Fighting boost spikes with the Mazdaspeed K04 Turbo or maybe boost creep with an internally gated GT3076R? Or have you gone all out with an externally gated setup? Whatever the reason, you have probably realized that the OEM boost control solenoid is not up to par and desperately needs something that is reliable and tunable.
The CorkSport EBCS utilizes the latest technology in solenoid-controlled air valves, as well as using a light weight, low friction, and balanced valve design. The CorkSport EBCS will handle pressures from vacuum to 120psi with an operating frequency of 0 – 1000Hz and response time of 700µs.
So what does this actually mean to you?
You can build boost faster, reduce or eliminate boost spikes, and hold boost more accurately throughout the RPM range. Don’t believe me? Then check out the graph below comparing the OEM EBCS to the CorkSport EBCS both in bleed setup.
You can see a noticeable difference between the two graphs. Boost rises sooner, and there is no overshoot with the CorkSport EBCS. With the same Stage 2 tune, only changing the EBCS and adjusting the waste gate duty cycles, we saw an increase of 18 ft-lb of torque at peak due to the more boost at a lower RPM.
Not only does the CorkSport EBCS work great, but it also fits great! Designed with ease of installation in mind, the EBCS can be located in the OEM location, or on the valve cover for turbochargers without the OEM tab. This goes for both TMIC and FMIC setups. There is also no wire cutting or soldering needed! Simply plug the electrical connector into the wiring harness and you are ready to go!
Whether you are just stepping into the Mazdaspeed world or are the horsepower king at the local dyno, there is a place under your hood for the CorkSport EBCS. This will benefit you from K04 turbocharger to an externally gated GT3582R, and there are two ways to look at the CorkSport EBCS. First, it’s a potential power adder due to its far superior response time, efficiency, and accuracy; or second, it’s a safety device for the exact same reasons. Now there is one catch…correct use of the CorkSport EBCS will require adjustments of the waste gate duty cycles. We recommend you contact a professional tuner to setup your new CorkSport EBCS.
Take control of your boost with the CorkSport Mazdaspeed Electronic Boost Control Solenoid! For more technical information check out our white paper write-up of the EBCS.
-Barett, CS Engineering
The New CorkSport Mazdaspeed Electronic Boost Control Solenoid (EBCS) May 28th, 2024CorkSport
With more and more information circulating about the new Rotary and MX-5 Miata, we’ve compiled everything you need to know about these two beauties.
Rotary 2017
Mazda has been pretty tight-lipped about the next Rotary. In fact, just a few months ago, we heard a few sources claim that the Rotary wasn’t in development at all, or at least was no longer being focused on. Well, hope has been renewed! This news is thrilling, and it honestly lines up perfectly with what we published back in August: What Mazda Said That Will Have You Saying, “Take My Money!”
So what’s the excitement? Well, according to an article posted here, Mazda Kiyoshi Fijiwara (Managing Executive Officer) recently was referenced stating that they should be coming out with a new Rotary in 2017 at the Tokyo Motor show. Mazda is pretty big into anniversaries, and this just reaffirms our hunch they’ll use the 50-year anniversary of their first commercially available Rotary to release a new one. They did it with the 25th anniversary of the Miata MX-5, so why not the Rotary?
This is exciting news, and the best part is, they say it should have close to 300hp!
In case you can’t read Japanese, see the (slightly modified) Google Translation below:
Kiyoshi Fujiwara, the Mazda Managing Executive Officer, at the event in Spain was saying that the company is thought to publish a new car equipped with a rotary engine at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2017.
2017: It’s a memorable year. The world’s first commercially-available car equipped with a rotary engine “Cosmo Sports” appeared 50 years earlier. The name of the new car is unknown. As specs become realities, it is clear the “RX-7” engine should come near the order of 300hp.
2016 MX-5 Miata Only Gets 155hp
In other news, the engine is officially confirmed at 155hp and 148 ft/lbs of torque for the next generation MX-5. Though this might seem underwhelming, we still have high hopes. The three reasons for these hope are as follows:
Reason 1:
2015 Miata: 2,619 lbs, divided by 167 hp = 15.68 lbs per Horsepower
2016 Miata: 2,200 (estimated) lbs, divided by 155hp = 14.19 lbs per Horsepower
It’s only an estimate, but the next Gen MX-5 would have to weigh over 2,400 lbs in order to have a worse power-to-weight ratio than the current model.
