this car rocks! i didnt expect it to be fast, but it handles really well, and all the funniness i felt on the street was not a problem. there is a little lift throttle oversteer, but it is manageable and not more than i like. you can set up a tail out drift really easily and modulate it with throttle.

id like to see what the car would be like with a little more rear shock rebound and compression.

a nationals-competing DS IS300 was there and i was 3 seconds faster than both the (usually decent) drivers of that car, so i doubt there is any chance we will ever get moved to DS. :(

my fastest run was after the car got to sit for a little while so the tires cooled down- those street tires dont like heat. the difference between hot tires and cool tires was over 1 second. so bring your sprayers.

i dont see any place where it has an advantage over the S2000 though in BS. but regionally a well driven rx8 could beat lots of S2000's.

PUR NRG and i got to ride with each other... great fun!

james

glad you are enjoying it

We had our autocross shakedown run(s) Saturday and Sunday. We took a guess at the alignment settings, mounted the Hoosiers (roadrace compound), and went to see what she has....

The car slaloms REALLY well (way better than we thought it would), but sets up a push in a steady state corner. It turns in initially, then goes "pushy", so we think its "sitting down" on the bump stop, spring rate goes to infinity, and the push starts. We think this can be overcome by a significant front bar (higher spring rate), and a tad more tweaking on the alignment.

Overall, we think this is going to be a nationally competitive car in BS with a little more development.

By the way, two BS trophy winners from Nationals are in our region, so we feel like we have a good yardstick.

Saturdays Results: Houston Region SCCA Results Page (http://www.houscca.com/solo2/soloresults.aspx)

Sundays Results: Houston Region SCCA Results Page (http://www.houscca.com/solo2/soloresults.aspx)

Maybe I'm misinterpreting the results, but it looks like you nailed the fastest times out of ALL classes. Nice!

Originally posted by Chuck Clifford
Nice results. Some confirmation of what a lot of us RX-8 owners already felt. It does not appear that any 350Z's ran, but from some of the SCCA results I have seen, I can understand why. Need to post this in the general forum, since your results answer a lot of other question being brought up here.

Can RX-8 even compete in the BS class?

Is the RX-8 a real sports car?

Did Mazda sacrifice too much to appeal to a broader consumer group?

Can the RX-8 compete with the S2000?

Can anybody but Mazda get good times?

Its amazing what a couple of good runs will do to silence the critics.

I'm just waiting for a few familiar people to start commenting about conspiracy theories: tpryor must work for Mazda, he has a jspec ECU, the competitors didn't know how to drive, a friend of a friend claims to have seen a LeCar at the same track making faster lap times... Need I go on?!? ;)

Oh before I forget, congrats on the awesome times!

Originally posted by Speed Racer


I'm just waiting for a few familiar people to start commenting about conspiracy theories: tpryor must work for Mazda, he has a jspec ECU, the competitors didn't know how to drive, a friend of a friend claims to have seen a LeCar at the same track making faster lap times... Need I go on?!? ;)

Oh before I forget, congrats on the awesome times!

Thanks, guys. The car has more potential, plus we need to learn how to drive it (corners come up a little quicker than in the Miata!).

The "conspiracy" theorists are the exact reason I posted the URL for the results page, so they could browse the complete results (that was as much as I could post without exceeding the size limit). We were surprised, but we went faster than several Street Prepared classes, and even a Prepared class or two.

There was a former champ (Russ Wiles) in attendance in his BMW (running in BSP). He eventually ran approx. 2 seconds faster than us, but his car is sorted AND fast while we are still learning the car.

We felt that we left at least a second "out there" as neither of us got a run that was error free. We should get another second from car "dialing in" as we go, and we were on road race compound Hoosiers (all of the competition was on autocross compound Hoosiers) which is another .8 or so. Of course, ALL of this will be dependent on course design, weather, etc.

BUT, this car can be competitive in BS - we are convinced. I'll post the video as soon as I can figure out how to edit it down (new camera).

Congrats, Tim! See, I told you this car was competitive. :D

Sweet! :D

Congrats! If I'm reading it right, those results are pretty impressive. I guess I'm not the only one here that is surprised at the results posted here.

Bested the S2000?
Bested the M3?
Heck, even bested an Evo?
And to top it all off, you bested the Vettes ?

TPryor, you are da man. Can't wait to see what you run once you do have your RX-8 figured out.

Great job !

What type of race is the auto-x? How far, etc?

fabulous!

we were VERY surprised at my times for a completely untested/tuned car. and i was very pleased with how the car was balanced and how eager it was throughout the course even on street tires.

that it still works well on r-tires is great news indeed.

rotaries rule!

james

oh, for your amusement, i designed the course, heres the map:

http://thevenom.net/pics/rx8/rotorcourse.gif

james

wow
congrats

This is great, but I have a question. Why, with the same PAX factor, did the PAX results show the '01 Boxster as fastest. The BS PAX (.825) was the same for both????

Whatever, it was great. I haven't had a chance to run mine yet (we lost our usual track to a new owner), but a friend of mine who is an excellent ES Miata competitor ran his on stock tires and had a hard time keeping the rear in line...lost too much time sliding! We concluded that Hoosiers will be required!

