Who doesn’t like a giveaway? Free stuff is always a good idea.
Last week, we ran our Drive to Win with CorkSport giveaway where our Facebook fans entered by uploading a picture of their Mazda in action. Autocross, racing on the track, drag strip, hill climb, and rally cross pictures were all acceptable entries. The winner was chosen at random and will receive a CorkSport swag bag.
Congratulations to our winner, Cody Allington! His shot features him and his girl, Marisa, having some fun on the track.
WINNER Cody Allington at the track.
We had to throw in a few of our other favorite shots and racing stories. See them all on our Facebook page.
Chris Milton, Brandon Chap, and Cezary Koral slaying the dragon.Niclas Swahn with his CorkSport equipped Mazda msp on a track in Sweden.Bret Nicoletti with his dog car aka #rooneyspeed RD3 at Global Time Attack around Willow Springs International Raceway.
We have a feeling this isn’t our last giveaway… stay tuned.
Cheers,
CorkSport
Winner of the Drive to Win Giveaway September 25th, 2015CorkSport
We get quite a few comments (okay, a ton) on our reviews and FAQs page asking questions like: will these wheels fit, will my car scrape, what do I do after I instal, etc. With so many questions coming in recently, I wanted to address this topic.
Will my car scrape speed bumps?
With any of our CorkSport springs sets, you shouldn’t have any problems with normal traffic control devices if taken at the posted speeds with stock Mazda body work. If you try to be Ken Block in your Mazdaspeed 3 and launch the car at 75mph you will scrape on the launch and landing.
Will my wheels rub?
With the OEM wheels, you won’t have any rubbing problems with our springs. We engineer our springs to be comfortable and most have an increased spring rate of 5-15% over OEM. With the car sitting lower, it’s possible to hit bumps with a heavy load but you shouldn’t rub unless you have a suspension alignment problem. On the second gen Mazda 3/Mazdaspeed 3s, the rear acceptable suspension range is already wide and if you plus size the diameter and wheel width you can run into some clearance problems. We found after an installation of the springs, the rear camber was -2.2 degrees on one side with no rubbing and -1.0 degrees on the other side with rubbing. To fix this, a set of adjustable rear camber arms is required to set the suspension even between both sides to give the wheel clearance and keep the alignment within specs.
Will these wheels fit my car?
Let’s make this easy. Go to Willtheyfit.com and punch in the numbers. Google is your friend. Use a tape measure to see how much clearance you have on the inside against the suspension and the outside against the body work.
Will I need aftermarket wheels to run your springs?
You will not. We test our springs on the OEM wheels for all Mazda models we offer springs for.
Will I need to align my car after installing the springs?
Yes, you will. The toe settings on the suspension will be affected which will cause excessive tire wear if not corrected after installing any lowering springs.
Will I need to roll my fenders/guards/wheel wells?
If you want to run a different offset wheel, and the clearance is going to be tight, it’s a good idea to roll them. You won’t have to roll your fenders with the OEM wheels.
Have a question we didn’t answer here? Feel free to post a question in the comments or in the FAQs page of our website.
Your Suspension Questions, Answered September 13th, 2018CorkSport
We’ve written before about how most Americans prefer sedans to a hatch, a phenomenon we don’t entirely understand. Part of us feels like to each his own. You fill your garage with sedans; I’ll enjoy my Mazdaspeed 3 — and also my Mazdaspeed 6, because we get it: sedans can be great too. Live and let live. On the other hand, the fact that people overwhelmingly prefer sedans is part of the reason we haven’t seen the new Mazda 2 in this country. We can sit and stew about this, or we can tell you the benefits of driving a hatchback. If you’re already on board, tell us in the comments what perks we missed.
1. More storage room
Want to drive your mountain bike up to the cabin you just rented for the weekend? No problem! If you drive a hatchback, that is. You can compare just about any two models of the same car, and the hatchback beats the sedan for storage space every time. Without that extra room taken up by the barrier between the back seat and the trunk, you can fill your hatch with boxes, a dog crate, or any piece of recreational equipment you want. If you need more space, add a luggage rack — but 99.9% of the time, if you drive a hatchback, you won’t need more.
2. More headroom
A lot of sedans are made with average heights in mind. That’s fine if you’re 5’10” on the dot or anything below, but if you’re even slightly taller, you’re gonna feel cramped. The solution: A hatchback. Hatches tend to have a lot more clearance, so no more bumping your head when you step in and out of the driver’s seat. It’s downright roomy in there.
3. Better resale value
This can change from car to car, but as topyaps pointed out, “Hatchbacks have the highest resale value and significantly much better than that of a sedan.” Of course, few of us can see ourselves parting with our dear Mazdaspeed 3s anytime soon, but we all know that one day we’ll have to trade our baby in — if only because the new 2017 Mazdaspeed 3 is finally released. If you want to get the most bang for your buck and recuperate some of the initial cost, buy a hatchback, not a sedan.
4. Same mileage
What’s that, you say? All of these benefits without a higher cost at the gas pump? It’s true, usually. Hatchbacks tend to have around the same gas mileage as their sedan counterparts, so you don’t have to fork over more money as the years pass. They’re great cars; they’re practical; and they’re as efficient as any sedan. Are you sold yet? If not, take a ride in your buddy’s MS3. If the other benefits of driving a hatchback don’t sway you, that will.
