January 2014

Racing is a family affair for Cal Vandaalen. The Mazda Club Racer Shootout finalist earned his spot by first winning the Toyo Tires Spec Miata Championship in Nova Scotia, Canada, a series that his father, Blu Vandaalen, and Bruce McNutt – one of last year’s finalists – founded. When Cal wasn’t standing on top of […]”

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Since 2006, the Mazda MX-5 Cup has produced some of the closest races in all of motorsports. As a part of the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Ladder, the series has been a springboard for young drivers looking to move up. It is also a destination series for others who simply want affordable racing on a professional weekend. […]”

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Mazda’s SKYACTIV Technology helped its all-new Clean Diesel-powered sports racing Prototype go wheel to wheel with some of the world’s fastest sports cars at Daytona International Speedway, as they tackled the grueling demands of this past weekend’s 52nd Rolex 24 at Daytona. The two Mazda SKYACTIV Prototypes started the 2014 running of the endurance classic […]”

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Mazda SKYACTIV Prototypes Rack Up 2,826 Miles in Daytona Endurance Test January 26, 2014 (DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.) Mazdas SKYACTIV Technology helped its all-new Clean Diesel-powered sports racing Prototype go wheel-to-wheel with some of the worlds fastest sports cars at Daytona International Speedway, as they tackled the grueling demands of this past weekends 52nd Rolex 24 […]”

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Mazda SportsCar Racing Academy

The Next Generation of Driver Development: From Karts to Prototypes January 24, 2014 (DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.) After nearly eight years of investing in young race drivers careers, and with the launch of its TUDOR United SportsCar Championship prototype program, Mazda now has all of the elements in place to offer a comprehensive and complete driver […]”

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THE PARTNERSHIP THAT KEEPS BUILDING Mazda Motorsports Enters Fourth Year of Partnership with ModSpace January 23, 2014 (IRVINE, Calif.) — Mazda Motorsports spends a lot of time with young drivers talking about how to build business partnerships to advance their careers. The partnership that Mazda enjoys with ModSpace has been building on both a figurative […]”

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With the excitement surrounding a brand-new sports car series in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship and Mazda’s participation in the Prototype division, it’s easy to overlook the continuing and ever-improving competition in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. Two teams, both running MX-5s, return to contest the Street Tuner class in the endurance series for lightly […]”

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Mazda SKYACTIV Prototype Begins New TUDOR Championship Era January 21, 2014 (IRVINE, Calif.) — Mazda Motorsports is known for several things – sports cars, endurance racing, and taking the engineering path less traveled. This coming weekend, Mazda Motorsports will begin a new era of professional sports car racing when its latest SKYACTIV-powered Mazda Prototype takes […]”

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Good competitors know their strengths and play to them; great competitors know their weaknesses and work to fix them. After a fantastic season in Grand-Am GX, where the Mazda6 SKYACTIV-D Clean Diesel won nine races and the manufacturers championship, expectations are high as Mazda and its race partner, SpeedSource Race Engineering, transition the same engine […]”

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Mazda’s new LMP2-spec racer is a combination of proven technologies – Lola’s B12/80 coupe and the SKYACTIV-D Clean Diesel engine from the Grand-Am GX program. Combining the two presents several challenges that SpeedSource Race Engineering and Mazda are facing head-on. They do so, however, in a rather unique environment full of unknowns. It is not […]”

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When Mazda announced it was going to go racing in the Prototype category of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, it seemed like a logical next step in its professional endurance sports car racing program. With the GX category going away under the new united championship born from the Grand-American Rolex Sports Car Series and the […]”

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In the first SCCA Majors tour race on the West Coast, a Cal Club event at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., seven Mazda racers swept the weekend in their respective classes. The Majors events include a 30-minute race on Saturday, and a 17-lap (or 40 minute) race on Sunday. A drafting contest in Spec […]”

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Winning a National Championship is one thing. It may be even better when it’s a complete surprise when you get into impound. Jason Kohler had just that experience at the NASA National Championship at Miller Motorsports Park last September. Competing in a Miata in the Performance Touring E class, he thought he was chasing the […]”

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The Formula Car Challenge, which features three classes of Mazda-powered formula car racing in several regional series across the country, announced the schedule for its premier West Coast series and National Championship event at Sonoma Raceway. The series will race at Portland International Raceway, Thunderhill Raceway Park, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and a variety of […]”

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Michael Whelden loves Sonoma Raceway. To begin with, it’s his home track – between his hometown of Sausalito and his current residence in Napa, he’s lived 30 minutes away from the circuit in California’s Wine Country most his life. “I have a couple thousand miles there now,” he says. “The sweeping hills make that track […]”

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It was billed as the ultimate grudge match – dealers vs. factory guys in identically prepared Mazda6 SKYACTIV-D Diesels over 25 hours. “I don’t think any factory is crazy enough to come up with a challenge like this, other than Mazda,” says Taz Harvey, driver of the No. 55 Mazda6 for the dealers and one […]”

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Much of the country is still digging out from tough winter weather, with more likely to come before spring arrives. So it’s no wonder that many SCCA Club Racers head to Florida in January for some warm sunshine and a jump on the racing season, many coming from as far away as Canada for the […]”

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During the course of any given racing championship, there will be many champions. But only one can claim to be the first, and in the case of the Rocky Mountain/Central Division of the Teen Mazda Challenge, that person is Zac Munro. Munro bookended the season with wins in the series within NASA Spec Miata races […]”

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Joel Miller has won a few championships on his way up the motorsports ladder, beginning with a whole bunch of karting championships titles. Those include the IKF Junior Division North American championship in 2001, the Stars of Karting North American ICA championship and the 2007 SuperKarts USA SuperNationals Championship. That same year he also won […]”

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Mazda has long believed in promoting from within, including filling those rare ‘factory team’ driver slots. Mazda Motorsports will put some familiar faces in the driver’s seats of its pair of factory-backed SKYACTIV Technology-powered prototypes in the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. The four drivers who delivered nine race wins and the 2013 Grand-Am GX […]”

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BFGoodrich® Tires Becomes Presenting Sponsor January 3, 2014 (DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.) Since 2006, the Mazda MX-5 Cup has produced some of the closest races in all of motorsports. As a part of the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Ladder, the series has been a springboard for young drivers looking to move up. It is also a destination series […]”

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