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Mazda Hot Lap Challenge will put simulator drivers in real Miatas

Using a video game as a feeder racing series is nothing new. Sony and Nissan have run the GT Academy for years now, rewarding the best Gran Turismo players with the chance to drive a real car. It seems Mazda wants a piece of the action. This year, it will host an iRacing Hot Lap Challenge, giving the best players a trip to the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona. The two fastest drivers will race head-to-head, with the winner earning a test drive in a Mazda MX-5 Miata Cup car. During 2018, Mazda will host events events at select races where participants can lap Daytona in an iRacing simulator. Those who can't attend one of those events will have the chance to compete on iRacing at home. At the end of the year, 35 drivers will compete for a trip to the 2019 race. That winner will be a guest of Mazda Team Joest. The event is open to U.S. residents age 18 and above. Full details can be found on the iRacing website. The event calendar is listed below. Online time attack schedule Week 1: 4/13 – 4/15 – Daytona Road Course Week 2: 5/25 – 5/26 – Lime Rock Park Week 3: 6/29 – 7/1 – Watkins Glen Week 4: 8/3 – 8/5 – Road America Week 5: 8/24 – 8/25 – Gateway Motorsports Park Week 6 9/7 – 9/9 – Laguna Seca Week 7: 10/11 – 10/13 – Road Atlanta TA sessions will be available the entire day(s) based on GMT At-track schedule Week 1: 4/13 – 4/15 – Long Beach Week 2: 5/25 – 5/26 – Lime Rock Park Week 3: 6/29 – 7/1 – Watkins Glen Week 4: 8/3 – 8/5 – Road America Week 5: 8/24 – 8/25 – Gateway Motorsports Park Week 6 9/7 – 9/9 – Laguna Seca Week 7: 10/11 – 10/13 – Road Atlanta Related Video: News Source: Mazda, iRacing Marketing/Advertising Toys/Games Mazda Convertible Racing Vehicles mazda mx-5 mazda mx-5 cup

Mazda-Toyota partnership has us dreaming of a rotary hybrid

As you may have seen, Mazda and Toyota are going to be working a little more closely with each other. In their announcement, the two companies said they'd be building an American assembly plant together, and working on electric vehicle technology. But one of the companies' goals got our mental gears turning: It's listed as "Expand complementary products," and it's left very open-ended. The companies say they "will further explore the possibilities of other complementary products on a global level." These are in addition to Mazda providing the Mazda2 to Toyota as the Yaris iA, and Toyota providing Mazda a commercial van to sell in Japan. So what could these future complementary products be? We have a couple of ideas, one that's ludicrous but awesome (and, sadly, probably won't ever happen), and the other grounded in reality. Let's start with the fun one. What's the one thing Mazda fan has been wanting for years? A rotary sports car, of course! And while Mazda has repeatedly said that it has a small band of engineers plugging away at the spinning triangle problem, the odds of Mazda putting it into production have been slim. The inherent thirst of the rotary would make it tough to introduce when fuel economy regulations have been tightening. Plus, Mazda is a small company that needs to stretch every dollar, and having a one-off engine not based on anything else would be expensive. How could Mazda get around these obstacles? This is where the partnership with Toyota comes in, in our long-shot fantasy. Aside from having deep pockets, Toyota has a wealth of knowledge in the realm of hybrids. Thus, why not a rotary hybrid? Electrifying their oddball motor would fix two issues. One is obviously the fuel economy, since the gas engine wouldn't have to run all the time. The other is in providing torque. Rotaries infamously have little torque, especially down low, so adding an electric motor would allow this hypothetical rotary sports car to have a grunty low end, while still providing the Everest-high redline rotary fans like. The idea would be sweetened with the solid-state batteries that Toyota is developing, which could provide lots of electricity without weighing a ton. The rotary-electric mashup notion isn't totally alien to Mazda, either, since the company created an electric Mazda2 with a rotary engine for a range extender — albeit for different reasons. The company even filed a patent for the rotary range extender recently.

Mazda returning to top-tier racing with diesel-powered prototype in USCC

Mazda has unveiled its latest challenger in the top flight of endurance racing, a diesel-powered prototype that will campaign the inaugural, 2014 Tudor United SportsCar Championship. The new Skyactiv-D-powered car will make its race debut at January's Rolex 24 at Daytona.
"This is the most significant step Mazda has taken towards returning to the global racing stage since our overall victory at Le Mans in 1991," said the director of Mazda Motorsports, John Doonan. That historic racecar, the rotary-powered 787B, has grown to become one of Mazda's many, well-known racers.
More recently, the Japanese brand has been making waves in the Grand-Am series, campaigning RX-8s and, most recently, running diesel-powered Mazda6 sedans in the GX-class. Mazda will campaign two factory-backed prototypes at Daytona. Driver lineups will be announced closer to race day.