Cheers,
CorkSport
The Benefits of Driving a Hatchback December 18th, 2017CorkSport
For those of you who don’t know me, or frankly have no idea who I am, I’m Vincent and I’m part of the CorkSport team. If there’s one thing you should know about Vincent, it’s that he likes to race.
I’m a huge fan of sports car racing and pretty much anything that includes four wheels, an engine, and high speeds. Another thing you should know is that I’m still fairly new to the Pacific Northwest. I moved up here almost 10 months ago to work for the great Mazda company, CorkSport. In an effort to spread my wings and make my way to Vancouver, some sacrifices had to be made. The biggest was selling my race car.
I’ve been lucky to have owned a few good Mazdas and some other cars. I’ve been even luckier to have been able to compete with these cars, including my import drag racing Mitsubishi Eclipse and my HPDE Mazdaspeed Protege. But when I moved, they had to stay behind and find a new home. So I was left lonely. Alone, sad, and with a desire to get back on the circuit, I went on the hunt to find a new race car to compete with. Of course until I get my hands on a third generation Mazdaspeed 3. Lucky for me, I didn’t have to go far. Literally not far at all. I’m talking two desks over to our co-owner and fellow racer Mr. Derrick Ambrose, or as I like to call him Mr. Derrick. We’re polite here at CorkSport.
Tucked away in the back of his garage was a familiar face to anyone who has been around CorkSport over the years. That familiar face was a 1999 Mazda Protege with a little P5 front end action.
The old CS drag car was a little aged, a little dirty, and begging for a new life. Needless to say, I found myself my new race car. She had already been gutted and caged so the hard parts were done. With a new engine and transmission, it was in a good state to get finished up. Just a few odds and ends here and there and possibly a fresh wrap, and then she will be good to get on the track in no time.
I still haven’t decided what class of sports car racing I want to compete in. I’m thinking simple like PTE in NASA or maybe H-production in SCCA. What entry level club racing appeals to you guys the most?
Cheers,
Vincent
Journey to the Perfect Race Car September 3rd, 2015CorkSport
We asked the CorkSport community for their ultimate Mazda performance questions for our new series, Ask the Expert. From the good to the bad to the weird, here are the top four questions straight from CS fans and our engineer’s answers.
Q: What is the maximum horsepower you can get from a MazdaSpeed 3 with just bolt-on’s?
A: With the typical bolt-on performance modifications from air filter to exhaust tip, you should be in the 320-330wHp and 340-360wTq range. You may be able to up those numbers a small amount with an E85 mixture, but for some locations that is not readily available. This is not including an exhaust manifold, intake manifold, or larger turbocharger. Now, if you were to add the exhaust manifold, intake manifold, and larger turbo (this being the largest power gain) then you will quickly find the limit of the fuel system at the 380-390whp range depending on the fuel grade/type.
Q: Will a supercharger/turbocharger kit become available for the SkyActiv platform?
A: This question has been stirring around since the release of the SkyActiv platform. With the release of the MX-5 with the 2.0L in the U.S. and the 1.5L in foreign markets I would not be surprised to see a supercharger and/or turbocharger kits being released in the next 1-2 years.
Q: What’s the boost threshold on the CorkSport Performance Drop-In Turbocharger?
A: We don’t have a compressor map to quote from, but I believe I can answer this fairly accurately from my knowledge and experience. The CorkSport turbo will be the most efficient in the 1.75 – 2.25 pressure ratio range. This equates to approximately 11 – 18psi, but this doesn’t mean the CS turbo will fall on its face in the higher boost levels. Due to the more efficient design of the forged billet compressor wheel, the CS turbo should stay above 75% efficiency until around pressure ratio 3 (30psi), and then begin to fall off a bit. At around pressure ratio 3.5 (36-37psi) you will be very close to the maximum shaft RPM for safe operation, so I wouldn’t push it past that. Either way, if you are running the CS turbo above 30psi, then bravo sir. I’m sure you have a very fun car.
Q: Here’s a hard one. If I have a manifold, which calipers should I buy to get a better exhaust sound?
A: Well the issue is you weren’t clear enough with your collection of parts. First off, what kind of manifold are we talking? Is it the manifold forged from Unobtanium with the blood, sweat, and tears of Santa’s Elves or is it the one and only manifold hand fabricated of carbon nano-tubes in the R&D lab at Koenigsegg designed by the alien race called…The Stig? And then you have the caliper… Do you mean the kind that grip locks the ferrous circular structure utilizing kinetic friction to cause conductive and convective heat transfer ultimately converting mechanical energy into thermal energy until it comes to a squealing stop or the kind that measures to the 0.001” and was used to design aforementioned caliper? See how I’m a little confused? Now we have four combinations to pick from and I could explain each and every one of them in great detail, but I don’t want to bore you. So the one I would pick goes as follows: Your cold start announces your presence like the trumpet of the Greek God Zeus riding his chariot into battle followed by your WOT pull roaring like a thousand lions chasing down a heard of Zebras.
