The First CorkSport Branded Ride Mod + Vote For The CBR Graphics!

For those of you who have forgotten or who did not see the initial post we recently purchased a brand-new 2018 Mazda 3 Hatchback. Dubbed the CorkSport Branded Ride (CBR), we set out to start making it less like your mom’s car and more like something that suits the CorkSport name.

We turned to you all for suggestions and got some great feedback. We heard everything from wide bodykits, “slam it to the ground”, turbos and engine swaps, to easier mods like wheels, coil overs, and a new front lip.

We’re sure you’re anxious to find out where we’ve started: Intake? Exhaust? Springs? Our choice might surprise you.

But before we dig in to the first mod for the CBR, we first want to give you guys an opportunity to do something really fun:

Vote To Pick One of The 4 Graphic Concepts For The CorkSport Branded Ride!

Following up on our introduction to the CBR, our team here has decided to involve you guys in a whole new level of making this car look sick: Body Graphics!

Not only are we asking of your ideas and feedback for the mechanics of the CBR, we want you to decide on the aesthetics too. We want YOU to choose what this things actually looks like.

Our design team has developed 4 different concepts for the CBR graphics, and we must admit, they look pretty sweet. The concepts bring in a bunch of different styles, from racing to street, and are sure to make this baby an attention-grabber.

Here’s where you come in: We need you to cast a vote for your favorite concept for the CBR.

A few different ways you can vote:

Repost a pic of your favorite concept with #CorkSport & #CorkSportCBR on social media so we can see your vote. Then, tag a friend and ask them to pick their favorite!
Comment on one of our CBR social media posts for your vote with #CorkSport & #CorkSportCBR.
Leave a comment on this blog post with your vote.

Here’s an example:

“So stoked to get to pick the design of the #CorkSport Branded Ride! My vote is on Concept #3 for sure. – @TagYourFriend, what’s your vote?? #CorksportCBR”

We will gather votes together and whatever concept the CorkSport Community chooses will ultimately be brought to life on the real CBR!

Now, on to the First CBR Mod:

We did not want to go crazy right off the bat, so we looked at where the average Mazda 3 owner might start. Maybe a license plate kit, short ram intake? Catback exhaust? Lowering springs? – All good guesses.

We decided to go for a reliability mod that many people may not consider right away: a CorkSport Oil Catch Can kit.

Now, why would we install this right away on a brand new car? It shouldn’t have any issues with engine health. – Well, that’s the exact reason we installed it.

If it doesn’t have any issues right now and the engine is clean and new, then why not keep it that way?

As an engine operates, oil mist, fuel vapor, water vapor, and other gases can pass from the crankcase to the intake using the stock PCV system. Over time, as these gases condense, they form gunk and carbon buildup on valves, piston tops, and other vital engine components. An oil catch can exists to catch all of the oil mist and other vapors before they get back to the intake and dirty all of the nice clean engine components. Additionally, these other gases do not do any favors to the combustion cycle. – Just ask anyone who has emptied one during an oil change; what an OCC collects is pretty nasty.

Now let’s get to the install.

Locating the can itself is a snap, and finds a home in the driver’s side fender well. Routing the hoses is the difficult part, surprisingly, as you have to gain access to some of the factory PCV hose. This means removing the air box, intake tube, and even the starter. Once the factory hose is removed, the new hoses are installed and routed to the OCC.

Finally, we added the ball valve to the bottom of the CorkSport Oil Catch Can, which means next time the CBR needs an oil change we have an easy way to drain the OCC as well.

So what’s next for the CBR? That’s completely up to you!

Help us decide by submitting ideas for what YOU would do if this was your car.

REMINDER: We will give you cred for submitting an idea that we use for the mods. In short: This means Your Name will actually be put on the CorkSport Branded Ride!

Stay Tuned, you’ll be seeing more of the CBR soon.

Remember to cast your vote for the CBR Graphics!

Again, here’s how to vote:

Repost a pic of your favorite concept with #CorkSport & #CorkSportCBR on social media so we can see your vote. Then, tag a friend and ask them to pick their favorite!
Comment on one of our CBR social media posts for your vote with #CorkSport & #CorkSportCBR.
Leave a comment on this blog post with your vote.

September 28, 2017September 13, 2018

Dear Car Clubs: We Want To Hear From You!

Dear Car Guy,

Did you know there are LOTS of Car Guys and Gals out there in the Mazdaspeed world?

From Nator Clubs and Mazda Nova Clubs to Mazdaspeed and Meet Up Clubs, the branding is slightly different for each area and each group, but the heart and soul of the people who get involved stays the same.

Great people, big appetites (for speed and food), awesome tastes in beers and booze, and a genuine care for their fellow club members. I have made sure to attend meets and get to know the nitty gritty center of our Mazda Community, mostly because who doesn’t want to do Car stuff with their Car friends. However, I also do it because it’s an integral part of CorkSport’s vision, to give unprecedented levels of customer support and connection to the Mazda Community.

