If memory serves me right, the last time we made a thread about this we got a pretty good rx8 turnout! That was the event where my fuel pump decided to go on strike though....... *sigh*

Anyways, lets have another big Rx8 turnout!!

Date: Sunday, Nov 16th

Location: Houston Police Academy
17000 Aldine Westfield
Houston, TX 77073

How to Register: You have to make an account with dlbracing.com (its free). From there, find the event in the calendar and register for it from there. All RX8's enter the X2 class. The price is $35 and you pay with paypal through dlbracing.com.

The event is held on the Police Academy's test track. They place the cones all over the test track to make it more technical. Its a pretty fun event! Come on out!!

(For those that have never autocrossed, you have to work as well. More info can be given if someone is interested, but doesn't know what "work" means.)

I'll be there.

If my Dad comes into town I'm going to have to whore Nick out to someone else. His car is still having engine problems.

I'm going to try to get my Dad to codrive at the event. Just my luck the old man is going to beat my times.


Edit:

Oh yeah, those interested in seeing what difference Koni Sport shocks, Racingbeat springs, and Dunlup Direzza Z1 Star Specs makes in driving I don't mind giving out rides.

He told me he's going to be driving his gfs (i think?) miata at this event.

I am trying my best to make it to this event. Hopefully nothing will make me miss this.

I'll be there.




Edit:

Oh yeah, those interested in seeing what difference Koni Sport shocks, Racingbeat springs, and Dunlup Direzza Z1 Star Specs makes in driving I don't mind giving out rides.

I will do my best to be there, if I do not forget.
I do want to ride with u to see/feel how those mods affect the 8
tia

just a reminder, if you're going to participate you have to pre-register online. You cant register at the event. and waiting till the day before the autocross to register wont work because this event limits its number of entrants (is that the right word haha).

And you can't register until Monday.

Don't wait until the last minute because its been selling out fast.

Maybe we can get another turn out like this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v129/xsnipersgox/Autocross/SANY0009.jpg

I'm registering my Dad and myself right now. I believe Nick and Sara are already registered.

If anyone is wondering, you will be in X2 class, unless you have a turbo, then its X1. Mods don't matter. If you have an SCCA member number put it in, saves you $10.

Registration has been closing Thursday night/Friday morning so try to register as soon as possible.

Like any good rotary, my engine shat upon itself right at the 100,000 mile mark. Right now it's in Dallas being rebuilt, which I'm sure is a code-word ammong rotary mechanics that means "to set the bomb's timer back 50,000 miles."


Anyways, I will be there, co-driving my better half's Miata. This means that - and I hope your not drinking anything right now - Chad might actually beat me. So as a precaution, I have provided a handful of disclaimers and excuses below.

1) Her suspension is 60% rust
2) Her tires are harder and slipperier than anything I've ever put on my car
3) She's nervous about being too hard on her car, so I can't push it too hard
4) Her chasis is made of lead, and will slow me down
5) I just had Lasik surgery, and the sun is too bright for me to see the cones
6) I'm hungover
7) I can't feel my left arm
8) I'm blind
9) I'm dead

There - that should do it! Now, if I lose, I have plenty of reasons to not feel bad about it.






However, if I win, it was all skill.
No, seriously. It was.
Did you see that shit?
Skill.

I'm more worried about my Dad beating me. Everytime the old man drives my car he shifts smoother than me.

#1 & #2 is probably true. #6 shouldn't be an excuse because you're hung over most of the events anyway.

Edit so I don't double post.

X2 Entry List:

701 Willie Henderson Black 2007 Mazda RX-8
707 Chad Henderson Black 2007 Mazda RX-8

Where you guys at?


Edit 2:

Since everyone seems to be taken by surprise by this, a group of us always go eat after we race. Lately its been Zio's after HPA. So let your wife/girlfriend/husband/boyfriend/whoever know ahead of time. Or invite them out. We have alot of fun after the event as well.

Hero, how much does that work pay?
Enough to pay for the entry fee?

Nope, its $35 and you have to work.

The work isn't hard, basically you stand next to the track somewhere and BS about cars and driving. If someone hits a cone you put it back where it was.

Its set up this way so the track stays intact throughout the day.

Myardor: what Heavymetal said. You pretty much stand around while other cars are running and run over to pick up any cones they make run over during their lap.

I just signed up guys and there was only a little over 20 spots available. They cap this event at 80 so lets get some more 8's registered!!

