Zoom-Zoom Evolution - MAZDASPEED MOTORSPORTS ...

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The Great Cardboard Caper What’s the best thing about being young? The power of dreams. That’s exactly what motivated North Carolina high-school student Greg Oakley to build a cardboard replica of Mazda’s Le Mans-winning 1991 787B rotary racecar that will soon take up residence in the Mazda Museum in Irvine, CA. Completed over a period of four months, the cardboard racer features moving wheels, opening doors and a removable engine cover, plus a detailed engine complete with spark-plug wires, a turbocharger, pulleys, and even a dry-sump lubrication system inventively crafted from a soybean oil container. At 16 years old, Greg is proof positive that today’s youth has definitely not lost its can-do attitude. He conceived and constructed the entire project by himself and hopes to go to art school to become a commercial photographer after high school. “I have always liked cars in general, and I enjoy looking at them in pictures and video games, but after a while you wish you could have one,” he admits. “So I thought I’d build one for myself.” But why the Mazda 787B? “I was playing Gran Turismo ® 3 one day and I had never seen that car before,” he continues. “Everyone always talks about Porsches and Ferraris, but they don’t think about Mazdas in terms of racing cars, and I really liked the paint scheme with the orange and green and silver. I went online, found a 787B link, and figured out the body shapes.” With a decade of experience scratch-building model cars and ships, Greg was ready for his biggest project yet. Once armed with good photo references, he started building, using thick corrugated cardboard for the racecar’s structure and smooth poster board for the body panels. Finally, Greg replicated the intricate 787B paint job with spray cans. As far as scale goes, Greg used his own. “The Mazda is not made to scale,” he admits. “It is just how big I wanted it to be.” In this case about six feet long, four feet wide, and three feet high. Once the Mazda was finished, one of Greg’s friends, an AutoWeek reader, suggested he send a photo to the magazine for use in the playful “But Wait, There’s More…” last page. He did so, and a captioned photo of the 787B appeared in the January 14, 2008, issue. And that’s when the snowball started. Mazda quickly noticed Greg’s cardboard creation and offered to buy it for the museum. The price? A generous $1,000—with a catch. Greg would donate $250 of it to charity and keep $750 for himself. Showing good business sense already, he’s planning to use the money for additional building supplies and a digital camera to help start his photography career. A humorous annotation to the project awaited Greg after the AutoWeek and Mazda connections occurred. “First I told my friends I had made this big car out of paper, then that it was in a magazine, and finally that Mazda was buying it.” he laughs. “They thought I was lying!” ■ How one talented high-schooler captured Mazda’s Zoom-Zoom spirit. Greg Oakley shaped the body of his replica Mazda 787B rotary racecar out of cardboard and poster board. Oakley's racer features a removable engine cover (above) and moving wheels (left and below). Even the car's exhaust system is replicated.
CONTENTS 2 First Lap 2008 Mazda CX-7 and CX-9 Crash Test Ratings; FUEL Feedback 3 Spotlight Ohio Technical College Builds a Mazda MX-5 Racer 4-7 Pit Row 2008 Master Technician Competition Winners; Top 25 Dealers – Parts and Service; Tire Registration Reminder; Western Region Full Circle Walkaround Competition; Brake Into Higher Profits; Western Region Parts & Service Managers Incentive; Dealers Share Successes with Remote Managed Inventory 8-10 Fast Track The “R” in RX-8 Is for Racing; Employee Race Weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca; Mazda Drivers on the Move; Upstart National Auto Sport Association (NASA) Racing 10 Gear Glitz Mazda CX-9’s Portable DVD System 11- 13 Cover Story Zoom-Zoom Evolved: Behind the Development of the 2009 MAZDA6 14-15 Front Line 2009 MAZDA6 Training Tour; 2009 MAZDA6 and RX-8 Web-Based Training; Top 10 Dealers – CPO; Top 25 Dealers – Sales 15-16 Final Stretch Mazda Receives Japan’s Human Rights Merit Award; CSI Mazda; Mazda Fellowship Program at Clemson University Mazda FUEL ® magazine is published by Mazda North American Operations and is an internal publication intended for employees of Mazda dealerships and Mazda North American Operations. Please address all correspondence to mazdafuel@mazdausa.com or fax to (949) 727-6813. The content of Mazda FUEL magazine is prepared in accordance with the highest standards of journalistic accuracy and was deemed accurate when written. © 2008 Mazda North American Operations 11-13 5 8
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