We ultimately just want to LOVE OUR CUSTOMERS, and I’ll take one for the team and meet you Guys and Gals face to face.

We’ve been to the MidWest Nator meet, the East Coast Nator Meet, and the Boise Mazda Take-over event this past year. We have also hosted our CorkSport Dyno day and given the west coast Mazda community a place to gather as well! Let me just say, it’s been amazing getting to know everyone, and seeing some awesome familiar faces.

The one thing that really stands out for me is the sense of community that is built at the center of all of this. I’ll admit I’m a people person, so of course YOU are my favorite part of working for CorkSport, however, it’s a community like no other, regardless of the title it goes by. The values of the Mazda community stay fairly similar, with mods, install days, track days, meet ups, and expansion of the love we all share for the Mazda Platform.

A group of awesome individuals, getting together, teaching those who don’t know how, and taking are of those who do (and still break down).

There are Groups all over the US (and I’m sure international), that we don’t even know about. It’s my hope that when you read this, you pass me your group pages, club names, social addresses, etc., so that CorkSport can help others in your area connect!

Near and Far, no matter where you are, let CorkSport hear from you!

Until next time, stay safe, stay fast, stay happy my friends!

-Kim @ CorkSport

September 26, 2017January 30, 2019

Charging for the WIN!

Track Tested CorkSport Approved 3rd Gen Mazda 3 Parts – Leading the Pack.

The last race weekend I had available before the runoffs turned out to be pretty interesting.

Locally there are very few T4 (touring 4) class cars so I often find myself running with other class cars and this weekend was no exception at Portland International Raceway. I showed up for qualifying on Friday morning with a new part to test and a suspension setup with something I had not tried.

I looked over the entry list the day before, and there read a list of cars you would expect to clobber a Mazda 3 on the track. 3 Porsche 911s, a pair of V8 mustangs, an STL Miata and more.

To make sure I had a clear track for qualifying, I hustled to the pre-grid to make sure I was the first car out. Straight out of the pits, I went flat out to get some distance on the Porsches to be able to push the car for the entire time I was out qualifying. As I watched the lap timer in the Mazda 3, my times kept dropping lap after lap. 6 laps in and I had already bested my fastest lap time at Portland by a second, so I called it quits and pulled in to the pits.

On the way out of the track I grabbed the time sheet to review and see where I placed. A quick review of the sheet showed I had qualified the Mazda 3 in second out of 10 cars and I was in front of 2 of the Porsches.

The start of the race didn’t go that great. Out of all the cars on the track I was in the bottom ½ for horsepower. But I was making up the speed in the corners.

One of the back cars jumped the start a bit and managed to take us 3 wide into a corner which is only good for 2. I was forced to give up some room to one of the Porsches to keep from having contact which put me back to 4^th. Several laps into the race one of the Porsches who got ahead of me at the start spun off the track so I was able to move back up a spot while trying to chase down the leader who was running ~1 second a lap faster than I was. The 30 minute mark came pretty quick, and the race ended on a not-so-exciting note of me being in 3^rd, and the leaders ~ ½ a lap ahead and all but a few of the rest of the field being lapped.

The big question you all want to ask is: “What were you testing for the 3^rd Gen Mazda 3?”

First things first, the changes we made to the Mazda 3:

We made an adjustment with the CorkSport rear adjustable swaybar. Being able to make quick adjustments on the rear swaybar bar allows us to soften the suspension to match the alignment changes.
We had taken more rear camber out of the back of the car with the CorkSport adjustable camber arms, trying to decrease rear grip (yes you read that right). We have been having problems with front end push (understeer) so we worked on dialing rear grip out of the car. – We had the CorkSport front camber plates maxed out for camber to the class limits, but it wasn’t enough to offset the rear grip.
We originally were running our CorkSport Mazda 3 adjustable shocks on the track but we had to remove them as they are not legal for the Touring 4 class. The adjustable shocks make a world of a difference over what I have to use on the car and I wish we could’ve changed back. Being able to fine tune the Mazda 3 suspension is a great asset for any performance driver.

Now to the fun, what I got to test that was new:

The engineers here at CorkSport have been working on a revised Mazda 3 Rear engine mount for the 3/6/Cx5 over the past few months. The best way we have to extreme test parts is on the track.

Think of the race-testing this way: I am driving full throttle, banging gears, and when I am off the throttle means I am on the brakes, so there is no time for the mount to get any rest. There is the maximum amount of heat, load, and stress in a compressed time line, compared to street driven cars, so if failure is to occur it would be on the track.

At the end of the month, I will be doing a test on a final version of the rear engine mount at the SCCA Runoffs and competing to bring home a National Championship for CorkSport and Mazda.

This brings me to my next point: All of the parts mentioned above have been punished on the track and had zero failures. I have been on the same rear sway bar, rear camber arms, camber plates, and short ram intake, and cat back exhaust since we started racing the car at Daytona in 2015.

