I know there has been discussion about the prospects of using the RENESIS as a racing engine, both to demonstrate its durability and for publicity purposes. Well, here's some definitive news on Mazda's plans for racing the RENESIS. It came from an internal Ford communications broadcast, so I'd say it's about as official as it gets:

"..."Mazda's involvement in racing programs such as Star Mazda, the SCCA, Spec Miata and Mazda Extreme Street is a prime example of our commitment to furthering our motorsports heritage," said Charlie Hughes, president and CEO of MNAO. "All of Mazda's successful motorsports endeavors demonstrate why we truly can say there is the soul of a sports car in every vehicle we build."

The Star Mazda racecar, featuring the same next-generation Mazda rotary engine in the forthcoming Mazda RX-8, is scheduled for testing in 2003 and will run on the Star Mazda Series North American Championship, a support series to the American Le Mans Series, in 2004.

The Star Mazda Series develops racecar driving careers by providing an opportunity for drivers to compete on the same racetracks used for professional events and is one of the most successful racing series in the U.S. Many well-respected drivers have risen through the ranks from Star Mazda, including Formula Atlantic Rookie of the Year Joey Hand and Le Mans 24-hour GT class winner Bruno Lambert. Last year, an average of more than 40 racecars started each Star Mazda series event...."

 

Yeah, we've seen the Star Mazda announcement from a couple of decent sources (from announcements, not just car magazines speculatin').

If they're not careful, the Start Mazda cars might have more power than the Skip Barber cars (and maaaaybe the Toyota Atlantics).

---jps

 

why WOULDN"T they want to be the premier forumla in the US??

 

Well, you've got a point. They aren't in anybody's feeder ladder (not that I know of), so unlike Barber and Toyota Atlantics, they don't have to "stay-in-line" performance-wise with another series.

I guess the only thing they have to do is make sure that they don't price themselves out of their market, and because of the amount of funding, etc. available, they are still a "starter series" (I mean, you and I could go step into a Star Mazda racecar, as long as we had a competition license, and paid for a ride with one of the several teams that "rent" the racecar and it's support), so you can't be putting these drivers in too hopped up of a car. Otherwise, it'll be the IRL, circa '97 all over again.

---jps

 

oh?? what happened?? i don't know American racing very well at all...

 

I think they had one, maybe two races in that season where there wasn't an accident within 2 laps of the start. It was a problem with the new series, and the number of open seats available. You had these drivers in low-buck teams who didn't have the money to test, so all the experience they had was in their rookie test, which is a minimum of laps alone, under the eyes of someone like Johnny Rutherford. Now, you have to start somewhere, but these drivers literally went from dirt-tracking to high-tech 800 hp 220 mph oval race cars. These could have been very capable drivers, but they were put in waaay too far over their head, and many unnecessary, unintended, foolish accidents happened.

You still get the occasional rookie like that, but one or two per race is alot less dangerous than half the field being like that.

Compare that to the CART feeder series, where drivers progressively move up to faster and faster cars and races. Even though their first race in CART will be their first race, it's not as big of a leap, or such a change in the style of racing.

---jps

 

Ok, so they are not rotaries nor open-wheeled, but how about the MazdaSpeed Cup series with Spec Miatas?
Most fun you can have for 11,000 bucks.

 

OMG!! those Miata's at Laguna Seca?? i just saw that, AWESOME racing...

alright, it would pose safety threats, but licencing efforts could be increased...
and then maybe MazdaStar could replace the level just below the Atlantics, eh??

 

The Spec Miatas are too cool. I would love to see a pro-series like the Speed Channel Touring and GT series, which offer some of the best racing on TV, IMHO.

The thing is, to get into the CART feeder series, regardless of where you want to get in, you'll need to buy out/over bid someone who is already there. It has nothing to do with horsepower levels. If Mazda wanted/could afford to be there, they would have already been there with the current Star Mazda cars instead of Barber Dodge.

As far as staying where they are, there is a finite amount of funding available, especially nowadays. If they increase the power, they'll have to increase tires, brakes, etc. etc. If they do that, and they price themselves out of alot of rides, and put themselves in danger of pricing themselves out of a viable series. The reason why they and Barber Dodge have the funding that they do is simply because they are a "training series", so you don't want to ruin that for yourself. Besides, if all they needed was power, they could have easily used a tri-rotor, or slapped a turbo on.