Originally posted by TybeeRX-8
This is great, but I have a question. Why, with the same PAX factor, did the PAX results show the '01 Boxster as fastest. The BS PAX (.825) was the same for both????

Whatever, it was great. I haven't had a chance to run mine yet (we lost our usual track to a new owner), but a friend of mine who is an excellent ES Miata competitor ran his on stock tires and had a hard time keeping the rear in line...lost too much time sliding! We concluded that Hoosiers will be required!

Yes, the Boxster was faster because he ran in the morning. he runs our "X" class (PAX only) which is allowed to run morning AND afternoon. His morning times (and Russ's BMW times) were significantly faster in the morning, but when he ran his runs in the afternoon he was right with us. We'll be fine......

That explains it. As I said before, these results are great to see. I passed them along to my ES Miata friend who now has an RX-8. He's a very good driver in the SE region autox and was familar with you and your skills. Get the sticky Hoosiers and let us know how you do. Personally I think this thread should get a "sticky" just to ensure that all those concerned about the 8's performance can see what experience and good tires can produce in a venue where this car will be competitive, not at drag strips. It's been said so much elsewhere it is becoming trite, but "if you can't go fast with 90hp, 300 ain't gonna help you." And it might put a few of the trolls in place, too...but not likely since they would have to return to thumb-sucking for entertainment.:D

Originally posted by TybeeRX-8
.......I passed them along to my ES Miata friend who now has an RX-8. He's a very good driver in the SE region autox and was familar with you and your skills........

"was familar with you and your skills" - that is an interesting comment. I'm not sure how to take that, but I'm glad someone outside my geographical area knows who I am (I think).

After you passed them on, did he have any comments???

Originally posted by TybeeRX-8
That explains it. As I said before, these results are great to see. I passed them along to my ES Miata friend who now has an RX-8. He's a very good driver in the SE region autox and was familar with you and your skills. Get the sticky Hoosiers and let us know how you do. Personally I think this thread should get a "sticky" just to ensure that all those concerned about the 8's performance can see what experience and good tires can produce in a venue where this car will be competitive, not at drag strips. It's been said so much elsewhere it is becoming trite, but "if you can't go fast with 90hp, 300 ain't gonna help you." And it might put a few of the trolls in place, too...but not likely since they would have to return to thumb-sucking for entertainment.:D

I am impressed by the results, but I still think the S2K has a bit of an advantage, it's still the king of BS. Who knows, maybe you guys will be able to knock it off it's thrown, but if the RX-8 isn't up to the task I'm sure you'll have fun trying.

Ike

Is that video almost ready?

Originally posted by spdspappy
Is that video almost ready?

I am having trouble cutting it down. It's a minute of the run, followed by a minute of it swinging from my arm (silly me, I thought releasing the button would cause it to stop recording). It's in 640x480, 30 frames per second, so it's around 50MB.

If anyone is willing to allow me to ftp it to them for hosting, I'll send it immediately (eccles?). As for the editing, I give up.......

Figured it out! The smaller, edited version is now on the eccles site and available for viewing. Please note that this was shot with a digital still camera, not a movie camera...........

Link Here (http://www.snikte.net/rx-8/Cody_Run1_Sunday_Low.wmv)

THANKS, ECCLES!

Thanks! It's just too bad that it was so windy & you couldn't really hear the car. That looked like so much fun...

eccles
sweet video thank you

Originally posted by rxeightr
Bested the S2000?
Bested the M3?
Heck, even bested an Evo?
And to top it all off, you bested the Vettes ?

TPryor, you are da man. Can't wait to see what you run once you do have your RX-8 figured out.

Great job !

On the track that was at today, there were a few post E30 M3's. Forget the chassis... E42 maybe?

Full race setup, roll cages, coils, slicks, etc etc......

I was just in my stock RX-8 with ONLY 245/40/18's in Falken GR Beta.

They started behind me.

After about a full lap, I could not see them in my rear view mirror.

This car DOMINATES in the corners! Faster than a lot of other cars, it's just simply amazing.

Now a little more power would be nice, but out of the box..... this car can compete!!!!

Originally posted by Ophitoxaemia
this car rocks! i didnt expect it to be fast, but it handles really well, and all the funniness i felt on the street was not a problem. there is a little lift throttle oversteer, but it is manageable and not more than i like. you can set up a tail out drift really easily and modulate it with throttle.

id like to see what the car would be like with a little more rear shock rebound and compression.

a nationals-competing DS IS300 was there and i was 3 seconds faster than both the (usually decent) drivers of that car, so i doubt there is any chance we will ever get moved to DS. :(

my fastest run was after the car got to sit for a little while so the tires cooled down- those street tires dont like heat. the difference between hot tires and cool tires was over 1 second. so bring your sprayers.

i dont see any place where it has an advantage over the S2000 though in BS. but regionally a well driven rx8 could beat lots of S2000's.

