Before starting work here at CorkSport a little over 2 months ago, owning a Mazda had never crossed my mind. Now that I spend the majority of my waking hours working on them, I am starting to spend other hours of my day dreaming about them (You would be surprised how many more Mazdas you see once you start looking for them). Being a CorkSport engineer gives me great enjoyment in designing parts that make cars go faster and handle quicker. However, owning a Jeep Grand Cherokee and being able to use parts I design on my own vehicle limits my options to, well, nothing.
That being said, I have been looking into upgrading from my current ride to something a bit more work friendly, not to mention more fuel efficient (not that I don’t love getting 16mpg in town). Now that I no longer live in the land of eternal snow (Minnesota), my need for an SUV has diminished greatly (however, my love for AWD has not).
I love the look and handling of the MS3 hatchbacks, but would really enjoy the AWD and comfort of an MS6. That leaves me contemplating what my next vehicle and/or next work project should be (an AWD MS3?).
Hello, my name is Troy Rutherford and I am a new product development engineer here at CorkSport. I have a life long obsession with making sparks fly in the shop. I grew up watching my dad design, fabricate and fix equipment on the family farm. It all started when I got my first car at the age of 14, it has been all downhill since then. I got a mechanical engineering degree in 2002 and have been designing aftermarket products for the past 8 years.
In my spare time I spend countless hours in my personal shop every week, bending, welding, and fabrication parts primarily used for the off road industry. I know my way around a shop and have designed and fabricated several long travel 4 link suspensions, interior and exterior roll cage, axle modifications, gear installs, and have burned through several miles of welding wire in the past couple years.
I have a unique skill set in finding innovative solutions to solve common everyday problems that we all face, along with a keen eye for detail, ascetics, and clean lines. Solidworks is my CAD package of choice and along the way I have designed some pretty intricately detailed parts that are used throughout the world by military and law enforcement.
So what floats my boat? I love coming up with a bigger and better mouse trap. Pushing the envelope with new designs that will expand upon the existing products offered at CorkSport. With my expertise in the off road industry, fabrication skills, and experience in machining I hope to carry my ability across motorsport lines to Mazdas.
I look forward to increasing my knowledge of Mazdas along with gaining knowledge and insight into the world of aftermarket Mazda performance modification. After all, I want to find out what makes you tick.
If there is a product that you think would make a great addition to our ever expanding product line let me know! If you ever run into me at a show be sure and say hello!
I am the “New, Old” guy that answers the phone here at CorkSport along with Derrick.
I used to work here a few years ago, left to explore other job options and go back to school, and now I’ve come back home to CorkSport. There are lots of changes but some things are still the same.
If you send a email in from the web page I’m the guy that gets it. One of the questions I get frequently is “How much is shipping.” So I thought I would share with you a easy way to get a quote right from our web page.
To Estimating Shipping Costs:
Add the part to your cart
Click on the view cart tab
Click on estimate shipping cost
Then enter your information on the right
This will give you a good estimate of what shipping is going to cost you. You still may want to check with us for shipping costs on large products like body kits and stuff like that.
If you have any questions please email us anytime.
You can read a little about me in the “Meet The Bloggers” section, but I’ll go in to a little more detail here. My name is Jake Fahlsing and I am one of the new product development engineers here at Corksport. I was born and raised in Minnesota, but have lived in Colorado, Kansas and the UP of Michigan (where I obtained my degrees at Michigan Tech). At 25 I am one of the youngest guys here, but with that comes a fresh mind from a different generation (not saying that anyone here is old).
I was involved in the Formula SAE team at Michigan Tech. For those that don’t know what that is: It is a school sponsored team of students that put their engineering and business skills into a real world application. The FSAE team must design and build a new car for every competition (held in mid May, usually at Michigan International Raceway). Using a Honda CBR F4i engine as our starting point, we designed, tested, manufactured and installed everything from the space frame tube chassis, to the rear diff housing. I was the controls team leader and competition driver of the vehicle. I was in charge of the brakes, throttle, shifting, impact attenuator, and dash along with the people working on those parts. I have personally designed and built several components for the car, but my latest project was a set of lightweight paddle shifters and shift linkage. Once at competition, we competed in several events including 1,000ft acceleration time, brake test, skid pad, an autocross course, and a 22km endurance race (which is also judged on fuel economy, not just time). Also, we were judged by senior level engineers from several Fortune 500 companies on design and sales presentations. With a budget usually around $12,000, it makes for several late nights in the shop and many team members calling around for donated materials and parts. The picture is of the 2008-2009 school year vehicle.
After finishing school (BSME & MBA), Corksport seemed like the perfect fit for me. The innovative design, quality, and attention to detail are what drew me here. As a product development engineer for Corksport, I hope to bring in some new ideas that you will see released in the not too distant future.
I love designing new products and seeing them through to the end. Nothing is more rewarding than having a customer say they loved a product that was something I designed, created, and tested. I have found in previous design projects, that a combination of new age technology (Computer Aided Drafting, Finite Element Analysis, and Computational Fluid Dynamics) combined with old fashion hands on engineering, fabrication, and testing is what makes a product successful.
The best product ideas come from the customer, and without you, we would not be in business. So if you have a good idea for a new product, be sure to go to our main page and click on the product ideas link.
Being new to the area comes with all sorts of little things that I am constantly learning. For example, you can’t pump your own gas in Oregon (I found that out for myself)? And it’s pronounced “Organ” not Oregon? Also, people love their speed bumps. Finally, I will never again leave my sunroof open while going in to a store if even for 5 minutes. The weather here can change from blue skies and sunny, to dark and rainy in seconds. I’m sure I could create an entire post on this, but I’ll leave it at that.
