Formula Mazda

Formula Mazda is a class of relatively affordable open wheel formula racing.

Formula Mazda has its own class in SCCA club racing, and there is a North American professional series named Pro Mazda Championship that is part of IndyCar's Road to Indy ladder system. The cars are very popular; seeing a field of 40 or more cars at a race is quite common. Many drivers aspiring to the top classes of racing use the pro series to hone and demonstrate their talent. In 2006, the 2004 Formula Mazda champion, Michael McDowell, drove in the American Champ Car series, and Scott Speed, won in Formula Mazda in 2002.

In terms of both cost and performance, Formula Mazda lies between Formula Ford and Formula Atlantic, that is, close to a Formula Three and a Formula Renault 2.0. A full season in the professional Star Mazda series costs around US$200,000 – US$300,000 in 2005.

The series originally grew out of a group of chassis built by Hayashi in Japan for the Jim Russell Racing Drivers School in California, USA. These cars were completed by Russell mechanics in the paddock of the 1984 Long Beach Grand Prix, where the cars made their US debut. The cars have a basic welded steel tube frame chassis, with in-board front shocks operated by upper rocker arms. A 180 hp carbureted Mazda rotary engine drives through a 5 speed H-pattern (H-gate) Hewland Mk 9 transaxle. Rear suspension is by two trailing links, an upper link and a lower a-arm. In the interest of creating close racing and limiting cost, the rules state that no modification is allowed until the rules expressly permit it—at one time even replacing the mirrors on the car was prohibited. The engines cannot be modified, and they are sealed to make it easy to detect cheating. The cars all use the same tires, springs, dampers, and adjustable anti-roll bars.

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