Tag: MazdaSpeed 3

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Traveling the Northwest, For Show

Today we’ve got a guest blog from good friend of CorkSport and owner of a gorgeous (CorkSport sponsored) MazdaSpeed 3, CJ!

Before the show season started, I was doubtful that there would be shows left that would keep the import car show scene in the Northwest alive. Two major show events canceled out due to economic reasons and show websites were not being updated. Fortunately for people like me, the scene did not die and the Northwest managed to put together a list of fun car events.

Import Face Off was the first show of the season and featured both a car show and drag racing. I learned a few things that day like what car owners do before the show begins (clean, shine and clean their cars some more). What they do during the show to pass the time better (bring chairs, camera, snacks, water,
canopy, and sunblock <– very important).

The next show was the Fatlace One of One Showcase at Formula D in Monroe, WA at Evergreen Speedway. This was the first big event of the year with tons of booth vendors giving away a lot of free swag, an open to the public pit area, and tons of drift action from both amateurs and pros.

On July 18, NOS Forum Fest was held at PGP Motorsports Park in Kent, WA. This was a popular event that gathered a large number of enthusiasts through the power of the internet and forums. It featured both drag racing and drifting so there was plenty of stuff to keep you entertained. With the help of Derrick and
Chris from CorkSport making the trek north and bringing 2 cars, MazdasNW managed to win the Best Forum Representation award. My 2008 Mazdaspeed 3 managed to win Best Mazda, which was my first award ever.

The farthest event I went to this year is the Excelerator Car Meet at Silverwood Theme Park in Athol, Idaho. Registered attendees were treated with admission for 2 into both the theme park and water park, which made for one of the funnest events I’ve attended.

On August 29, I decided to go north of the border into Richmond, B.C. Canada to check out the import scene there at Revscene.net’s Sausage Fest Summer Car Meet. This was the biggest event I went to this year – it had the most Hondas, the most Evos, the most Mazda 3s, and the most BMWs out of any other show or meet.

Battle of the Imports in Woodburn, Oregon was originally scheduled for September 19th but was postponed to October 2nd due to unpredictable weather conditions in the Northwest , which had clear sunny skies in the afternoon. Just like Import Face Off, this event featured a show and drag racing. 2 CorkSport Sponsored vehicles won awards that day. Best of Class Mazda for the skull themed RX8 and 2nd place Best Mazda for my MS3.

– CJ

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CARB CERTIFIED. YEAH, THAT’S RIGHT. I SAID IT.

I have been one of the Product Development Engineers here at CorkSport for roughly nine months. During that time, I have helped complete projects that were already in the works before I was here, completed projects on my own, and have started projects that are still in the development process. One project that I have been working on (other than physical part development) since I started here has been getting some of our parts California Air Resource Board (CARB) approved. After nine long months, I can now check that off my to-do list (at least for a few of our parts).

Our 2010-up Mazdaspeed 3 Short Ram Intake (SRI), 2007-2009 Mazdaspeed 3 SRI, 2006-2007 Mazdaspeed 6 SRI, and our 2007-up CX-7 SRI will now be CARB certified. This is the full intake kit that consists of the filter, MAF housing, silicone couplers, and turbo inlet pipe (TIP) as shown in the picture below. In the next few weeks we will be receiving a legal Executive Order (EO) number assigned to these intake packages. That EO number will be affixed to the intake system which will designate it as CARB approved (50-state legal).

If you already have our intake system for one of these vehicles, DO NOT WORRY! No, we can’t legally send you a sticker to put on your intake, but when you go in to the smog check station, they will look up our intake and verify that you have the same intake system on your vehicle.

The process of getting a performance part CARB certified is lengthy and time consuming, but we feel that making parts that are legal in all 50 states is very important.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

– Jake

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A Transparent Pipeline? Brilliant!

Here at CorkSport, we recently held a focus group to help understand what we can do better as a company. One of the things that were shown to be important to you, the customer, is to be more transparent in regards to what products we are currently working on and what you can expect to see released for sale in the near future. This post will be about some of the new products we have coming down the line, but our knowledgebase is your one-stop place for FAQs, testimonials, install instructions, and new product development.

In trying to expand our product line, we are looking into branching out into some new types of products that we don’t currently offer such as the mudflaps in the picture below. We are going to be coming out with a set of mudflaps with our logo embossed, laser etched or screen printed onto the back of them. They will be made of high quality polyurethane and will hopefully be available for several Mazda models. They will utilize stock mounting locations and come with everything needed for installation.

