Check out this on-board footage of the a tube-frame 1974 Mazda RX-3 GT-3 race car during the Walter Mitty historic festival at Road Atlanta. The car weighs 2030 pounds with the driver and is powered by a 12a with a bridgeport and 40mm carb. As you will see, the RX-3 is seriously quick.
This is on-board footage from the 1991 Mazda RX-7 IMSA GTO race car as it laps Laguna Seca during this year’s Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Mazda won the 1991 season with this car. The GTO class of IMSA racing was for engines above 3 liters in tube frame cars that had production car silhouettes. Motivation for this car comes from a 26b 4-rotor engine that makes 600 hp at 8500 rpm and 390 ft-lbs of torque at 7000 rpm putting power down through a Hewland 5-speed transmission. You can see two of the three other 4-rotor cars that Mazda had at the event racing on track with this RX-7.
“The answer to everything is Miata” is a running joke over on the Grassroots Motorsports forum. It’s funny because it’s true: the Miata is the perfect blend of low cost of entry, performance potential and practicality. They’re simply fun little cars. Mazda built this MX-5 Super20 concept for the SEMA show in 2010 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Miata. All they had to do was turn to the prolific and enthusiast driven aftermarket that has built itself around the fun to drive nature of the car. The Super20 has a Cosworth engine being force fed by a Flyin’ Miata supercharger kit. Power output is estimated at 225 to 250 horsepower. Suspension has also been upgraded and really wide 16 inch Toyo racing tires fill the widened fender flares.
I really like Carlos’s analogy of music for sports cars. There are cars that perform well because they are designed to do so in a very specific way like the GT-R. He says cars like these represent Punk Rock. They’re in your face in terms of outright performance despite of what driving style you may have behind it’s wheel. Cars like the Miata are more about existing in harmony with the melody of the driver.
Mazda debuted their new diesel Mazda6 race cars at the Rolex 24 hour endurance race in Daytona in January. The entire lineup of engines in the new 2013 Mazda6 have benefited from Mazda’s SkyActiv engine technology initiative. It’s interesting to note that while the gasoline engines have increased compression ratios to improve efficiency, the diesel engines worked the other way. Diesel compression ratios are generally in the neighborhood of 20:1, but Mazda found that lowering it about 14:1 meant that all of the engine parts could be significantly lighter which allowed for higher rpm’s and lower bearing friction.