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Mazda RT24-P brings KODO style to the Rolex 24 at Daytona

In addition to its new CX-5 crossover, Mazda revealed its new racecar, the RT24-P, at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The car has been designed for the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class in IMSA's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and will make its racing debut at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. It was designed using Mazda's KODO design language, which the brand has so successfully applied to its road-going cars. The racer's relation to Mazda's production cars is made obvious by the small five-point grille at the tip of the RT24-P's nose. While plenty of credit needs to go to the stylists and aerodynamicists at Mazda and Multimatic, one of the companies Mazda partnered with on the car, some of the credit needs to go to IMSA's new DPi rules for 2017. The new DPi class is very similar to the LMP2 class that it competes with in the WeatherTech series, with some noteworthy differences. The DPi class allows manufacturers to create unique bodies and engine packages for one of the four chassis available. The LMP2 class requires competitors to use the chassis companies' bodies, and are restricted to one engine package. View 14 Photos As for the powertrain, the Mazda RT24-P uses a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder that puts out roughly 600 horsepower. Mazda used the same engine in its P2-class race car last season. Mazda's body and engine will ride atop a chassis developed by Riley Technologies and Multimatic. You may remember that latter company as the one that developed the awesome spool valve shocks on the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2. The RT24-P will be campaigned by Speedsource, a company that has been racing Mazdas in American endurance racing for years, including last year's P2 cars. Considering Mazda's success in making such a cool race car, we're excited to see what other manufacturers do with the extra design freedom of the DPi class. Both Chevrolet and Ford competed last year in the WeatherTech prototype class with Daytona Prototype-style cars, and Honda competed with an LMP-style racer. Depending on what other makes decide, this year's WeatherTech line-up could have some nifty designs. Related Video: Related Gallery 2017 Mazda RT24-P race car View 9 Photos News Source: Mazda, IMSAImage Credit: Live photos copyright 2016 Drew Phillips / Autoblog Motorsports LA Auto Show Mazda Racing Vehicles Videos Original Video 2016 LA Auto Show

Recharge Wrap-up: 61 miles on Autopilot; Mazda CX-9's 32% mpg improvement

A technology analyst at The Motley Fool used Tesla's Autopilot uninterrupted for 61 miles. In order to see how far the Tesla Model S could drive itself without driver intervention, Daniel Sparks set off on the highway from Monument, Colorado, through Colorado Springs and onward toward Pueblo. Only when a truck encroached on his lane did the driver take command of the wheel, rather than waiting to see what the car would do. "With [the] Model S nearly out of Pueblo and onto a long, boring stretch of highway by the time I had to grab the wheel, chances are I could have made it all the way to Colorado City if it wasn't for this interruption," says Sparks. Read the full account at The Motley Fool. The 2016 Mazda CX-9 offers 32 percent better fuel economy than the outgoing model. The front-wheel-drive CX-9, equipped with Mazda's Skyactiv-G 2.5T engine, gets an EPA-estimated 22 mpg city/28 mpg highway/25 mpg combined. The 2016 CX-9 has shed significant weight compared to its predecessor. Its turbocharged engine uses a Dynamic Pressure Turbo system, which improves performance at lower rpm by controlling the degree of exhaust pulsation according to engine speed. The new CX-9 goes on sale this spring. Read more at Green Car Congress. A group of eight US cities have formed the Energy Secure Cities Coalition (ESCC), pledging to switch their fleets over to alternative fuels. Atlanta, Charlotte, Indianapolis, Orlando, Rochester, Sacramento, San Diego and West Palm Beach will retire their petroleum-powered vehicles in favor of EVs and cars using cleaner fuels like natural gas. The cities expect the change to help improve air quality and save taxpayer money on fuel and maintenance costs. The ESCC hopes to grow to include 25 major cities, removing some 50,000 petroleum-fueled vehicles from service and saving 500,000 barrels of oil per year. Read more in the press release below. Eight Major Cities Unite to form Energy Secure Cities Coalition—Fleets Embracing Alternative Fuels to Improve America's National and Economic Security Coalition's goal is to retire 50,000 petroleum-powered vehicles, saving tens of millions in taxpayer dollars and improving U.S. national and economic security. Washington, D.C.

Mazda delays US launch of Skyactiv-D engine

Japanese automakers haven't lead the charge towards diesel power in the same way as, say, the Germans have. But Mazda is out to change that. It has been following Audi's lead on the racetrack with oil-burning racecars right here in America, and will soon translate that excitement to the road by introducing its Skyactiv-D engine in North America. It just won't happen as soon as we expected.
Mazda announced today that, while its diesel engine meets current emissions requirements, the company has decided once again to push back an introduction originally slated to kick off in the Spring. According to the brief statement below, Mazda wants to take more time to find "the right balance between fuel economy and Mazda-appropriate driving performance."
In other words, the Zoom-Zoom brand apparently thinks its diesel engine doesn't deliver the zoom-zoom American drivers would expect, so we'll have to wait just a little bit longer. Details to follow closer to launch, whenever that will ultimately take place.