Mazda has posed an interesting challenge at this year’s US Air Force 25 Hours of Thunderhill, the longest race in the National Auto Sport Association’s calendar. The zoom-zoom brand wants to know if factory-backed or dealer-backed racing teams are faster, and is sending a factory team of diesel-powered 2014 Mazda6 models to find out.
Three Mazda teams will enter the race (along with 70 other cars), which takes place on December 7 and 8 in Willows, CA; two dealer-sponsored groups and one team of Mazda employees. The cars were prepped by Mazda employees working on nights and weekends. The 2014 Mazda6 SKYACTIV-D clean-diesel racers have been modified for participation in the E1 class. They are minimally upgraded production cars powered by the SKYACTIV-d engine hooked up to a six-speed manual transmission. The cars feature stripped interiors, roll cages, racing seats, fire systems and racing dashes. The suspensions have been rebuilt with ProParts USA components and Koni shocks, and Stop-Tech brakes are used.
Cars 55 and 56 are the Mazda dealers, and will be driven by Richard Fisher (The Autobarn Mazda, Evanston, IL), Joel Weinberger (Continental Motors, Naperville, IL), Taz Harvey (Dublin Mazda, Tracy Mazda, Dublin/Tracy, CA), Chris Wilson (CJ Wilson Mazda, Countryside, IL), John Finger (John Finger Mazda, Greenville, SC) and Taylor Hacquard (Wolfe Mazda, Chilliwack/Surrey, BC, Canada). The Mazda employees are in car 70, driven by Randy Miller (Mazda R&D), Ken Saward (Mazda Design), Dave Coleman (Mazda R&D), Nathan Edmonds (Mazda Technical Services), Mike Allen (Mazda Motorsports) and Jason Meise (Mazda Gulf Region).
Want to catch the action? Mazda will be streaming the whole race live at www.MazdaUSA.comThunderHillLIVE.
