Posts

Posted on

The Best West Coast Road Trips for You and Your Mazdaspeed

Last month, when The Smoking Tire featured our turbocharger in a beta tester’s Mazdaspeed 6, we loved watching how the car handled switchbacks as much as we loved hearing the turbo purr every few seconds.

It got us thinking, What are the best West Coast road trips to take a Mazdaspeed?

That isn’t the most objective of questions, but all the same we wanted to share a list of some of the spots we found—as well as why we love them. Tell us what you think, and what we missed.

California’s Pacific Coast Highway

California's Pacific Coast Highway from Flickr

Did we have a choice to list anything else first? These 123 miles of highway may be the most iconic in the whole country, much less the West Coast. If you like curves and the thrill of driving right up against a cliff face, you can’t do much better than taking your Mazdaspeed here. It should take about 5 hours at a leisurely pace, but you can probably cut that down to 3.5, right?

The Oregon Painted Hills

Oregon Painted Hills from Flickr

Called one of the 7 Wonders of Oregon, the Painted Hills in Eastern Oregon make for a breathtaking destination. They also offer some great vistas and stops along the way. There are rivers, fossil fields, and plenty of little towns to stop and grab a bite, as well as Mount Hood National Forest if you’re coming from the West, which always makes for gorgeous driving.

The Olympic Peninsula of Washington

The Olympic Peninsula in Washington from Flickr

There’s still no road that traverses the interior of the Olympic mountains, but that’s okay: Just driving on the loop around them on highway 101 gives you a thousand beautiful views. Most people only ever see one angle of the Olympics, from Seattle, so take a road trip in your Mazdaspeed to gain an experience few people ever do.

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park from Flickr

No, we didn’t forget about our friends up north. This drive should be on every nature lover’s bucket list, though you may not be able to cross it off till you retire or earn a long sabbatical if you plan to take your own Mazdaspeed. The whole route, Anchorage to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, takes you along Alaska 1 (Glenn Highway), Alaska 10 (Edgerton Highway), and McCarthy Road, which of course doesn’t include the trek up through Canada. While we’d love to see some #CorkSport shots on this drive, be careful about driving your baby all the way. Once you get to Wrangell-St. Elias, you face a 59-mile gravel road to reach the heart of the park.

Have fun, wherever you choose to drive.

Cheers,

Corksport

Posted on

What New MX-5 Parts Do You Want to See?

With the new 2016 MX-5 due to arrive into our hands around the 21st of July, this brings up the question we’d like to ask our supporters: What new Miata parts would you like to see made?

New 2016 MX-5It is a little early to ask this question, since we don’t have the 2016 MX-5 in our garage yet, but it does give our engineers a head start to think about what you value and want—beyond what we already have planned.

The short answer: Big things.

The long answer: The short list of products, below.

  • Intake/Airbox Kit Exhaust System
  • Lowering/Sport Springs
  • Upgraded Sway Bars
  • Short Shifter

Also, we’ve received a few ideas in the past, including a seat lowering kit. In other words, we’d move the seat even lower in the chassis for tall people/helmet clearance on the top. Also, a tuner.

Really, we’re open to anything, so exercise your mind and we’ll see what we can do!

 

Cheers,

Derrick

Meet Derrick from CorkSport. Loves racing, Mazdas, and his CS fam.

Posted on

How to Keep That New Mazda Sheen

One of the perks of our job is having the chance to see so many sleek Mazdas.

Every day we receive shots of customers’ cars, to say nothing about the 23k photos hashtagged #CorkSport on Instagram, or all the Mazdas the CorkSport team owns. Of course, the shots taken by professional photographers really catch our eye, especially if they’re of a new Mazda, or at least a Mazda that’s kept its new car shine.

Whether we drive on the track or highway, that’s always the goal, right? To maintain the same sheen our sedans and hatchbacks had when we drove them off the lot? It’s not a perfect art, detailing your Mazda, but if you want that new car shine, try some of these tips.

Wash it weekly

Photo Cred: @jaxonporter23
Photo Cred: @jaxonporter23

Oxidation is mostly responsible for that faded look older cars have. It usually doesn’t become visible in the first 12-18 months, but that’s when you need to begin washing regularly—ideally weekly—so it never does, or at least remains minimal. If you don’t have time every week, try quick detailing.