Reason 2:
Mazda knows more than ever that everyone wants a faster and higher horsepower car. This knowledge, and the fact that they don’t currently produce, and have not announced, plans to introduce a single Mazdaspeed variant of any of their cars, gives us hope. You might think that makes no sense, but consider it: Doesn’t all their silence about the next Mazdaspeed seem strange? How can a company that has the most vehicles racing in the World on any given weekend NOT have a Mazdaspeed? Secrets.
Mazda has been parading around their Super20 Miata since 2012—a roughly 250 horsepower supercharged Miata that’s received incredible press and reviews. Of course, it isn’t available for public sale. So why does Mazda continue to tease us? Why produce these totally reachable cars that people want without actually producing them for sale? It could just be for publicity, but our bet is also that Mazda has secretly been working on the next Mazdaspeed, and it will be an Mx-5. If we’re right…. we would guess everyone will receive a good confirmation of the next Mazdaspeed MX-5 soon.
Reason 3:
The MX-5 is the pinnacle of Mazdas to modify. More people are modifying their Miata/MX-5 than probably all other Mazdas combined. What does this mean? Turbos, Intakes, Exhausts, Suspension, Bodykits, Lighting: There are so many mods!! Mazda knows people love to modify their cars. If they don’t do it themselves, they know their customers will, which is why we have a feeling that with a few small tweaks, we’ll have this next MX-5 purring and putting out an extra 20-40 horsepower in no time.
Check out The Jalopnik article on the Miata and it’s 155HP: HERE.
Mazda said WHAT about the Rotary in 2017? Also, the 2016 MX-5 December 18th, 2017CorkSport
To end off the year right, here is a revisit to some of the Mazda Meme Madness of 2014.
To all those failed drifts of 2014. Better luck next time guys.
To the many awkward conversations with your significant other… when they realize you’d rather order parts for your Mazda Speed 3 than go to the movies…
To those moments when you are in the middle of stepping up your Mazda’s performance with some major mods… and people still give you props. (They don’t even know whats coming.)
To the boost and racing… Nuff’ said.
To every minute you spend checking for the delivery driver through the window, via email… or calling the house, etc.
So, a few weeks back I attended the 2014 SCCA National Championship runoffs at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca with aspirations of finishing on the podium in B-Spec with the CorkSport sponsored Mazda 2.
Day One:
The first day was a practice day in order to check out the car and review the changes we made, ensuring that everything was perfect for the three days of qualifying. After the first test session, we made a few small changes and went back out for the afternoon session…
That’s where things got crazy.
The track was feeling greasy and the car was sliding around a bit, making corner 6 a handful since its taken flat out in a B-Spec car. On the 7th lap the car drifted to the outside much faster than it had before so I steered into the drift and went off in the dirt. My plan was to ride it out and get back on the track towards the top of the hill.
Needless to say, things did not go as planned…
The video above is courtesy of a Spec Miata driver and friend at the track Steven Powers who (being directly behind me) got front row seats to witness the whole thing.
Rather than riding it out of the dirt, the front corner of the Mazda 2 made direct contact with a concrete wall… sideways (which data showed being at 30mph). After playing 20 questions with the safety crew and getting the car loaded up, I was dropped off in my pit to evaluate the damage and make a plan on what to do next. We got the car disassembled with help of fellow racers, slowly realizing just how bent up the car really was. Besides the sheet metal, we had punched several holes in the engine block, broke a wheel, bent the right side control arm and front sub frame.
It took 2 hours to take the car from a crunched mess to the picture below.
Day Two:
I chose to sleep on the decision to either rebuild or scrap the whole weekend race. The next morning, with an optimistic attitude, we took inventory and made the choice to rebuild the car at the track. Mazdaspeed Motorsports lent a major hand as we started chasing down the parts we would need to replace, while I was hitting the phones looking for a body shop with an empty frame machine so we could get started on the car ASAP. 8 calls later, we had our shop and loaded the car up on a flatbed in order to get the repairs going for straightening the car and getting it ready for a frame rail and shock tower.
