In the world of motor racing, factories and dealerships have constantly competed against each other over the years. This weekend on December 7 and 8, three Mazda North America-entered Mazda 6 SKYACTIV-D racecars will be contesting the 25-hour race, the longest in the USA, to be held at the Thunderhill Raceway Park in California. Employee drivers will pilot the Mazda North American “factory” team car, but dealer drivers selected from among Mazda dealerships across the USA and Canada will be behind the wheel of the other two machines.

The Mazda 6 SKYACTIV-D racecars are not SpeedSource machines, which won this year's manufacturer championship title in the GX class of the GRAND-AM series, but are instead based on European spec. production road cars. The engines are of course the 2.2-liter SKYACTIV-D 2-stage turbo diesel, and they use the SKYACTIV-MT gearbox. Additionally, the three machines, built to NASA E1-class spec., were put together on an entirely volunteer basis by employees using their time after work and on weekends, taking about 3 months to complete. The exterior is more or less unchanged from the original road car, but the interior is fitted with a racing roll cage, racing seats, and racing belts, and is also equipped with an on-board fire extinguisher and data logger. The suspension has both dampers and coil springs, the rear anti-roll bar has been replaced with a reinforced version, and the 17x8 inch racing rims are mounted on 245/40R-17 BF Goodrich tires.

The dealer teams, with car numbers #55 and #56, will be driven by dealers from across the USA and Canada, and the factory team's #70 machine will be driven by six employee drivers recruited from every department at Mazda North America, including R&D, Service, Regional Management, Design, and Motorsports. The three Mazda 6 SKYACTIV-D racecars will compete with more than 70 other machines (including 13 other Mazdas) from 6 classes. This longest race in the USA, now in its 11th year, features a wide range of competitors, from pro drivers to club racers, and models as diverse as the Mazda MX-5 to the Porsche GT3 Cup car. The race starts at 11:00am on Saturday, with drivers reaching their goal at noon on Sunday (local time).