*sigh* my koni replacement shock just came in today and I wont have time to replace the leaky front shock before this event. Its been slightly leaking for a little over a year now haha.

I could replace it in 1.5 hours tops.

I have become a super pro at this. If you want to do it sometime this week I'll help(all in the name of autocross!). The O'Reilly's next to my place has a brand new spring compressor that has a very coarse thread. Like 60 seconds of cranking on it with a ratchet and the spring is all the way compressed.

Hit me up and let me know, just make sure you have a location with light!

I won't be able to help Friday or Saturday though.

Bump for registration. C'mon guys, $35 is a small price to pay for a full days fun.

Looks like I was too late. :sadwavey:

I TOOOOOOOLD YOU!!

and thanks for the offer Chad. It isnt that i cant do it myself, its that i wont have the free time this weekend unless I dont go to the autocross and do it then haha.

I TOOOOOOOLD YOU!!

and thanks for the offer Chad. It isnt that i cant do it myself, its that i wont have the free time this weekend unless I dont go to the autocross and do it then haha.

I know...I was dragging my feet because I just came back from California last night. Should have signed up when I got home from the flight.

ohhhhhhh welcome back welcome back ^_^

If Mike doesn't run R-comps I have a small chance in hell of actually winning.


This is going to be fun!

Hey Hero are you registered as Tensai?

I wonder who is running the silver RX-8.

hey hey woh woh you have more than mike to worry about buddy ^_^

yes, im Tensai. i was wondering the same thing haha. The last time when we had the big 8 showing the only 8 driver we didnt know was in a blue rx8...... hmmmm who is the ninja silver 8 -_-

hey hey woh woh you have more than mike to worry about buddy ^_^

yes, im Tensai. i was wondering the same thing haha. The last time when we had the big 8 showing the only 8 driver we didnt know was in a blue rx8...... hmmmm who is the ninja silver 8 -_-

Sounds like a challenge! I'm going to be super serious this time around since my Dad will be with me.

hey hey woh woh you have more than mike to worry about buddy ^_^


LOL...:lol: ...guess HERO was forgotten...LOL.

I found a new sport that I think is even better than autocross. Well, not sure if it's new, but it's damn impressive!

Gymkhana (http://www.autoblog.com/2008/11/12/video-ken-block-gymkhana-practice-or-one-hoon-to-rule-them-all/)

haha I saw that vid a few days ago. made me want to go out and drive!!!!!!

Chad, goodluck against your dad! hopefully thisll be your first win again him?

I'm leaking oil now and its not coming from the dipstick, the oil cap, the oil pan drain plug. Noticed the pool of oil forming under the car at my brothers house after the event. I was wondering why the car magically started to consume more than 2 quarts of oil in 3,000 miles. I haven't checked yet but others on the forum were having problems with the OMP leaking.

Time to go to the dealership! I'm going to push for new free spark plugs and have them check out the catalytic converter.

Edit: As soon as they post results online I'll post them here.

I'm leaking oil now and its not coming from the dipstick, the oil cap, the oil pan drain plug. Noticed the pool of oil forming under the car at my brothers house after the event. I was wondering why the car magically started to consume more than 2 quarts of oil in 3,000 miles. I haven't checked yet but others on the forum were having problems with the OMP leaking.

Time to go to the dealership! I'm going to push for new free spark plugs and have them check out the catalytic converter.

Edit: As soon as they post results online I'll post them here.

Hope everything goes well.

I had to miss this one. Last minute family business events came up right before I was going to register. I will try to make it to the next one.

http://www.houston-bmwcca.com/driving/ax_results/081116.htm

12 1 753 X2 Michael Long 2001 Lexus IS300 & same as it Travis Motorsports,
R1 43.763 R2 42.793 R3 42.924 R4 ( 2.000) 44.926
R5 42.749 R6 42.104* R7 43.305
13 2 707 X2 Chad Henderson 2007 Mazda RX-8 Black
R1 43.892 R2 43.883 R3 ( 4.000) 47.049 R4 44.356
R5 42.124* R6 ( 2.000) 44.738 R7 43.340
45 3 718 X2 Sahba Behizad 2004 Mazda RX8 Winning Blue
R1 (DNF) 46.880 R2 47.065 R3 46.294 R4 ( 2.000) 47.908
R5 45.366 R6 45.388 R7 44.909*
47 4 701 X2 Willie Henderson 2007 Mazda RX-8 Black
R1 72.280 R2 67.397 R3 45.048* R4 62.993
R5 60.301 R6 57.668 R7 57.163
52 5 68 X2 Ray Buchman 1988 Pontiac Fiero GT Red
R1 47.105 R2 46.407 R3 46.368 R4 46.460
R5 45.939 R6 (DNF) 61.138 R7 45.687*
61 6 503 X2 Kevin Roberts 2005 Mazda RX-8 Sunlight Silve
R1 53.097 R2 48.943 R3 49.983 R4 49.151
R5 47.155 R6 46.826*

