01Racing

The Scarboro Mazda Racing team will be testing at Shannonville Friday May 6. I have been informed that there is lots of space for anyone who wished to come out and try there car on the track! They are running on long track in the AM and then pro track in the afternoon. I believe the cost is $ 150 - $ 200.00 for the whole day! Contact Alan at Scarboro Mazda 416-752-0970 or the organizer Ben Swain at 416-275-8676 if you are interested!

01Racing

Just wanted to say it was great to see one RX8 club member at the track yesterday! He did a great job and really seemed to enjoy the potential of his car. The track is where the RX-8 can really show what it is made of! Hope he had a great time and would love to see more people take advantage of these days!

RotorWheeee

Sorry I missed the opportunity. Its a real problem for me to get a day off with three day's notice. If you could give a bit more lead time I'd like to take you up on one of these invites. I hope it was a productive day for your testing

scoop

It was me, here's my story from a novices point of view for those who might be interested in the future, rather long . . . For those you don't like long stories, you should go the next time :-)

Thanks #84Racing for the invite, I had a great time!!! Ben and the other organizers/instructors did a fantastic job. It was well organized, safe, low key and provided tons of track time, as much as you could reasonably want. Chewed through a tank and half of gas out there, that's more than a few times around the track . . .

Things started out with going over the flags, entrance and exit procedures and controlled passing procedures etc. Passing was only permitted when the car in front gives a hand signal, so nobody is ever very close to you. Played follow the leader at the beginning of the day to learn the track and the lines, started out slow and picked up speed over a number of laps. Had a couple of the organizers ride in the car with me and show me the lines through the various corners, braking points and technique etc. I also rode as copilot with three of them at various points, it was excellent learning experience to watch and see what they do. These guys were real pros and could take the car way beyond what I was able and brave enough to do. They just have so much more smoothness and precision, practice makes perfect . . . By the way, every one of them praised most aspects of the car. Basically you could head out on the track whenever you wanted, drive as much as you wanted and you could seek as much or as little help as you wanted. It takes a bunch of concentration and stuff for this sort of driving and if you start to loose it you start making mistakes and it is time to come in.

In terms of the car, it's simply phenomenal on the track, so well behaved, predictable and confidence inspiring when you get a chance to push it . . . As a rookie running a completely stock car I was able to keep pace with a good many cars out there, any less of a car and I am sure I wouldn't have done so well. The were obviously some people that were a LOT faster, some had faster cars, some were all out race cars but more importantly some had a lot better drivers. There are something like 14 turns on the Shannonville Long Track so it's pretty technical and in my mind driver skill ranks as the most important factor. The track is nice in the sense that there is lots of run out space everywhere, a couple people spun off the track and other than soiled underwear there were no issues. There is one straight stretch where I could get up to about 140-150 in 4th, everything else is much slower, a couple downshifts into 2nd were required but most of the track could all be run in 3rd at 5K-8.5K I have no idea how fast I was going, no time to look. Halfway through the day the track configuration was switched from Long Track to Pro Track which is shorter but faster as it takes out a bunch of tight turns. I drove with the DSC on the whole time, it is not overly sensitive and it rarely activated, when it did it was clearly fixing my mistakes to do with not enough braking or bad line. It will only ruin the party for a truly expert driver. For myself, I will trade a bit of speed at the limits for a margin of safety, it's not a race and keeping all four wheels on the track, my car in good shape and the underwear clean is a good thing . . .

The car is no worse for the experience, the hard rubber on the stock Bridgestone's leads to some extra squeal and drifting but I didn't loose much tread depth. After a good number of laps I think I was maybe building up too much heat and tire pressure, at least I thought I could feel some change there on a couple occasions so I went in for a break. I ran 33 PSI cold all around, the fronts scrubbed down maybe 1/4 inch on the side of the tread and rears were pretty much even. By comparison the track tires on a guys M3 vaporized by half way through the day and it was only their second day on the track, mind you he was pushing that car hard, signaled him to pass me several times during the day. The brakes are simply phenomenal on the 8, they just keep working with no change in feel at all and seem no worse for wear, lots of pad left and rotors are fine. There were no signs of excessive engine heat that plagued various RX-7s in the past, temp gauge never got above the normal reading. Used maybe a quarter litre of oil as a guess from the level on the dip stick. There were a bunch of people switching pads and putting on track tires but really with the 8 for most people you can just show up and have fun.

Being a bit of a car guy, it's always fun to look at the other hardware and it was all over the map from A4, M3, 325is, 944, TR8, RX-7 Turbo (FC), Z28, RSX to WRX etc. There was a 400hp Corrado VR6 race car with a blower that was kind of neat. I really liked the #84Racing RX-7 race car, it looks so sweet and it nearly busts your eardrums when it passes . . .

In terms of notice I personally didn't mind the short notice, I kind of looked at it as a bonus as I knew the weather was going to be clear. Not sure I would have had so much fun in the rain . . .

The whole thing is highly recommended, particularly with the same format and group of people. Most of the other events I had looked at were much more structured and I don't think you would get nearly as much time behind the wheel. I think that once you have some idea of what you are supposed to be doing, the more time behind the wheel, the better. There is another one of these on August 19th I believe . . . It would be good to see a few RX-8s out . . .

01Racing

Thanks scoop for your post in the track day. I would have given everyone a lot more notice, but I only got short notice myself. Our test day went great, and as usual I learned a thing or two from one of the organizers, he helped me drop about 2 seconds off my best lap times there. That should help when we run our 1st race there June 3-4 weekend. The Scarboro Mazda Racing RX-7 get to about 180+ kmh at the end of straight (what a rush). It was fun playing with the othe RX-7 that was there. If anyone is interested, we have free tickets to Mosport for this weekends regional race May 14-15. If we can get some small problems fixed we will be at the track this weekend to race.

RotorWheeee

I'd be interested in tickets . I could swing by the dealership to pickup if that works for you ?

I haven't been at a race at Mosport since the CamAm cars used to run. Best of luck getting you problems fixed.

01Racing

Tickets are at recpetion and the race car is in the showroom, and if the weather gods permit, we will be racing Sunday! Scarboro Mazda 2124 Lawrence Ave E Scarborough, Ontario!

RotorWheeee

Thanks .
Dropped by to pick them up after work.
I saw your car , certainly doesn't have anything in it that won't make it go faster:D