Mazda Meme Madness

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.


Drifting

 

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…


girlfriend

 

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.)

 

startrek

 

To the boost and racing… Nuff’ said.

 

grandma

 

To every minute you spend checking for the delivery driver through the window, via email… or calling the house, etc.

 

dogface

 

To that #ZoomZoom exhaust!

 

wisdom

 

To all those awesome pics you guys send in. Keep up the sharing, we love to brag for you.

 

baby

 

… This one speaks for itself.

 

sadgirlfriend

 

Some people do yoga… we work on our cars. To all that hard work and time put in to each and every Mazda out there.

 

wonka

 

And finally… to all the future memes of 2015 and beyond… bring em’ on.

 

christmas meme

 

Thanks for taking a drive through 2014’s Mazda Meme Madness.

-CorkSport

#ZoomZoom and then some.

2014 SCCA National Championship Runoffs: End of a Long Season

2014 SCCA National Championship Runoffs

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.

CorkSport 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.

The Aftermath

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.

More Aftermath

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.

corksport racing

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.

CorkSport Racing Accident

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.

Mazdaspeed race

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_HEadshot

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!

YOUR Mazda, on Our Homepage. Enter the #CSselfie Photo Contest!

#CSselfie

Want to win an awesome package of CorkSport schwag? Want to be featured on the homepage of CorkSport.com for an entire WEEK?

All you have to do is show us your #CSselfie!

Entering is super simple. Here’s how it works:

1) Snap a picture of yourself with your Mazda (Or inside. Or laying on top. You get the picture.).

2) Post your image to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram using #CSselfie.

3) Enter your email here & you’re all set!

Rather than choosing just one of you, we’re choosing FOUR winners at random who will receive the following:

1) One week with their selfie featured on CorkSport.com

2) CorkSport Schwag package, including:

The contest runs THIS WEEK ONLY, so be sure to enter by this Sunday, November 16th at midnight.

Still reading? Stop procrastinating and show us your #CSselfie!

2016 Diesel Mazdaspeed 3 Rumors

Is the Next Mazdaspeed already under our Noses?

We talk a lot about the next Mazdaspeed, will it be AWD, will it be FWD, will it be a 3? the 6? a 2? Though little is known or confirmed, I want to point out a few things we DO know as a fact.

 

Mazda has been working on their SkyActiv D engines for a few years. They have already shown their SkyActiv D engines, they even race them. What many people fail to realize it that the SkyActiv D runs in the Mazda 6 with a two-stage turbocharger.

Two-stage-Mazda-Corksport-Mazdaspeed-Turbocharger

The two-stage turbocharger gives you the best of both worlds, it will run a smaller turbo in the low RPM range in order to give you more power and cut emissions, then at higher RPM ranges it flips a lever and runs the bigger turbo to produce more power with no noticeable lag between the two. According to Mazda’s own website “SKYACTIV-D utilizes a two-stage turbocharger in which one small and one large turbo are selectively operated according to driving conditions.” (Source)

 

What else do we know? Well, Mazda has been actively racing the SkyActiv D engines in several endurance races. This is a mildly modified version of the SkyActiv D that is known to put down about 400hp.

 

 

So why would Mazda try and rework a new regular gas powered engine with a turbocharger for the next speed? Why not take the 400 hp Two-Stage turbo diesel that they already have, and pull a little power from it, and release it as a street legal vehicle?

More questions: Why has the SkyActiv D release been delayed? Is it emissions related? According to Mazda their engines pass with flying colors, no treatment necessary. So it can’t be that. In fact when the SkyActiv D was delayed Mazda spokesman Jeremy Barnes was quoted as saying: Skyactiv technology can meet it [emissions] — and it can — but the challenge is engineering a car that delivers the kind of performance that a Mazda needs to have and we’re unable to do that given where we are right now.”

Wait a minute. So what you are saying is that the 2.2L passes emissions, (source) but doesn’t have enough performance? If Mazda has already passed the emissions testing for the engine then why delay it. We know they have released it in the CX-5 in other markets, they even confirmed they will be releasing it in the Mazda 3 in Australia come September. (Source) Along with this the CX-5 has been selling in Japan at a rate of “four 2.2L SKYACTIV-D purchases for every one 2.0L SKYACTIV-G.” (Source) So why would they work on a turbo gasoline variant when the Diesels (which already have a turbo) are already clearly being sold at such a significantly greater rate? My answer? I don’t think they will.

So what’s the delay. My guess is that they plan on announcing the SkyActiv D release date at the same time as the performance oriented version, the Mazdaspeed SkyActiv D which may be a variant of the engine seen above. Even the SkyActiv D that is currently running in the CX-5 pushes 310 lb ft of torque and 173 hp. Still impressive, especially that torque! Imagine bumping the hp by even 100 and the torque would be incredible!

Last but not least, check out these two videos from Mazda that were released almost 2 years ago. Starting at minute 2 they say some interesting things.

https://youtu.be/cK5SQkEUBdo?t=2m

“An exceptionally high redline or 5200rpm. When we were done we had created a beast … delivers the driving performance of a 4.0L V8.”

A 4.0L V8!!  Just do a quick google search for standard HP from common 4.0L V8s and you should be more than impressed with the results. Is this Mazda teasing us and we just failed to notice?

In the long run, whether we get a Mazdaspeed version of the SkyActiv D or not, I can’t wait until it hits our shores for good. Let’s hope it’s soon!

 

Until next Time,

-Spencer@CorkSport