And for the Miata's

16 1 216 X3 Chung Ying 2001 Mazda Miata Red, I think. Century 21 s.w. 281-
R1 43.356 R2 42.742 R3 42.665 R4 ( 2.000) 44.673
R5 42.848 R6 42.537 R7 42.349*
19 2 242 X3 Arturo Vivar 2007 Mazda Miata White Penumbra Energy, LLC
R1 ( 0.000) 46.691 R2 ( 2.000) 45.828 R3 ( 2.000) 46.138 R4 43.698
R5 43.550 R6 42.704* R7 ( 2.000) 44.580
20 3 771 X3 Daniel Pyziak 2000 Toyota MR2 Spyder Black
R1 (DNF) 43.428 R2 43.149 R3 43.054 R4 42.934
R5 42.772* R6 43.345 R7 43.016
31 4 189 X3 Wayne Stockel 2001 Mazda Miata SE White HoustonMiataClub.com
R1 45.633 R2 ( 2.000) 46.087 R3 44.180 R4 44.052
R5 ( 2.000) 45.692 R6 43.747 R7 43.699*
48 5 250 X3 Preston Temple 2007 Volkswagen Rabbit Grey
R1 (DNF) 47.558 R2 (DNF) 46.304 R3 ( 4.000) 48.741 R4 45.896
R5 ( 2.000) 51.484 R6 45.556 R7 45.128*
53 6 717 X3 Nick Kelly 1999 Mazda Miata Twilight Blue
R1 ( 4.000) 50.359 R2 ( 2.000) 48.760 R3 ( 4.000) 49.879 R4 46.093
R5 45.798* R6 46.116 R7 ( 2.000) 47.407
54 7 210 X3 Westley Yates 2006 Acura RSX Magnesium Metal
R1 (DNF) 50.411 R2 47.399 R3 ( 2.000) 49.498 R4 ( 2.000) 48.834
R5 46.128* R6 (DNF) 46.233 R7 46.584
56 8 205 X3 Jason Smalling 2008 Honda Fit Blackberry Pear
R1 46.826 R2 ( 2.000) 49.038 R3 46.924 R4 46.254*
R5 47.051 R6 47.479 R7 46.520
57 9 244 X3 Kristina Vivar 2007 Mazda Miata White Penumbra Energy
R1 ( 0.000) 48.127 R2 (DNF) 50.084 R3 ( 2.000) 48.648 R4 46.323
R5 62.410 R6 47.309 R7 46.291*
67 10 180 X3 Neil Aggarwal 1994 Mazda Miata Red
R1 48.070 R2 48.070 R3 ( 2.000) 50.796 R4 48.541
R5 48.805 R6 47.779* R7 48.322
72 11 712 X3 Sarah West 1999 Madza Miata Twilight Blu
R1 ( 0.000) 54.915 R2 (DNF) 51.977 R3 ( 2.000) 53.120 R4 50.492
R5 49.515* R6 ( 4.000) 53.085 R7 ( 4.000) 53.058


Edit: Wow it did not like that formatting at all. Oh well, I came in 2nd place in X2 class losing .02 seconds to Mike. I also came in 13th overall. Not bad considering I'm on STREET tires and thats out of 80 people registered.

Yea congrats chad, you drove really well this weekend. It was really amusing to see you jump up and down every time they announced someone elses time and it was slower than yours.

Your dad on the other hand....

Lol, it was good to see him out there. I think your car scared him a little.

Yea congrats chad, you drove really well this weekend. It was really amusing to see you jump up and down every time they announced someone elses time and it was slower than yours.

Your dad on the other hand....

Lol, it was good to see him out there. I think your car scared him a little.

^^ Sarah?

Yup, I try to win gracefully!!

I still lost to Mike by .02 seconds!!

I really liked the course(except for that 1 turn/sweeper thing I kept hitting a cone at. I really did very well and was actually quite satisfied with most of my runs.

