Mazdaspeed

From Free net encyclopedia

Mazdaspeed is Mazda's in-house race and street car tuning arm and is highly involved in both amateur and professional motorsports.

Mazdaspeed began in 1967 as "Mazda Sports Corner", a tuning and racing operation run by Mazda's Tokyo distributor. They were competitive at the 24 Hours of Le Mans races in the early 1980s with the 717, 727, and 737 before Mazda brought the group to Hiroshima in 1983. In 1991, Mazdaspeed's 787 won at Le Mans, a feat no other Japanese team has managed.

After the FIA effectively outlawed the Wankel engine the next year, the team turned away from professional racing and focused instead on enabling third-party competition of Mazda vehicles. Mazda assumed control of Mazdaspeed in 1999 as a tuning and performance parts operation within the company. Towards this goal, Mazdaspeed provides significant support for drivers participating in Spec Miata racing. Drivers can order performance and replacement parts at appreciable discount.

In the United States, Mazda North American Operations and Mazdaspeed host a traveling "drive event" called Rev It Up that allows normal people to drive Mazda cars around a timed course for points. This is one of very few drive events that drivers are actually timed and scored. Mazdaspeed also sponsors many amateur and professional race series in the US that involve the Mazda Miata and Mazda3.

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