As this terrible year of 2020 comes to a close and work on my Mazda2 DJ is paused until the new year. Let us look back at what we have learned about the car and where are we going in 2021.
Having owned the car since February 2020, it's been a fast progression for the car even with Covid19 trying to throw a spanner in the works, slowing the delivery of parts and holding up the development of some items. I'm amazed the project has got this far being close to 95% finished
Neal the 2RacingUK Race Team Manager is to blame for starting me on my Mazda journey. I drove his 2019 Mazda 2 in SEL+ spec on the way back from curborough after attending a Shenton and District motor sport event in January. I knew straight away it was going to be a great car and a positive step forward over my mk3 Toyota Yaris Sprint Car which I had been running for the last 4 years, The Mazda has a fabulous chassis from factory and is much more tunable. Its such a fun little car and wants to be driven even harder than it was advertised by Mazda. Its Zoom zoom and some and led to me purchasing my own Mazda 2 back in May.
I established 2Racing with Neal at the same time as purchasing my car with a vision to offer fun motoring for everyone, myself and customers included and there is nothing more fun then a warm or hot hatch. My vision was to create a car that looks and feels as though its a factory special Mazdaspeed edition from Mazda themselves, which I think has been achieved with improved and up-rated, brakes, suspension and engine performance (all parts available from our store)
I started by developing an improved air intake system. An Short Ram Intake system was produced and trialled but the car did not respond well to this, meaning another solution needed looked at. The next attempt worked with and improved the standard system with a performance intake pipe, high flow filter, and removing the resonator. The car really responded well to this set up and ran well under dyno testing too. Next we designed our own 2Racing performance Back-box plus a redesigned centre section to complement it again the car seemed to like this less restricted system, plus it sounds nice to with a deep but unobtrusive tone that feels like it should have been a factory option .
Black Diamond Brakes assisted with developing and producing a superb high performance brake kit for the DJ. The factory brakes are very good but I noted they did start to over heat on country roads while driving spiritedly and faded on circuit so the upgrade was worth while. Black Diamond kindly supplied the project with their 6 Grooved Discs, Predator Pad and Performance Fluid. These simple and cost effective changes made stopping the car awesome. This was especially noticeable heading into Tower Corner at Croft Race Circuit which is very heavy on braking area.
Next on the upgrade list was suspension setup and over the year we added lots of parts starting with H&R 30mm lowering Springs and front camber bolts. then on to a front upper strut brace and rear Anti-Roll Bar. Finally to the JOM Coilover kit which are TUV approved and height adjustable too.
Once all these changes were dialled in, the car felt really plated which is brilliant on track. Turning in where I needed it and reduced body roll and been able to carry speed through corners more than any other of my old cars. Plus not costing the earth either.
Next up was wheels and tyres we decided to make the track on the car wider so it was more stable in the fast corners so we opted for a lightweight alloy Speedlines 16inc running a 205/55/16 Yokohama Advan Sport tyres this was a great setup not only for the road as the car is still a daily driver and the trip to the track for sprints. The tyres are just brilliant and I have used lots of different manufacturers over the years but after speaking with Yokohama UK they steered us to a great setup.
On the dyno testing we managed to go from 88hp to 106hp & 161.5Nm and this is just the ECU learning no map installed yet that will be in January 21. But remember we aren't chasing big numbers we just want to add a bit more to make it that bit nippier to be able to have fun on B-roads or the track which then makes it a warm hatch.
Over the years of competing in sprints and track days this is the only car that I have owned that seems to make a step forward every time we add a new part and to be able to feel it as well, Mazda have really given this DJ a great base to create something special out of this car and after January's mapping session it will be sensational to use "We cant wait!"
I highly recommend anyone to purchase one of these DJ Mazda2's as it does everything and doesn't moan or groan about being tracked either.
2RacingUK would like to say a big thank to our suppliers & sponsors for providing us with great products to keep this car right on point all the time. Thank you and Merry Christmas to you all and to our Customers too.
We have some so far but we need to go further too!!
Best Regards
Steve
Owner and Director
2RacingUK Ltd
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