Tag: Rally

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That’s a Wrap Folks

Another year is coming to a close and I was thinking back on the events we attended this year. We really put on some miles traveling around the US to Mazda enthusiast events from Miami Florida to Los Angeles California and many places in-between.

We started off 2011 with a bang by going to the Sno Drift Rally in Michigan at the invitation of Thayer Mazda of Michigan. They sponsored the event and went all out by supplying a hospitality tent for anyone who wanted to warm up. Thayer also built a green light car for the event. They used a 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 outfitted with the CorkSport 80mm Cat back, Short Ram Intake, and Aluminum Skid Tray. It was great to see a Mazda dealer get involved on the level they did.

The next event at the Epic Florida Meet in sunny Miami, Florida, was a big contrast from the subzero temps endured during the Sno Drift rally. Lou Bachrodt Mazda hosted the event which was put together by the SFLA Mazda Crew. It was a great event with Mazda’s that ranged from a pristine Rx2 to 2011 Mazdaspeed 3’s and lots of great people and true Mazda enthusiasts to talk with about their cars.

In May we flew to Newburgh New York to attend the OCC All Mazda Meet for a third year. We hosted a focus group to get to know our customers in the northeast better and get feedback from our customers about some of our new ideas and products. Despite a brief rain shower the event was great with a big turnout of Mazdas from all over.

In July we headed to Monroe Washington to attend the Formula D event, with our Rx8 and 2010 Mazdaspeed 3, to hang out with 10,000 other drift fans for a weekend of burning rubber. The amount of attendance at the event was great and the parking lot was a car show by itself. We saw lots of great Mazdas and met tons of enthusiasts which drove all makes and models. We did our best to convince the fans Mazdas are the best.

August came around and we headed off to the MOCC sponsored Mazfest at the Autoclub Speedway for an entire day of autocrossing and a car show. There were plenty of Mazda race cars brought out for the event along with a wide range of street cars. There were a few track mishaps including a Mazdaspeed 3 which got some damage to its bumper. Big thanks to the CorkSport customers who loaned us their vehicle to display in our booth for the day.

September brought up the Mazdas NW End of Summer Bash which was held on a sunny September day at CorkSport and included a dyno day, Mazda car show, and BBQ. It is always fun to see the Mazdas that show up at our events. The NW has quite the collection of Mazdas that are not daily driven. Big thanks to Mazdas NW for putting on the show.

The most recent event we attended was the Epic East Coast Mazda Meet at the Tail of the Dragon in North Carolina. If you ever want to get your twisties on in your Mazda, this is the place to go. I would have loved to bring some of the CorkSport vehicles to this event to tear it up with the rest of the attendees. The whole event spanned 5 days. CorkSport came out east for Saturday’s festivities that included a car show, a run on the tail of the dragon, and a Halloween BBQ.

If you want to see more pictures from the events you can view albums from each event on our CorkSport Facebook page.

Are you hosting or planning on an event in 2012? Let us know, we are always interested in what events are going on in the Mazda community and you never know, we just might show up.

-Derrick

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B-Spec, Big Time

Over the last year there have been rumors of a racing series to run b segment cars on the track. Mazda and Honda decided to give it a shot, testing out cars at the 25 hours of thunder hill, which we blogged about last year with the Mazda 2 and the Fit.

On October 12th there were four cars which were tested by the SCCA at Michigan’s Grattan raceway to see how the cars stacked up against each other at racing speeds. The cars that showed up were the Mazda 2, Honda Fit, Ford Fiesta, and Fiat 500.

The SCCA tested out throttle restrictors and ballast weights to see how it affected each car. The restrictor and the ballast are used to equalize the playing field between the cars if one car has an advantage in weight or horse power.

The SCCA will be doing another round of testing at some point in January where they expect more manufacturers to show up. Kia has announced that they will have the Rio racing and has been rumors of Toyota and Nissan getting into the action next year as well.

