February 2014

Michael Epps came into Barber Motorsports Park for the second half of the Cooper Tires Winterfest blazing, but in the end couldn’t keep RC Enerson from leaving with the USF2000 Winterfest title. Englishman Epps not only claimed his first USF2000 victory in Round 4 of the six-round Winterfest at Barber Motorsports Park on Tuesday, he […]”

Read More

The Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda will have a seven-weekend, 14-race schedule in 2014. The ninth season for the series featuring smaller sports racing prototypes with Mazda engines will have doubleheader events at each venue. New to a challenging Cooper Tires Prototype Lites schedule are visits to Kansas Speedway and Watkins Glen International. […]”

Read More

If a Team Support Member wants his contingency money from Mazda Motorsports, he or she not only has to earn it, but represent the brand properly as well. The best – and required – way to do that is with the proper decals. Of course, Mazda Motorsports has bundled the appropriate kits depending on the […]”

Read More

The second event of the SCCA Western Conference Majors Tour took place this past weekend at the Inde Motorsports Ranch, located just outside of Wilcox, Ariz. The four-year-old facility offers pristine support buildings and new on-track challenges for many competitors who have not run here before. The 18-turn, 2.22-mile track sits at 4000 feet above […]”

Read More

  After the first round of races for the 2014 Cooper Tires Winterfest series for USF2000 and Pro Mazda, RC Enerson leads the USF2000 points for Team E Racing and Spencer Pigot heads the Pro Mazda contenders. USF2000 featured three different winners over the weekend at NOLA Motorsports Park, with Enerson, of New Port Ritchey, […]”

Read More

  Matthew Brabham’s white and turquoise United Fiber & Data/MAZDASPEED Andretti Autosport car will carry the No. 83 in his inaugural season in Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires. But the No. 83 and the Brabham name have a connection much longer than the 19-year-old IndyCar hopeful. “The first time I raced go-karts I was […]”

Read More

You’ve built your racecar to be as aerodynamic as possible. Whether you start with an RX-7, Miata, RX-8, MX-5 or something else, you’ve got a pretty good basis and you’ve worked within the rules to make it move through the air as efficiently as it can with the help of air dams and spoilers. But […]”

Read More

Mazda has launched a Web site to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the debut of the Mazda MX-5 (known as Roadster in Japan). The Web site aims to deepen the bond between Mazda and its customers all over the world and express gratitude for the support the model has received over the years. The site […]”

Read More

Start on pole, lead every lap, win the race. Jim Drago got the first and last parts of the instructions for dominance correct, but he seemed to forget the middle part during his quest for a second straight SCCA Spec Miata National Championship. “The week had gone pretty much flawlessly,” Drago says of the 2013 […]”

Read More

Every racer – amateur or pro – has a limited amount of track time that he or she must maximize. No matter how much time it looks like on the schedule, it’s never enough to try every line, test braking points and adjust car setup. So track time missed due to repairs or maintenance can be huge, and also the difference between a great race weekend and one a racer would rather forget. One of the keys to maximizing track time is organization.

“As a club racer, or if you’re going to track days and things like that, you’re spending a proportionally large amount of money for a limited time on track. Maximizing the time that you’re able to spend on track makes the weekend more fun,” says Andris Laivins, team manager for CJ Wilson Racing and owner of Laivins Race Cars in Austin. “When you get to the track and you’re late for a session because things aren’t ready or prepared, you end up not having a good time. If you’re organized, prepared and have a plan, you get to use all the time out on track that you’ve paid for.”

That organization begins before a racer leaves for the track. Having the trailer properly organized means less time hunting for parts and tools later.

“The typical club racer uses up all the time they have before a race weekend working on the car, and then when it’s time to leave, everything gets thrown into crates and stuffed into the trailer. The biggest thing is compartmentalizing. If you have a bunch of parts for transmissions, make sure they’re organized in one bin of transmission parts only. And don’t mix things together, so when you’re in a hurry and you need to find something, it’s all in one place.

“Same with tools and toolboxes,” he adds.“ We have sets of tools that only go the racetrack, so we don’t lose stuff in the shop and it’s missing when we get to the track. The tools that we take to the track just stay in the trailer. They’re always as organized as they can be. It’s very easy to leave stuff behind when you’re taking things in and out of the trailer.”

Laivins acknowledges that leaving a set of tools in the trailer may not be practical for many club racers due to both expense and security reasons. So keeping things in an organized, labeled toolbox that the racer can pick up and put on the trailer will go a long way to making sure things aren’t left behind.

Lists and spreadsheets can help in keeping track of things, but they aren’t as necessary as one might think. While the CJ Wilson team keeps an inventory of everything on the trailer, the list of things that actually gets checked before each outing is much smaller. Spare parts are replaced when they’re used; but the consumables are important to check each time the truck leaves the shop – oil, paper towels, food and drink…the things that make the weekend a little easier.

Being organized is just one more way to get the most out of any race weekend. Knowing what’s in your trailer – and where it is in the trailer – can prevent late night trips to the auto parts store and get a racer up and running again that much quicker.

 

 

  One might wonder what a driver with six SCCA Solo National Championships, two SCCA Club Racing National Championships, four World Challenge GT championships, plus two Rolex 24 at Daytona class victories, is doing in a Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Street Tuner Mazda MX-5. If he has his way – and he thinks he […]”

Read More

For Spec Miata racers running the original 1990-’93 car, there are few options available for a limited slip differential. The OEM viscous limited slip is one, but is difficult to find. So is the Mazda Competition Clutch Type, which hasn’t been produced in years. Updating to the 1.8-liter Torsen unit is an alternative, but the […]”

Read More

  As Mazda fans worldwide marked the 25th anniversary of the MX-5 Miata’s debut at the Chicago Auto Show on Feb. 9, 1989, some Mazda racers in Louisiana were celebrating in their own special way – by pushing their MX-5s across the finish line first. At the first rounds of the SCCA Mid-States Majors Tour […]”

Read More

  The MX-5 Miata was introduced 25 years ago On Feb. 9, 1989, the world was introduced to the all-new Mazda MX-5 Miata at the Chicago Auto Show. A few months later, it was named as one of the five “World’s Best Cars” by Road & Track and never looked back. Twenty-five years later, MX-5 […]”

Read More

Scholarship up for Grabs Mazda Motorsports is once again supporting Project Yellow Light, a scholarship competition designed to encourage teens to embrace safe driving habits and bring awareness to the dangers of distracted driving. College and high school students can produce videos designed to persuade their peers not to drive distracted. The videos can be […]”

Read More

“I think the series is a great launching point for anyone that really wants to become a racecar driver, either club or pro,” says Ben Albano of the Skip Barber MAZDASPEED Challenge, of which he was the 2013 champion. “As far as the instructors and the feedback you get from them, it really provides a […]”

Read More

Mazda Motorsports Enters Fourth Year of Partnership with ModSpace 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 and a literal standpoint since 2010. Mazda is happy to announce […]”

Read More

Rob Huffmaster has a bit of experience with the SCCA National Championship Runoffs. But the car he drove to the 2013 Super Touring Lite National Championship has more titles than he does. Huffmaster drove the Mazda RX-8 to the 2007 Touring 3 National Championship victory when the Runoffs was held at Heartland Park Topeka. His […]”

Read More