We will be releasing our CorkSport Short Ram Intake kit for the Mazda 2 in the next week or two. This will utilize a redesigned MAF housing specifically designed for the 2 and shows gains of 5-6 ft-lbs of torque and 3-4.5 hp.

Next on the list is a license plate relocation bracket that will fill out just about all of the newer Mazda vehicles that we currently don’t offer a plate relocation kit for. The picture below shows that kit on our Mazda 2. The kit includes a smoked Lexan plate with our new logo milled in. It also includes locking screws to help reduce the risk of someone stealing your license plate.

Finally, our amazingly popular Aluminum Skidplate for the 2010+ Mazda/Mazdaspeed 3 will soon be available for the 2004-2009 Mazda 3 and 2007-2009 MazdaSpeed 3. This upgrade from the factory undertray offers a removable oil filter cover that does not require you to take off the entire skidplate to change your oil. It also offers added protection and increased ground clearance compared to the factory undertray.

These are just a few of the products that we have coming down the pipeline in the near future. Be sure to keep checking our knowledgebase for updates and new product postings.

Jake

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SEMA 2010

I had three 3 days to take in SEMA this year. I estimate that I probably I walked around 40 miles (it felt that way by Thursday afternoon at least). The aisles were busier this year with people and exhibitors when compared to 2009. The most common vehicles shown at SEMA were Camaros and Mustangs, new and old, tons of them everywhere.

The vehicle which I think had the strongest showing besides the usual muscle cars was the Ford Fiesta. I saw at least 15 or these cars which had been modified in one way or another with various themes. I expect to see more and more of these on the road over the next few years. Most of the themes shown on the Fiesta were more lifestyle oriented over sheer performance. Ford did have some trick rally ready parts available for the Fiesta if you wanted to go off road your car.

One car I expected to see more of was the Chevy Volt. I saw only one, and that was in the Chevy booth. For a car which GM has been touting for 3 years you would expect a few pre-production cars to be seen around the show. My thought is they are pulling another GM move and it will be several more years until they finally get the car into production. The car looks great in person even though I would never own one.

Weird item of the show was the Green Hornet car for the upcoming movie. The car was in the Royal Purple booth. It made for an odd combo of missiles, machine guns and lubricants.

I was disappointed this year though with the showing of Mazdas, I was expecting more. There was not one Mazdaspeed 3 or any other Mazdaspeed Mazda at the show. There were two nice Mazda 3s in the Mazdaspeed booth, one time attack car which started life as a world challenge car and a great concept vehicle turbocharged Mazda 3 sedan which was also shown at last years SEMA show.

Also shown in the Mazdaspeed booth was a Rolex 24 hour winning RX8 with a devious body scheme. The left side and the rear was the FXDD car and the other side of the car was in the Castrol Dark Grey.

There were four Mazda 2s at the show. Two were in the Mazda booth, one in the H&R suspension booth and the 4th in the booth across from the Mazdaspeed booth. All of the Mazda 2s at the show were equipped with European bumpers and two had the European market lighting. The lip kits on several of the cars are designed for the euro bumpers so they do not work with North American market vehicles but they do look good. I spoke with the company who produced the kits and they are working on them for North American cars. The roll cage and race car prep on the grey Mazda 2 was done by AWR racing out of California and it looked good. It makes me want to tear out the interior of my car and go racing.

If I was to compare the show overall to last year it was better. There were plenty of new ideas, great looking cars, and people to meet with all week. Maybe next year we can see more Mazdas at the show.

– Derrick

If you are looking for more pictures of cars from the SEMA show check out the CorkSport Facebook page.

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Engine Protection? CorkSport’s Got it Covered

Being one of the product development engineers here, I have seen many ideas submitted by customers. Some crazy, some very practical, some impossible and some of them eventually grow to become a part that we produce and sell. I have never seen more people interested and dedicated to any other submitted idea than a skidplate built specifically for their 3. Being that this is not something we typically sell, we thought, why not.

You wanted a larger opening for oil filter changes? Done. A one-piece aluminum design mounted to the sub-frame that won’t flop around in the wind? Whammy. More ground clearance? Shazam. An undertray that will protect against the elements better than the stock plastic one? You got it. (The lowest part of the skidplate is directly mounted to the sub-frame via two M12 and two M14 bolts to factory threaded holes.). Finally, something that won’t rip off when you reverse out of your parking spot in a foot of snow? Check.

The result of your input is the product below. A piece that reminds me of the many winters in Minnesota and the UP of Michigan where I would have loved to have had this on my car.

– Jake