for one of the funnest events I’ve attended.

On August 29, I decided to go north of the border into Richmond, B.C. Canada to check out the import scene there at Revscene.net’s Sausage Fest Summer Car Meet. This was the biggest event I went to this year – it had the most Hondas, the most Evos, the most Mazda 3s, and the most BMWs out of any other show or meet.

Battle of the Imports in Woodburn, Oregon was originally scheduled for September 19th but was postponed to October 2nd due to unpredictable weather conditions in the Northwest , which had clear sunny skies in the afternoon. Just like Import Face Off, this event featured a show and drag racing. 2 CorkSport Sponsored vehicles won awards that day. Best of Class Mazda for the skull themed RX8 and 2nd place Best Mazda for my MS3.

– CJ