Mazda Rumors – Mazdaspeed Cx3, Merger, Best Year Ever?

Oh man, so much goodness that we can’t help but be ecstatic!

With news rolling in about Mazda in the past month we have hardly been able to keep our heads. To start with, lets start with a beautiful concept from Mazdaspeed, the CX3 Racing.

What we love about this concept

Not only does it look awesome, but also the fact that it sort of reminds us of a Mazda 3…. but smaller, and thus lighter, and…. with the possibility of AWD. Yes, I said AWD since the CX3 is a CUV it will be offered with AWD which we all know makes most of us get a little excited about the friction created from extra rubber traction.

P.S. This wasn’t just an imagined concept, they actually made this thing for the Tokyo Auto Show. See more real-live photos here: Tokyo Auto Salon

Possible Merger on the Horizon?

So enough of that, lets get some more juicy news with the latest that Jalopnik is talking about…. a possible merger between Fiat Chrysler and Mazda? Obviously we already have heard that there are shared development of the latest ND MX-5 Miata (and it looks GREAT need we remind you?) that Fiat/Alfa should be making a version of, but we hadn’t heard anything of a merge.

“Fiat-Chrysler could merge with a U.S. company, but that seems unlikely… That leaves the Japanese and the two frontrunners are Mazda and Suzuki… it seems like Mazda is the obvious choice. ”

Now honestly why Fit-Chrysler and Mazda would want to merge is beyond me. I personally can’t see it benefiting Mazda. The differences in the two companies seems overwhelming and in my opinion the reason Mazda has been doing so great lately is the fact that they are a small player with no red-tape to follow. Remember those Ford years? Not the best for Mazda design or ingenuity. All told, I highly doubt this is anything more than one journalists hopes/ideas.

Speaking of Mazda doing well though, who isn’t absolutly stoked and excited that Mazda had it’s best year since 1994 this year?! That is awesome. Really we can see why, a beautiful lineup of amazing cars that continues to gain traction due to great design, economy and most of all, they are all a blast to drive. The CX-5 has been selling extremely well along with the Mazda3 and Mazda6! According to Jalopnik:

“Strong sellers for Mazda include the Mazda3, which had its second-best December ever, and the Mazda CX-5, which had its best December ever, period. The Mazda6 also had its best year since 2007. ”

Yes, yes and yes again! We can get behind this. In case you didn’t realize though, when Mazda does well, we all do well! The more their staple cars sell well the more money they can put towards developing a new Mazdaspeed and/or an awesome surprise Rotary!

Keep it up Mazda, you know we will be your fans as long as you keep doing what you are doing!

January 16, 2015September 13, 2018

Top 5 Tips for Family Roadtrips in your Mazda

Dear Car Guy,

Hope this finds you well and enjoying the switch in seasons.

Wanted to give a shout-out to all of you Car Guy’s that are also Family Guy’s! You’re THAT guy that keeps his car clean regardless of the amount of french fries and jelly belly’s that are left on the seat after you’ve removed the car seat. You’re also the guy that gets to load everyone in your AWESOME ride because it’s highly likely that your wife hasn’t cleaned out her car in what seems like decades. So the dog, the kids and the luggage all get to replace your sound system in the back for the weekend as you go off to visit family for the upcoming holidays.

Here are some tips, since I know you’re always into life-hacks that keep your car in pristine condition, and to make your extended car rides a little bit more tolerable with family!

#1. Lay down plastic. No Kidding!

Grab some painter’s plastic and lay it over your seats with holes for the seatbelts, and you’re less likely for spills to stain and cause a permanent mess. Not to mention when you’re done with the trip, be it out trick-or-treating, or heading to be with family for the weekend, you can just scoop up the dirt, broken crayons, half eaten suckers and candy wrappers all at once. Better yet, if you can convince the screaming kids and wife, don’t let anyone eat in the car 😉 If you have to… Here’s an idea: https://diningwithalice.com/twin-cities-live/travel-snacks-for-kids/

#2. Travel the road less traveled.

Those winding twisting, exciting roads will rock the kids and screaming tots to sleep (if you’re lucky, the wife too!). Leaving You with nothing but the wheel, the road, and some thinking time. (Please be careful with these roads as the weather gets worse). I love this way, even if it takes 20 minutes longer, it’s worth it for the silence and fun.

#3. Use your coats (full sized adults) and zip them over the front seats.

Keeping the little feet from leaving foot prints and stains on the back of your seats. Or use something like this: Seatback Protector

#4. Put a full size towel, in a plastic bag and leave it in the wheel well of your spare tire.

This would be perfect for the unexpected messes or dogs that run off into the lake. We all know that someone will have an accident, spill a drink, forget a favorite blanket, or will inevitably fall into the only mud puddle seen for miles. Be prepared for our furry friends it always seems like it was on purpose!

#5. Embrace the show tunes, it’s highly likely your kids are into some form of musical torture.

If you just embrace it and sing along they’re less likely to want to continue with that soundtrack. What better than the voice of Dad over the “Frozen” theme song to annoy the kids, or a great rendition of Miley Cyrus screamed in your best falsetto. Unless you’re into the same song on repeat….

Don’t worry, we’ve taken these ideas from the Dad’s here, and they really work. So find a way to “Let it go”, and yet still protect your favorite ‘baby’ from your beloved brood.

Stay Safe, Stay happy, and Enjoy the ride!!

December 31, 2014December 31, 2014

Corksport Aluminum Swaybar Bracket

Feeling a little loose in the rear end lately?

Take a peek and you will probably find another broken steel, gold zinc-coated bracket. Stop your 4 month ritual to the local auto parts store and upgrade to something much better!