PUR NRG and i got to ride with each other... great fun!

james

I'm glad someone else is actually running their car and seeing the light with the cornering ability of the RX8! You know I have 3 full track days in less than a month of ownership, and the car rocks!

I agree with the rear suspension, but there is also a lot of forward lean when you brake hard. A good suspension kit and good slicks are all this car nees on a road course!

And for an electric steering rack, I only found out about a day after my 3rd track event and was praising the steering each day!!!!!

A little more oversteer would be nice, not much more but a little, but from the factory, this car can PERFORM!

syntrix - thanks for this thread. After all the talk on this forum about this car, and its possible HP issues, its great to see this info.

I should be getting my (UK) car next month, and handling is more important to me than outright straight line speed (which is much less fun).

That it competes, and beats such cars as you've said, relativly stock makes my day, oh that and a delivrery date from mazda :D

Yeah, I love the trolls where the first thing out of their mouth is, I heard that the car is actually slow because of Mazda's mistakes.

I just tell them, YUP! And grin from ear to ear ;)

I've never been to an auto-x although I watched one, once in the rain.

How fast were you going average? Max?

Looks like the first corners were taken pretty fast 70-80km/h?

The it looks slow, then at the end again a little bit of speed.

Awesome video... too bad there's no zoom though :)

I will probably be competing against many RX-8's this upcoming Sunday in Washington's Mazda Sportcar Club meet (Washington, DC, that is). I'll bring my camera and do my best with it's movie mode.

I think I may race my Mazda6, if my new shoes get to me in time. I'm tired of racing on the terrible all-seasons the car comes with. I just bought from eBay the 3rd-gen RX-7 wheels with Yoko tires... the wheels alone are 8lbs lighter EACH than the Mazda6 stock wheels, an inch wider, and an offset that ought to actually work without rolling the fenders. Can't wait!

One thing I will say about the RX-8, regardless of how it competes, is that it has got to be the most comfortable autocross vehicle since the Toyota MR2.

Notice how all the Mazda6 autocrossers suddenly pop outta the wood work when the words autox enter a topic :).

As for speed...alot of times autox isn't about speed. Its all about smoothness. Sometimes a car which looks like its going slow, is actually the car with the best times.

Autocrossing is all about driving.

To lay out a quote...

"Drag Racing is for Fast Cars"

"Autocrossing is for Fast Drivers"

The best example is looking at a results sheet for an autocross...not just in a single class, but how each class compares to another.

Its pretty funny when the 500 horsepower, 500 ft/lbs of torque american muscle machine (Dodge SRT-10 Viper 2003) is almost beaten by a 160 hp Mazda6i family sedan :).

http://www.wam.umd.edu/~greghess/autocross/13s.jpg

Originally posted by crossbow
Notice how all the Mazda6 autocrossers suddenly pop outta the wood work when the words autox enter a topic :).

.....



Not many here in vegas, but IMHO, mazda does some of the best suspension tuning out of the box.

I took a friends MazdaSpeed Protege out for a test spin. Power was just ok, but HANDLING STOCK was out of this world for a factory car for that price!!!!!! Amazingly balanced and well mannered through some of the hot corners I put her through!

Mazda is focusing on suspension more than a lot of manufacturers, or manu's are limited with FWD and unequal length drive shafts which equal torque steer!!!!

It's a Maryland/DC/VA thing... I wanted to start autocrossing, but didn't want to go by myself. Once RevItUp came through, it was easy getting other Mazda6 owners to jump on board, and now there's 6-10 of us that go semi-regularly.

Here's some videos to enjoy:

http://www.uncontrived.com/images/mazda6/autocross_10-19/autocross.wmv

http://www.uncontrived.com/images/mazda6/autocross_9-28/autocross.wmv

When you hear one of us say, "Looking good!" when the run sucks, it's because the previous run really was that much worse :/

We're all rookies.

Originally posted by crossbow
As for speed...alot of times autox isn't about speed. Its all about smoothness. Sometimes a car which looks like its going slow, is actually the car with the best times.

Autocrossing is all about driving.

To lay out a quote...

"Drag Racing is for Fast Cars"

"Autocrossing is for Fast Drivers"

I hear ya. Before I started messing with the rear suspension in my SA, I was doing powerslides and doriftos around corners and generally looking quite fast, but my times were somewhere between pathetic and DFL. ;) Then I changed my brake bias, removed my rear sway bar to allow more suspension travel and I was able to pull off some better times, but my runs were fairly boring to watch.

I'm still learning, but this autoX thing is more addictive than drugs.

I'm still learning, but this autoX thing is more addictive than drugs.

We trust you are not speaking from experience? :eek:

I've never heard of autocross before but it looks like alot of fun. Anyone in western Canada know if this is done in our area? Or does anyone know where I might be able to find out?

Don't know about canada, but here the website:

http://scca.org/

and boards are http://sccaforums.com

This was my first time running the 8 at an autox.

Various comments from riders:

"how did you make the rear end come out around that long sweeping corner?"

"Wow, this is planted to the ground!"

etc. etc. etc.

I also got a few comments about low torque and the buybacks. Those just made me laugh!!