The new rule change really killed it for me though because I was really looking forward to scaring the shit out of my Dad.

Hopefully you keep coming out and actually driving. You slide around almost as much as Nick and a few times I thought he was driving instead of you.

Yea it's me. The new rule does suck ass. I'll probably just end up driving at BMW and then catching rides at SCCA, mostly because of the cost, and then driving to Galveston on top of it... no bueno.

And I know, I know, I learned from a scary driver. That's going to be hard to get out of my system.

^^ Sarah?

Yup, I try to win gracefully!!

I still lost to Mike by .02 seconds!!

I really liked the course(except for that 1 turn/sweeper thing I kept hitting a cone at. I really did very well and was actually quite satisfied with most of my runs.

The new rule change really killed it for me though because I was really looking forward to scaring the shit out of my Dad.

Hopefully you keep coming out and actually driving. You slide around almost as much as Nick and a few times I thought he was driving instead of you.

You mentioned rule change? So you saying we can't have passengers anymore?

Yup, at the BMW events we can't ride or have passengers. You have to be a certified BMW instructor or some BS like that.

So gulf greyhound is the place to go now. More expensive but car hopping is fun. Plus you actually learn a bit watching other people drive.

Plus, if I heard it right, you also have to be a card carrying bmw member
So that was my first and last time out to that event.

You can race without being a BMW-CCA member.

I'm not even sure what the yearly subscription is. I tried to sign up a while ago so I could go to the BMW midnight autocross in dallas, but "Mazda RX-8" wasn't on the list of BMW cars.

HM I am sure I heard them announce that one has to show the BMW card when one shows up. Part of the new rules.

I think that was only if you were in a bmw since their times actually count and for us its pretty much just a practice session. I could be wrong. Anyone wanna chime in? Nick? Chad?

Hey, HM and Hero look at this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGKSlV-FPNw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGKSlV-FPNw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku9trOAbZPE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72_jQPGrat4



On a side note, if I buy those eyelids will someone paint them for me
ie HM?

You don't have to own a BMW to join the club. The Porsche club on the other hand....

You don't have to own a BMW to join the club. The Porsche club on the other hand....

I did not say you had to own a BMW, but one has to be a card carrying member. ie one has to be a BMW member to race but they would also honor the Porsche member card.
Or did I hear wrong?
That and no passengers/riders (unless the driver is an instructor) were 2 new rule changes.

While they did say that, you missed the part right before. If you are NOT a BMW-CCA member you must show a valid drivers license.

The part about being a BMW-CCA member or a porsche club member was for the $10 off the event. Honestly I should of probably asked if that went for the SCCA as well because I put my SCCA member number in everytime I register and get $10 off.

The no passengers rule change is BS and will hurt new people to the sport. A long list of people have helped me out since I started back in March and maybe 2-3 were instructors.

Not to mention simply riding with random people at speed. Different people have different ideas on how to navigate the track.


I might ask how to become an instructor next event and see what they say. Personally I think Nick should become an official instructor. He's one of the better instructors around.

" Houston BMW CCA in good standing will always can register early (right after the last event is over). The database provided by the National office will be used to validate members current standing. Participants that are not Houston BMW CCA members in good standing will be allowed to participate, and will be able to register the Friday before the week of the next autocross."

Your SCCA member number does not entitle you to any discount. If you go take advantage of their events maybe you should consider being a member.

"Membership runs $40 a year, with discounts for multi-year or lifetime memberships. It includes Roundel (print and online), full access to BMWCCA.org, access to Technical Service Advisors, and member discounts."

" Houston BMW CCA in good standing will always can register early (right after the last event is over). The database provided by the National office will be used to validate members current standing. Participants that are not Houston BMW CCA members in good standing will be allowed to participate, and will be able to register the Friday before the week of the next autocross."

Your SCCA member number does not entitle you to any discount. If you go take advantage of their events maybe you should consider being a member.

"Membership runs $40 a year, with discounts for multi-year or lifetime memberships. It includes Roundel (print and online), full access to BMWCCA.org, access to Technical Service Advisors, and member discounts."

:dunno: I didn't even notice the discount until 3 or so events ago. I use DLBracing to register for both BMW and the Houston SCCA events so I've always put my member number in. But yeah, $40 is cheap. It seems they fixed their website too so I can actually register without having a BMW. I'll probably register in January.