Introducing the new CorkSport Sway Bar Bracket!

Manufactured from high-grade 6061-T6 aluminum, these precision machined brackets are strong, durable, and look great. Plus it’s 100% designed and manufactured right here in the Pacific NW, USA. (BUY NOW)

But wait, there’s more!

Not only did we fix the broken bracket problem, we went a step further. We use 1” and 1-1/8” poly bushings to really get your sway under control. Made from 90A durometer polyurethane, these bushings are far stiffer and much more durable than rubber bushings. Polyurethane will not deform or crack over time like the rubber counterparts so frequently do.

Time to get technical!

If you have any doubts about the strength of the CorkSport brackets then let the next images put your mind at ease. The magenta arrows represent the force that is applied in the approximate direction that the bar pushes on the bracket. The green arrows represent the “fixturing” or bolting of the bracket to the vehicle.

Above is the FEA (Finite Element Analysis) result after applying a force of 1000 lbf to the steel bracket. Obviously the bracket has deformed significantly, but is also an exaggeration to show the deformation. The deformation scale factor is 16:1 (I’ll talk about this in more detail later). Now there are two key things to see from this image. 1. The yield strength of the material is ~51k PSI, but you can clearly see that the maximum stress in the bracket is ~150k PSI. 2. That maximum stress is represented by the color red. If you look back at the first image in the blog you will see where the typical fracture in the bracket is; the exact same location as the red in the image above.

Now let’s take a look at the CorkSport bracket with the same force in the same direction.

Above is the FEA result after applying a force of 1000 lbf to the aluminum CorkSport bracket. Obviously the bracket has deformed significantly, but is also an exaggeration to show the deformation. The deformation scale factor is 192:1 (Yup, you read that right). Now let’s compare those two key things. 1. The yield strength of the material is ~31k PSI, but you can clearly see that the maximum stress in the bracket is only ~26k PSI. 2. The bracket is not experiencing any yielding (permanent bending) due to the 1000 lbf.

Let’s talk about that “deformation scale factor”. In most instances when conducting FEA, the material deforms so little that you can’t actually see it. To assist in the designing process the computer program automatically scales the deformation (exaggerates it) so that the naked eye can easily see it. So what’s another way to “look” at this deformation scale factor? If the same force of 1000 lbf is applied to both brackets, yet the steel bracket has a 16:1 (small exaggeration) scale and the CorkSport bracket is 192:1 (extreme exaggeration) scale, then there is an obvious difference of strengths.

With such a huge difference, my engineering curiosity kicked in, I began investigating. The conclusion I came to is staggering. The steel bracket began to yield when a mere 350 lbf was applied, whereas the CorkSport bracket could handle 1200 lbf. This means that the CorkSport bracket is nearly 3.5 times stronger than the steel bracket!

Excited yet? You should be! Stop your 4 month ritual right now with the CorkSport Sway Bar Bracket Kit! Zoom-Zoom!

-Barett, CS Engineering

December 1, 2014

Love for the Rotary

With all of the talk of doom and gloom for the next rotary I wanted to share the experience I had with the help of Mazda during Sevenstock 17 on Nov 22^nd. I hate to say it but while I was at Sevenstock helping out with the Diesel Mazda 6 I experienced the awesome side benefit of being next to three 4 rotor cars in the same garage.

The recent message given from Mazda about the rotary engine being important but not in the cards for a current car has been a heart breaker for the rotor heads out there, myself included as I daily drive an 87 Turbo FC. I can definitely say that from the top down the rotary engine is important to Mazda despite it not being considered for a new car right now. Take a look at this 787 which Robert Davis (senior vice president U.S. operations aka he runs the show in US) personally drives.

There is a genuine love for the rotary with him, I watched him wipe down the car after going out onto the track for one session. In conversations, the restoration of other rotary race cars was brought up many times and when Robert isn’t driving the 787 above he rolls in an Rx8 in NASA PT racing, when time affords it.

See the first car in the line below? It is one of the Rx-792P IMSA GTP prototypes.

I watched Weldon Munsey (Manager of Dealer Affairs) hop out after just one session with a big smile on his face. You could tell he just loves driving that car.

This next car is one of my favorite Rotary race cars (as I had the opportunity to see it raced at Portland Intl Raceway in the early 90s). The 4 rotor GTO kept the basic shape of the FC rx7 (which included the stock roof panel, windshield, and tail lights) and the rest of the car was pure business with a 4 rotor engine.

Not a big surprise another Mazda executive drives it, Jeremy Barnes (Director of public relations). I am sure the re-occurring theme is not lost here, these guys love rotaries and if the opportunity presents they will be pulling to get another car released for all us rotards out there. In the meantime enjoy the video below from Sevenstock 17 with a few drive byes of the 787 and the 792p wide open on the throttle at Autoclub Speedway.

Zoom zoom.

– Derrick Ambrose 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!

November 19, 2014September 13, 2018

2014 #CSselfie Contest Winners

It is finally time to announce the four winners of CorkSport’s very own #CSselfie photo contest!

Winners will receive:

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

2) A CorkSport Schwag package, including: A copy of The Ultimate Mazda Performance Guide, one CorkSport Flexfit hat, a CorkSport license plate, a CorkSport 12″ sticker and a totally awesome CorkSport lanyard.

Are you ready?

Three…

Two…

One…

Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2014 #CSselfie photo competition. Keep Your eyes peeled for more CorkSport photo ops and have an awesome day!

You can click through all of the #CSselfie entries in our #CSselfie album on our Facebook page. We’ll be updating it throughout the week with all of the 2014 CorkSport #CSselfie entries.

– Yours Truly,

CorkSport…. #ZoomZoom