You just can’t beat the fact that our CorkSport parts walk the talk when pushed to the extreme, which means they won’t let you down, no matter what you’re doing.

Charge for the WIN!

Derrick

September 21, 2017September 22, 2017

We want YOU to help us design the next CorkSport Branded Ride!

As if it wasn’t obvious, we have a plethora of vehicles to work with around here. True to fashion of course, we at CorkSport have gone and done it again: We went and filled some of the last remaining shop space with ANOTHER CAR.

Not just any car. Say “Hello” to our newest addition: 2018 Mazda 3 Hatchback, touring 2.5L SKYACTIVE-G. Equipped with an automatic transmission and some of the nicer creature comforts.

We love the sparkle of the Eternal Blue Mica and of course her 18” gunmetal dancing shoes. However, as with all things good and standard in the world, we couldn’t help but think that the potential for upgrading is endless.

Do we strip it and go full race car? Perhaps something crazy and AWD swap of sorts? Or maybe we take it way out of left field and go rally-style with it?

With the opportunities being endless, it was starting to make our heads hurt, so we decided to take a step back and start with the basics. We asked ourselves:

“How would our average customer who just picked this car up dream of modifying it?”

And that is exactly what we are doing.

If you guys are anything like us, then you have several hobbies that extend beyond just cars. Some of our team’s personal favorite other hobbies include hiking, camping, traveling, water sports, chilling at the beach, and has recently included obstacle course racing. With all these interests taking up different aspects of our time, we would need a ride that can accommodate our lifestyle. While it would be awesome to have a 6-second drag car, we’d probably have to lose some creature comforts or find a pot of gold to cover the cost, and that’s just not what the average Mazda enthusiast is about.

This project, like we said, is for YOU. And if it’s for you, then we need your help in putting it together.

This car, or as we are designating it: “Project CBR” (CorkSport branded ride), will be built by the people for the people.

We are going to take you with us on the full journey of this car; from the basic mods to the full on weekend task. From the daily driver to the long road hauler. From the car wash to the full service details. We are going to show you everything and anything on this car.

And through the whole process, everything is going to be built with your help.

Over the next several months as we put some miles on our test mule, we will want your guys’ feedback.

Do we put springs and shocks on it or full coilovers?
What type of wheels should we get?
Tint the windows, wrap it, get rid of the chrome?
The list goes on!

Every couple of weeks, we will keep you updated on where the car stands and what you think we should do next.

We will create a section on the CorkSport site so you can follow along, ask questions, provide suggestions, and fully immerse yourself into the car. Ever so often, we will also host a poll and you guys will vote on what happens next!

Think reverse sponsored: Instead of CorkSport’s name being the only one on this ride, we will be giving Sponsorship Cred to the Mazda Enthusiasts who give us the ideas for our mods. (first come, first credits).

We’ll put YOUR NAME on the CorkSport Branded Ride.

If you have a Dream Mod, and We pull it off on the CBR, you’ll get the credits… Remember: The CBR is By the People, For the People!

Stay Tuned, we’ll need your feedback soon!

CorkSport

September 19, 2017September 13, 2018

Welcoming Our New Partners of The CorkSport Shop Program!

What is CorkSport Up to?!

We know you’ve been seeing the social media posts calling for US Performance Installation Shops to contact us. So, as a customer, you have likely been reaching out to your local shop and telling them to call in or head to our link in order to get more info!

First off: A big THANK YOU to those who recommended their favorite shops, and to those Shops who have understood what we are about and got started in an awesome community partnership with CorkSport!

We’re excited to experience the support that has been passed along to the community, as well as to other small businesses through these partnerships.

We’re continuing to work with the Mazda Community to build, expand, and grow the number of enthusiasts out there. In doing this, the partnerships we are building will help the ‘newest generation’ of Mazda enthusiasts to get started somewhere. With the help of a local shop, they can learn what they need to know, have a trusted place to take their car, and find themselves inspired by the work they do.

CorkSport’s Community Partnerships will allow for Mazda Enthusiasts to have a place to go for installation help, questions, concerns, and inspiration on what their car is capable of.

If you know of a Performance Installation Shop near you, or are one yourself; get in contact with CorkSport to see what we’re capable of accomplishing together!

Shout out to the following companies for being the earliest adopters of CorkSport’s Shop Program!

You’ll see below some of these Performance Shops are run by well-known Mazda enthusiasts, which is why we’ve chosen them as trusted community partners!

This is not an exhaustive list of our partners. We are building that list and you will soon be able to see which Shops we are partnered with on our website. This resource will provide you with a quick guide to where to go for installation help in the future!

We are looking forward to what we can build together in our expanded CorkSport family!

CorkSport Community Partnerships: building the Mazda Community, one enthusiast at a time.

Cheers,

Kim Russell,

Corksport Performance