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CorkSport Events 2010

CorkSport attends Mazda events throughout each year which include some of the larger get togethers like the OCC Mazda Meet last May or Sevenstock in September. There are also smaller events like our local club Mazdas Northwest which has a monthly meeting. This is a chance for CorkSport to come out and meet our fellow like-minded Mazda enthusiasts. This is also a chance for us to show you, our customers some of our cars like the CorkSport project 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 and the RX-8.

With a new year coming up we are working on planning our schedule and are offering you all the chance to influence where we show up. So far we are planning on definitely attending Sevenstock XIII, the SEMA show in Las Vegas, various Mazdas Northwest events, Mazfest in SoCal, and RPNW monthly meets.

If you have a Mazda event you are working on planning in 2010 let me know about it. It can be local to us in Portland, OR or on the other side of the planet in Geneva, Switzerland. If you have an event or know of one that has Mazdas present let me know as I am open for suggestions. This does not mean that we will be able to make every event, but if we know about your event there is a much better chance of us supporting the event. Feel free to send me an email or a call me on the phone at 360-260-2675 with your suggestions and events!

– Derrick

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2010 MazdaSpeed 3 Downpipe Update

We have had some interesting times with the development of our downpipe for the 2010 Mazdaspeed3. Downpipes on the 1st Gen MS3 have historically been a bit of a puzzle to work around the dynamics of the factory computer’s expectations for what should be seen at the two oxygen sensors on the upstream and downstream side of the factory catalyst. From our research, customer feedback and experience, our designs are able to avoid throwing a check engine light on first generation DISI equipped vehicles. Other manufacturers of downpipes are hit and miss depending on the manufacturer, with some throwing the occasional random CEL for slow response time and others being more pervasive.

The 2010 model is more finicky. Initially, we faced some check engine lights resulting from the vehicle not seeing what it expected at the secondary oxygen sensor, but we made some adjustments to the O2 sensor and have thus far run our test car for ~30 warmup cycles without any sign of a CEL. The 2010 Mazdaspeed3 runs a different algorithm than the 2007-2009 models and this results in a little less tolerance to radical changes in downpipe design.

That being said, the codes we initially were getting were based on a slow response time of the O2 sensor -a code that one of our local customers was getting on his bone stock 2010. We have had our downpipe on the car for nearly three months now. We’re proceeding with caution and planning on getting a handful of downpipes out into the public on a limited release to test the waters and ensure that the design will be free of any CEL activity for all of our customers and not just the single test case of our shop 2010.

If you’ve been chomping at the bit to get ahold of our downpipe, drop Derrick an email or call us at 360-260-2675 and we’ll get one out to you. We would also be very interested in getting one of these out to someone in our local area with an otherwise stock vehicle so that we can do some before/after dyno testing. We’ve done the staged dyno on our 2010, now we’d like to do a run with the downpipe to see how well it performs on its own.

– Jason

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Two Decades for the Mazda Miata MX-5

It really doesn’t feel like 20 years since the Miata was introduced by Mazda back in 1989. I remember the first time I saw one of them. I was on a family vacation to Canada riding bicycles on Vancouver Island in British Columbia and I saw one in a parking lot. It made me stop and go “Wow, that’s a Mazda?” I was still in high school at the time and my only experiences with Mazda were older RX-7s and getting rides to school on snowy days in a 323GTX.

Now, 20 years have past and Mazda is offering a special anniversary edition of the MX-5 (called a Roadster) in Japan. The car is going to be offered with either a power retractable hardtop or a soft top, in special all white paint. The car is equipped with Bilsteins shocks, “20th Anniversary” badges, and heated red Recaro seats with suede inserts, which can be seen below. Some of the optional equipment available are the Bose Audiopilot system and multi-spoke BBS wheels.

My only hope is that North America gets the special edition MX-5 as well. Look at the following the 10th anniversary RX-7 received back in 1988, they are still one of the RX-7s to own for the 86-91 models if you are a die hard collector. If the 20th anniversary model MX-5 makes it here I am sure it will sell out.

– Derrick

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2012 RX-7, The Beast is Back!

For years there have been rumors that the next RX-7 is being developed by Mazda, but thus far none of the rumors have panned out to a vehicle. Recent news reports from multiple sources indicate that the RX-7 will be built, and available as early as the 2012 model year. It will be powered by the 16X rotary engine which Mazda has had in development for the last several years but has been quiet about recently. I cannot say for sure if this time is any different than the last for the new RX-7 really going into production, so why not throw it out there? A little healthy speculation never hurt anyone.

The big question for me is what will the RX-7 look like? The picture at the top is the probably the most likely candidate. There have been lots of pictures circulating over the last few years, the most prevalent being like the few below which show multiple angles of the car.

If this is truly it, you can see some of the RX-8 styling carrying over into the new RX-7 and several of the new looks. The raised wheel arches in the front fenders are still there as is the rotor shaped bulge in the center of the hood. The bad news is that the RX-8 would most likely get cut from the lineup. With Mazda having the MX-5 available I don’t see them keeping 3 sports cars in their model range. I expect Mazda to show off a pre-production model later in 2010 when they get closer to officially announcing the car.

– Derrick

P.S. – There are also rumors flying around that the pictures of the black car are fakes, but the resolution it too low to get a real close up view in order to confirm or deny it.

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Mazda 2 Redux

I keep going back to the past experiences of cars I have owned, and thinking of cars I would like to own. Speaking of a car I want to own, the Mazda 2 it has been officially released, down in California at the LA Auto Show. I am really pumped about this car. Sure, we are getting the Mazda 2 four years after the rest of the planet, but hey better late than never in my opinion.

We are getting the “face lifted” version of the car (shown above) here in North America. The top of the line model will probably come with a 1.5L or 1.6L engine; Mazda has not released that information yet. My guess is that we might get the new SKY engines Mazda has been working on.

The size of the Mazda 2 is pretty close to the old BF chassis 323s. The same thing goes for power output, fuel economy, and versatility which will make for a fun package to drive (and modify). I already have visions in my head of a fully built 1.6 engine with a complete pile of CorkSport parts on it. It will take a little bit of time to get everything developed, but I know I am patient enough. Heck I’ve already been waiting years for the Mazda 2, what’s another few months for some performance parts?

A funny design idea I had after seeing the green car was to get one and add Mt Dew decals, and get the sort of urban Mt Dew camouflage like the current can design (seen below). Mix it up with some graphic designs and come out with a truly unique car to hit the streets with.

At the LA auto show they also had a few show versions of the Mazda 2 including a sport version with an aggressively styled body kit and lowered (see below) labeled “2evil”. The whole package looks good for a sport model. Some journalists had tossed around the “Mazdaspeed 2” name for the model but I personally think this is just a concept show car.

One thing for sure is I plan on having some fun with the Mazda 2 once I get mine. What do you guys think? Anyone else as excited as I am?

– Derrick