Tag: RX8

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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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May-June Event Wrap Up

I’ve attended quite a few events over the last two months, everything from a pre-release Mazda 2 measuring session in LA to the All Mazda Meet in Newburgh, NY. Take a look at where else we have been:

May 12th, MazdasNW

There was a really big turnout at the May monthly meet at NorthGate mall in Seattle. There was a huge range of vehicles, RX-7s, B series trucks, Mazda 3s, Mazda 6s, MX-6, etc. This meet was surprising simply in the quantity of people and cars. There were several notable vehicles at the meet. A really nice FD RX-7 showed up at the event, which was all built by the owner. The whole car was well thought out and looked amazing. There was a really nice B Series truck with quite a long list of modifications as well, which I liked.


The whole range of Mazdas


Really nice FD RX-7

May 19th, Mazda 2 Measuring Session.

For the first time ever Mazda put up a vehicle and let companies get a chance to look at a new model before it is released through what they call a SEMA measuring session. This gives companies like CorkSport a chance to get measurements and start getting parts built and ready to sell as soon as the car is available. We flew down to Irvine, CA to spend the day collecting information to make new parts. Mazda provided two cars to look at and get information from.

While we were in Irvine we stopped by Tuttle Click Mazda, a Mazda dealership that offers our CorkSport brand products. If you’re in the greater Irvine, CA area stop by and check them out!


Tuttle Click Mazda

Their parts department showroom was in the middle of a remodel for better product displays while we were visiting so we couldn’t check out their awesome CorkSport display. If you are in So Cal and want to pick up CorkSport products locally give George a call at 949 421 3200. He is the parts manager for Tuttle Click Mazda. They had a good selection of Mazdas on the lot including a Red 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 with powder coated wheels and no front plate.


New and black powder coated wheels and no front plate

June 9th, MazdasNW

The June MazdasNW monthly meet had a smaller turnout than usual due to the Junuary weather the NW was experiencing. Despite the threat of rain we trekked to Federal Way, WA to attend the meet. One lucky customer was able to have their CorkSport Mazdaspeed6 cat-back exhaust delivered, saving him quite a bit in shipping costs.


Ecstatic new owner of a CorkSport Mazdaspeed 6 Exhaust

We also got a chance to do investigative work into the 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 as to why the factory keyless entry system was not working on our Project Mazdaspeed3. More details on that adventure can be seen in my blog post about it.


Troubleshooting the elusive keyless entry problem

June 5th, OCC All Mazda Meet

One June 4th at 9:30pm Chris and I hopped on a plane headed to for Newark, NJ to attend the OCC Mazda Meet. The plane landed at 5:30am local time (Sleep?? What’s that?) and we jumped in our rental and headed north to Newburgh, NY. Heading up the freeway we got passed by a train of Mazdaspeed3s on their way to the meet.


A train of Mazdaspeed 3s

The event didn’t officially start until 10am but people started showing up early. When we arrived at 7:30 people were already getting cars parked in the lot. Due to an unexpected surprise our parts we had shipped to the event via UPS did not arrive so we were limited on the parts we had crammed in our carry-on bags to show at the event. This was one of the bigger all Mazda non-rotary specific events which I have attended. The RSVP list had 532 people signed up and 273 vehicles. Here’s a few pictures from the event, there were lots of cool cars there.


Really nice and rare yellow MP3 Protege


Rotaries including a really clean RX-3


Chris milking a giant NY cow

June 19th, MazdasNW Summer BBQ

MazdasNW hosted their annual summertime BBQ in Carnation, WA at Tolt McDonald Park. MazdasNW provided the food, drink, and cooking (thanks!) for the BBQ. The weather was unusually kind to us and there was no rain all day.

In true MazdasNW style, a parts installation immediately took place. A CorkSport SRI was installed at the event on a Mazdaspeed 6.


Installing the CorkSport SRI


Installation complete

Well, that’s it for events for the last two months. We have plenty more events lined up for the next 3 months, so stay tuned here for all the updates!

– Derrick

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Goodbye RX-8

Reports from Mazda are pointing to the fact that the RX-8 will no longer be sold after the 2011 model year. Mazda has stopped sales of the car in Europe, mostly because it is unable to pass their strict emission standards.

Since the last refresh of the RX-8 in 2009 sales have slowed down considerably. This could be due in part to offerings from other Japanese and domestic automakers in the same market segment but it comes as no surprise Mazda is discontinuing the RX-8 when only 128 of them were sold in April.

We should remain hopeful though, because rumor has it that the RX-7 is likely to be revived in some way. If the rumors are true then the new RX will be using Mazda’s latest rotary engine, the 16X, which is rumored to produce 250hp. The price point for the new one is in the mid to upper 20’s.

All I know is that we can’t wait to get our hands on whatever Mazda’s next rotary rocket is.

– Chris

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How Quickly You Forget

It is interesting how quickly you forget how smooth the rotary engine is if you haven’t driven one recently. I had a chance to drive our Project RX-8 to a rotary meet in Seattle, which is roughly a 2 hour drive each way. After getting into the car and heading up the freeway the engine is completely invisible while cruising at freeway speeds. The only sign you have of the engine being there is the sound from the intake and exhaust. The rest of the time you just feel the pull of the car while going around the people driving slow in the left lane. All of this without the vibration of a reciprocating engine.

The car I normally drive to events is the 2010 Mazdaspeed 3. The power from the DISI engine in the Mazdaspeed 3 is more like someone whacking you into the seat due to the torque hit when the boost comes on at 3000rpm. The fun is short lived though because you have to shift earlier (about 3000 rpm earlier) than the rotary. The RX-8 is happy to scream all the way to 9000rpm when the buzzer sounds, signaling the fun is about to come to an end at the rev limiter and it is time to change gears. Oh the sound the engine makes at higher RPM with the CorkSport exhaust. It is an intoxicating sound that you don’t want to come to an end. This is as close as you can get to a formula car high RPM sound without going to the racetrack.

If you haven’t driven a rotary powered car I recommend you give it a shot. Just make sure you get a chance to do it with some wide open roads and some corners to enjoy what the rest of us rotary nuts love.

– Derrick

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Friday Night at Taco7

On Friday the 29th I drove up to the Taco7 meeting in Federal Way, Washington to hang out with fellow rotary nuts for the evening. There was a good range of rotary power represented at the meeting despite the cold weather and rain. Unfortunately I was not able to bring any rotary power myself so I drove the CorkSport 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 instead, which worked out better for a customer who was getting his CorkSport header, racepipe, and cat back exhaust delivered. One of the cool things I saw at the event was a set of 1st gen RX-7 Re-Amemiya mirrors wit the built in air guide. It was the first time I had ever seen a set, and I’ve seen a lot of rare parts! There were several good looking RX-8s at the meet as well, including the one below which had the AutoExe brace sets installed. I love the way those braces look.

It was great getting to hang out with a bunch of rotary fans, if you own a rotary powered vehicle, you should come to the next Taco7 meet!

– Derrick