---jps

 

oh i see... i did say before that i'm not really down with American racing, so i haven't a clue as to what goes on with the feeder series... i didn't know that affiliation meant a contractual "place" on the ladder...
for F1, there isn't really a "step" just below which is so solidly affiliated with the series: talent is usually just scouted in all the other minor formulae and touring series around the world, thus and driver making a big enough stir has a shot. i figured that in a high-powered MazdaStar series, the same would be true for shots at CART rides...

but anyhoo, be that as it may, RENESIS engines will easily outpace those Dodge POSs (god, for the first time ever i went to the CART weekend, and was so underwelmed by the Barber Dodges...), but i don't think that unless the power jump was in the 100's would the cars NEED bigger brakes, or more rubber... the stuff they've got would simply have to be taken better care of with more power (better for training anyways... French style enduro-tactics... :D)

MazdaStar 13B's never had turbos?? i always thought they did, with those flames they spew out the exhaust... <<shrug>> oh!! :D which reminds me of all the 7's i saw at that same CART weekend during the GT race afterwards; no kidding, 16'' flames out the back of an FD (that had a grape-fruit shooter exhaust tip too!!)... :D

 

Heh... Turbos not required to spit flames.

 

Oh sure they do. The FIA (F1's sanctioning body) has a worldwide feeder series to beat the band. They've got Formula 3, which does some of the European races with F1. Then they have a handful of Formula 3000 series around the world, I believe there is one in England, and one in Japan, and some others. Then there is Formula Ford I believe, and at the bottom of the pile is Formula Renault. And I think I may have even missed one...

Sure, there is the occasional F1 driver that bypasses Formula 3, but all but one or two of those drivers have been in "the system" at one time or another, if even for only a short period. Some of those drivers even start out as a mere "test driver" before they become a F1 race driver by getting a ride, or filling in for an injured driver on the team they test for.

Of course, the FIA also sanctions other series that aren't Formula 1 feeders, like their touring car series, and the rally cars.

---jps

 

ah ha!! see?? this is what i mean, there's no real "ladder" or specific order you can go in... like Raikkonnen, he did a handful of F Renault gp's, then a couple of touring car races (or the other way 'round, i can't remember), then jumped into Peter Sauber's race car...

but for the CART series, the order is far more linear, and progression is quite clear.
just the way i see it, makes sence to me. <<shrug>>

btw, there's F Nippn in Japan... i'm pretty sure that's what it's called, or used to be called... (where Eddie Irvine raced before F1)

 

That's right, Formula Nippon! That's what they call the Japanese F3k system I was referring to (although I can't be absolutely sure that it's a FIA sanctioned series).

There's no requirement that someone follows the CART ladder either. It's just that there are so few avenues in the American system as opposed to the worldwide FIA system, most drivers will find themselves going through all rungs of the ladder, unless they come over from the FIA system (Like Alex Zanardi), or vice-versa (Like Jacques Villeneuve). When CART had both Indy Lights and Toyota Atlantics, one wasn't necesarrily a step to the other. Even though the lights were stronger, bigger cars, many drivers went directly from Toyota Atlantics to CART (I believe Jacques is also an example of that).

---jps

 

I've seen both a Star Mazda race and the 70+ Miatas at Laguna Seca on Speed Channel in the last month or so, pretty cool stuff.

 

God when they get the renesis powered star mazda cars, they will FLY! the star mazdas have a 198Hp 13B in them and they only weigh 1600lbs now put the lighter more powerful renesis in there, and Whamo! You got some frickin fast cars!:D

 

I read the specs on the Star Mazda 13B and it said the enigine was a tamper resistant engine that cranks out 175 hp using a modified 48 IDA Weber downdraft carburetor. (modified to 50 IDA)

The Renesis race engine will be a 240 hp tamper resitant engine with a similar intake system for simplicity and equal performance.

These will not have a turbo and never have.

In any case the engine should be the least of anyone's setup woes in preparing to race.