Spectrum Auto Collision was a great help with the overall repair of the car. They got right on the job and loaded the car up on to the frame machine while their awesome technician started straightening the drives side rail. Arrangements were made to have the replacement frame parts arrive to the shop for the following day so they could continue the repairs non-stop, getting the car back together for Thursday’s qualifying session.
Day Three and Four:
Due to a mishap with UPS, we were out one critical part needed to not only start work that Wednesday morning but also have it completed by that afternoon. This complication pushed back the plan that included having the car assembled in time to post a qualifying time. After a discussion with the race officials, they agreed to let me start at the back of the B-Spec field allowing me to race despite not having a qualifying time. Which was awesome of them.
That Thursday evening, my trusty friend was delivered right back to the track so that we could start the re-assembly process. With the help of my crew, we rebuilt the engine, reinstalled the whole front suspension and sheet metal, and reinstalled the rebuilt motor within two days.
Day Five:
Saturday evening, we fired up the car to make sure it would be ready to go for the race. After a drive around the paddock, the car was feeling good and ready to race on Sunday.
RACE DAY:
Lucky for us, the B-Spec/T-4 race was the first event on Sunday, meaning the track would be in its best condition.
Since I was at the back of the field, I snagged an opportunity to pass up the stacked up cars on the inside of corner 2 and get passed 2 cars in the first lap. Several laps later I was able to get around one of the HPD Honda fits, putting me in 8th place. The leading Chevy sonic was brought to a stop due to a check engine light, moving him from 1st place to last place and me to 7th. During the race, the Mazda 2 felt really loose (the back of the car was sliding around) and like the tires were wearing out quickly. This is not expected due to the brand new tires we just had put on the car for the race. BFGoodrich tires always hold up extremely well to the abuse of B-Spec cars. I reported it to the crew over the radio and I got back an acknowledgement.
If you look at the picture above you can see smoke rolling out of the front wheel.
Results:
At the end of the race (back in the pits) I saw the driver’s side of the car was coated in Redline MTL transmission fluid which had also been coating the front and rear wheels causing that loose feeling I was getting.
Imagine driving on and off ice whipping through corners at the fastest speed you can go. That is exactly how crazy the race felt driving with the transmission fluid everywhere.
Later I found out that the crew had actually seen the smoke but decided to keep quiet about it so as not to alarm me and keeping me from changing my driving style (which had already been working). I am incredibly thankful they made that call, because it would have changed my driving and possibly caused more problems.
The final result was 7th place, which doesn’t give any trophies from the SCCA but I got something even better from Mazdaspeed. I was gifted a copy of the book Never Stop Challenging, which chronicles Mazda’s path to winning Le Mans and overcoming all of the challenges they went through. I was told by a good friend at the track (who has experience in amateur and professional racing) that he had not seen a car with as much damage as we had, rebuilt and make it back onto the track before.
Appreciation:
Thank you so much to CorkSport, Monarch Inspections (for the season long logistics support), Mazda Motorsports Crew, John Doonan, Mike Allen, Scott Kaluza, David Cook, and Dean Case who were at the track for the parts sourcing and tech help and the best trophy a Mazda racer could get.
Big thanks to my Dad (aka the crew), Joey Jordan Motorsports (for the help rebuilding the motor and getting the alignment straight), James Wilson and Black Armor Helmets (for driving out to race his 2 from Texas), Brad Green and his crew (for help getting the car taken apart), Steven Powers (for the video) as well as all of the B-Spec racers who I got to compete against all season long.
Last but not least (in any way), I would like to say thank you to my wife Jessica and two daughters for being understanding of my pursuit in racing.
Zoom zoom.
– Derrick from CorkSport
Derrick started working with cars when he was in high school. A friend had a GLC which they tweaked a bit which then became a 323 then into RX-7s and it was all Mazda down hill from there. His current projects are a 1968 Mustang, The 1988 323 GTX (never ending project), 1986 Honda Shadow Motorcycle and a 1968 Silverline Rambler 16′boat. For motorsports activities he has previously participated in drag racing the CorkSport Protege Drag car and Rally Cross with the 323 GTX. Currently he is driving the CorkSport Mazda 2 B-Spec race car.
If you attend any events CorkSport is at Derrick will be the guy you will talk to at most of them, so stop by and say hello!
2014 SCCA National Championship Runoffs: End of a Long Season February 13th, 2019CorkSport
