Now here's something you don't see every day. Sent in by Carscoop reader Łukasz Ż, this enjoyable time-waster of the day pits a motorcycle against a rear-wheel drive sports car in an out of the ordinary drift challenge. In one corner we have Nick "Apex" Brocha of Icon Motorsports piloting a 2005 Kawasaki ZX10 with 175HP and an extended swingarm. In the other corner is professional racecar driver Jim Guthrie in a 1993 Mazda RX-7 powered by a 375HP Corvette V8 engine. The result? Follow the jump to find out.
Our friend Shawnz, who you may remember from the Mazda RX-8 Coupe project we showed you last February, sent us these teaser trailers from a video that is currently being prepared to showcase a very large gathering of the rotary-powered sports cars that was held on the streets of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
In Shawnz's own words: "The event took place on 27th Nov 2010 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The total registered cars were 99! Damn, one more member and we would of reached the magic number of 100... The full video clip will be out pretty soon, possibly in mid-February... (fingers crossed)."
As you can see in the trailers after the jump, the convoy of Mazda RX-8s was so large that police escort was needed. We'll bring you the full video as soon as it comes out.
At the end of last week, Mazda lifted the covers off its all-new BT-50 pickup truck at the Australian Motor Show in Sydney. Now, the Japanese automaker has released three videos with static shots as well as footage from the motor show reveal. As a reminder, the BT-50 was co-developed with Ford, which also presented its proposal in Sydney, the new Ranger. The BT-50 shares its powertrains, including four- and five-cylinder diesel units and new six-speed automatic and manual transmissions, with Ford's pickup truck. Follow the break to watch the videos.
[Updated with videofrom the presentation] While the debate rages on regarding the Mazda Shinari's inspiration (Fisker Karma, Infiniti Essence, or something more sinister?), here are some real life photos of the car outside of the studio. Introducing Mazda's new Japanese-Euro-American Kodo design language, the Shinari shows where Mazda will be zoom-zooming after its Nagare-derived smiley face cars are dead and gone.
Expect the flowing, toned lines to appear on everything from the Mazda3 and Mazda6 to the MX-5 Miata and potential RX-8 successor; on that note, can we get a decent rotary engine around here or what?
Since these "tense" and "organic" designs are becoming more and more common nowadays, how will Mazda emphasize its own unique design elements? As with most unofficial homages (because we all know this isn't a purely original design or layout), the answer is in the details.
Looking at the nose, new Mazdas should be getting a much more open mouth in place of the silly "happy" look currently plastered across most of the automaker's offerings. Upon closer inspection, you'll see a chrome strip (or "signature wing") at the base of the grille which extends out through the headlamps like a bird with its wings spread.
It's a safe bet that we won't be seeing those Iron Man power source headlights in production, nor the twisted-metal bits.
The tail of the car seems more in sync with the current lineup, but nicely evolved. Even the little chrome wing-ding from the nose makes an appearance, running below the boot lid and into the taillights.
Inside, the Shinari again impersonates, but does it well: we've got carapace-like buckets for its four fictional occupants, as well as a few beer cans' worth of aluminum trim.
As for the idea of an interior being driver-centric, that's nothing new. Sadly, neither is the idea of individually tailoring the cockpit for occupants (look at the Essence). If this asymmetrical style does indeed become a recurring Mazda element, they will have beaten Infiniti to the punch. Otherwise, the gauges are beautiful and its layout is nice; if anything, the Shinari shows that Mazda is staying current and has big plans for the future.
The tech inside has so far been limited to rumblings of a Human Machine Interface (HMI) - possibly run by Skynet - which provides drivers with Business, Pleasure, and Sport modes. From the description, it sounds like just another evolution of human/car/computer fusion.
Mazda North America design director Derek Jenkins says, "We want to play in the same group as BMW and Audi. On fit and finish we want the same level of quality." Hooray for benchmarks, now let's get to it.
Expect to see the Shinari at one of this year's international auto shows.