The B-Spec class cars qualify for the SCCA showroom stock C category and there has been interest by both Grand-Am and World Challenge to pick up the series next year.

I am looking forward to seeing the cars our there on the track with some closer door to door racing next year.

-Derrick

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SEMA – Gorgeous Girls, Hot Cars, Celebrities, and …Education?

Being a product development engineer at CorkSport has many perks, but the latest one was a chance to go to SEMA (Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association) in Las Vegas. The weeklong event is the culmination of a year long process that thousands of companies have put into various vehicles and aftermarket parts. There was everything from smaller companies showcasing a new line of off-road vehicles, to Ford’s new police vehicle (long overdue).

The part that the majority of the public does not know is the education side of things. Being a member of SEMA allows us to go to seminars that are specifically geared towards helping smaller businesses (like CorkSport) evolve. These seminars are put on by successful people in the industry (usually a panel of experts in the related field). They had everything from how to make a viral video, to industry trends and what car manufacturers and planning for the future. This helps us get a head start on continuing to make quality products at an affordable price.

The other side of things that you may not realize about SEMA is the networking side of things. I know this is true for me, and most likely for a lot of you as well: the majority of the people I communitate with for various parts, hardware, equipment, etc, I never actually meet in person, rather only via email or phone. SEMA is a great chance to put a face to a name and get to know the person I am doing business with a little better.

I was also able to squeeze in a little non-work related fun such as getting to sit in the actual car Ken Block used in the Gymkhana 3 video and watch some trophy trucks race around the parking lot.

I will end with a couple very helpful hints for any future SEMA goers. Wear comfortable shoes! This is a must. I’m guessing I walked a minimum of a marathon in two and a half days. My second tip is to bring a backpack. You will get lots of little lanyards and posters and a backpack is much easier to walk with a place to store them. Finally, bring lots of water. The heat and walking around will dehydrate you and paying $3 for little 12oz bottles can get expensive.

– Jake

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America Needs More Rally Racing

Watching the Polish round of WRC (World Rally Championship) racing I realized how out of touch United States is with the rest of the planet in regards to auto racing. Look at the crowds that show up at the events in all of the countries that the WRC stops at. Oh wait that’s right Speed channel no longer shows the events so it forces us to download the event via torrents of the TV shows after they happen from Eurosport.

Back to my commentary, the world (except the US) supports the WRC events.  On all of the stages you see crowds lining the roads. The spectators hike to the events just to get a chance to watch the cars blast by at a distance of 10 feet from the action. That’s right, no fences or guard rails, nothing. Stand on the outside of a corner and you can get showered with rocks or other debris (and possibly a car as if they blow a corner). You don’t hear of NASCAR shutting down an event because of too many spectators.

You also can’t match the surprises the events have. For example in an earlier event this year there were wild horses running across the roads, you don’t get that in an Indy car event. About the biggest critter you have showing up at a racetrack in the US is a rabbit. Weather doesn’t stop the events either. They will race a WRC in the worst weather including snow, mud, freezing rain, you name it.

Monte Carlo WRC round on ice covered roads shown above.

Rally racing has been in the US for years but it always seems to be out of the public eye.  The WRC did visit Washington State once in the 80s but that was before the events were really televised.  US rallying has shown up in the X Games, which has brought awareness of rally racing to the masses but it really has never caught on. I believe it is coverage of the events by racing press here in the US that is to blame for this.

You can find references about the events at the fringe. Grass Roots Motorsports (GRM) prints rally racing information from club and national US events but you never hear about anything outside of North America. Don’t get me wrong I am happy they do publish information but GRM is not exactly mainstream media. Speed channel showed the WRC for a few seasons then dropped it when they became NASCAR-vision.

You don’t get views like this at NASCAR tracks.

So if you are reading this blog post take a look out there at what the rest of the planet is up to for racing. You may be surprised at how exciting the racing can be on a gravel road at 125mph.

– Derrick