Mazda Continues Making Strides With SKYACTIV Prototype

Subtitle:By Steven Cole Smith, IMSA.com

No manufacturer has more cars in current road racing series than Mazda, so usually John Doonan, the director of Mazda Motorsports in North America, can’t wait to get to the track, can’t wait to see the green flag fall.

But in 2014, even Doonan, one of the most positive people in any paddock, found that enthusiasm threatened. It had been a complex, expensive couple of years for Mazda: In 2012, the manufacturer, far smaller than Toyota or Nissan, was happily racing its rotary engine-powered RX8 in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series. But Mazda decided to stop selling the RX8 in the U.S., and while the car would have still been legal to race in 2013, Mazda didn’t want to compete in something they weren’t selling.So quickly, Mazda and SpeedSource, the Florida-based racing team that has worked closely with Mazda for years, developed a racing Mazda 6 for the Rolex Series' new GX class in 2013. But manufacturer participation in the GX class wasn’t what everyone hoped, so when GRAND-AM and the American Le Mans Series merged into the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship in 2014, the GX class was not included in the lineup.Which meant Mazda had to come up with a third car in three years if they wanted to race, and anyone who has been around Doonan, SpeedSource and their workers for long, knew that Mazda wanted to race.

So the manufacturer decided to go for it: Develop, from scratch, a pair of Prototype cars to race in the TUDOR Championship’s fastest class. There was a twist: Mazda wanted the Prototype powered by a turbocharged diesel engine. Meaning Mazda and the development team, SpeedSource, would have to turn their little 2.2-liter four-cylinder diesel into an all-out race engine, capable of running with, and beating, the big V-8 Chevrolets and the Ford twin-turbo V-6s.SpeedSource and its owner, Sylvain Tremblay, with worlds of experience in rotary engines, had to suddenly adapt not only to diesels, but to Prototype cars.It was a tough, character-building year. “While we clearly planned on 2014 being a development year,” Doonan says, “we are all racers at Mazda and it was really hard to be patient.” With multiple Chevrolets and Fords on the grid last year, teams could share information, and the manufacturers had more opportunities to develop powertrains because they had more engines in the field. But with its diesel, Mazda was on its own. Every race turned into a test session, every parts failure a lesson for the next race.By the end of 2014, though, the improvement was obvious. In the corners, the Mazda SKYACTIV Prototypes were as fast as anyone, and straight-line speed was improving.Then came the 2015 Rolex 24 At Daytona. The Mazdas were six seconds a lap faster than in 2014, and top speed had increased by 20 mph. They still weren’t where they wanted to be, but they were getting closer. Then, a gift from the racing gods: One of the Mazdas moved into the overall lead less than three hours in.“If you had told me last year that a Mazda SKYACTIV Prototype would lead the race, outright on speed and fuel efficiency, I would have told you that you were crazy,” Doonan says. “But for everyone who has put so much effort into getting us to the point we are now, that two-and-a-half hour mark where we led was an emotional moment. A huge victory of sorts, and a statement about exactly why we go racing: To prove, and learn about, our road car technology in an extreme and unforgiving environment.”On Saturday, March 21, the Mazdas will be tested at another “extreme and unforgiving” environment, Sebring International Raceway in Florida for the 63rd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida. Yes, the Sebring race is only half as long as the Rolex 24 at Daytona, but the track itself wrings every last ounce out of the cars and the competitors.So why is John Doonan happy to see Sebring on the schedule? “We are very much looking forward to some of the more technical track layouts. Sebring will be better for our cars in the overall scheme of things due to the tighter sections, and the fact that it is less dependent on overall horsepower. Less time spent on full throttle versus Daytona also helps. We have proved we can go 12 hours at our higher peak power levels, so we hope that fact, coupled with a fuel efficiency advantage, could play right into our hands.“While success at Sebring would be another massive milestone in the program, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Watkins Glen and the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park are tracks that come to mind where we are expecting to have particularly good outings. Flowing tracks with lower minimum speeds and less time on full throttle are where the SKYACTIV package can shine brightest.”Doonan is the first to admit that there is still work to be done. But given how far Mazda has come, that first trophy should come sooner, rather than later.