Remove contaminants

Photo Cred: @rylancushing
Photo Cred: @rylancushing

The longer you let dead bugs and bird sh*t sit on your Mazda, the harder they’ll be to remove. Every time you drive, you pick up debris, and tar, oil, and air pollutants will gradually lodge themselves in your paint. Especially when you notice these, but preferably every week, clean them off, either with a microfiber detailing cloth or shampooed mitt. A clay lubricant can also come in handy. Just be sure to clean these off even as your removing the gunk, and don’t rub too hard or you’ll leave scratch marks.

Polish and glaze the scratches

Photo Cred: @larrisongervacio
Photo Cred: @larrisongervacio

The first scratch or scuff always hurts, even if you know it’s unavoidable. When the small scuffs and swirl marks happen, use a polishing towel to smooth out the surface. Glazes are paint treatments that can also fill these in, which will restore the paint’s gloss. A polished Mazda is gonna look—and feel—great.

Use protection

Photo Cred: @dirtybmxer
Photo Cred: @dirtybmxer

New scratches and scuffs are harder to come by if you use a protective sealant once you finish polishing. A synthetic, acrylic resin and sealant glaze will keep your paint safer, so you won’t have to glaze and polish as often. Once this is done, add the shine with some good wax, which can bring out depth and more color from your paint.

We asked the CorkSport community what products you guys use, and we never heard anything bad about Collinite, Poorboy’s, or Chemical Guys. Are there any others we should try?

We care about our Mazda performance and what goes on under the hood, but how it looks over the hood has gotta be worth some gains too.

 

Cheers,

CorkSport

Posted on

The CorkSport Mazdaspeed Exhaust Manifold Heat Shield

We’ve got something your Mazdaspeed engine bay has been needing for a long time: Our new exhaust manifold heat shield—or as some folks like to call it: The Pimp Shield.

The CorkSport Mazdaspeed Manifold Exhaust Heat Shield

A new heat shield, you ask? Isn’t that just aesthetic?

Sure, you could stick with the OEM shield, but ours is manufactured from 5052 aluminum and ceramic coated, made to be durable and guaranteed to clean up the look of your engine bay.

Your current OEM shield sticks out like a ratty POS. Pop your hood and imagine this instead. The difference is clear:

The Mazdaspeed Manifold Exhaust Heat Shield installed

Our Mazdaspeed exhaust manifold heat shield was CAD designed specifically for the MZR DISI engine, so it’ll fit over the stock manifold like a glove. Whether you drive a 2007–2013 Mazdaspeed 3 or a 2006–2007 Mazdaspeed 6, you need to order this for your bay today.

See more specs and photos and order here.

Connect with us

You may also like

Stay up-to-date on the latest news and product updates from CorkSport.

* indicates required
Posted on

We Need Your Feedback on Our Mazdaspeed Intake Manifold

Guys, we want your feedback on a project we’ve been working on for the past year.

We’ve shown glimpses of our Mazdaspeed intake manifold from time to time, including the one below when we had it installed on Barett’s Mazdaspeed 3, which popped up on our Facebook page—on April Fool’s—while it was being tested.

Mazdaspeed Intake Manifold

This manifold is designed to be a bolt-in. It’ll work with the stock throttle body, stock intercooler, stock you-name-it. This means if you’ve upgraded to a front mount intercooler, it’ll also work as it keeps the OEM throttle body location.

We’ve been through a few iterations of the intake manifold, and below is a picture of the latest version. We’ve changed several things in the design from the last test version, including individual ports for the runners to install meth injection.

CorkSport Mazdaspeed Intake Manifold

In our testing, we’ve found spool to be 200 rpm sooner with the manifold installed. This has been shown on a 1st gen Mazdaspeed 3 equipped with the CorkSport turbocharger and a 2nd gen Mazdaspeed 3 with a GT35r installed.

We also had a peak increase in power of 17 horsepower at the wheels on the 1st gen Mazdaspeed 3 in back to back testing with the manifold.

So. This is where you the Mazdaspeed owner comes into play. We want to know: Would you buy this if we made it? Tell us your thoughts, and if you are interested, shoot us an email so we can keep you updated.

Cheers,

CorkSport

You may also like