Kafka

Comparing my car with a Koni Challenge car or otherwise is just ridiculous, they spend more in a weekend than I do in 2 years.

QFT. We can get tons of hotties to hang around our pit with those money Al!!!

Actually...maybe we should ask the local TableDancing Clubs for sponsar...hm...let me check their numbers

Rotator

That's your problem right there - all the money is being spent at the local Ballet rather than on the car

Drivers do make a difference - but I'd say with identical cars - experienced drivers on good dry surfaces the differences would be 1-2 seconds max.

All my posts are merely opinions. References to the KONI cars are merely for comparative purposes as they carry the same kind of power/weight ratio as your FC. At no time am I comparing my skills to yours, or suggesting that driving skills are the issue. My question merely is that given cars with identical power/weight the lap times should be pretty close.

What you are saying is in order to be fast your need $$$, or a don't care attitude.
I am saying that this is only valid to a point.

A car such as yours has had a few years of development now. You should have an advantage now in knowing what works and what doesn't.

At the end of the day what really matters - you have fun doing whatever you enjoy and are happy with the results.
Sounds like this is the case.

To throw some gasoline into the fire - what kind of street car with street tires would be doing under 1:30?
Or -
Take the stock RX-8 example at Mosport.
Stock Everything - say 1:42?
R-Compounds - ??
R-Compounds + suspension - ??
R-Compounds + suspension + 200 lbs deleted - ??
R-Compounds + suspension + 200 lbs deleted + seam welded body + cage - ??
above + sequential dogbox

Seems like pretty minor mods to me.
You have some ricers out there with far more goodies.

Just curious though - how much are these MOTON coilovers selling for?
They appear to work quite well on track.

I remember looking into a WRC gearbox for an evo and it was something like $35K USD.

01Racing

Well you are definately entitled to your opinion. All I can tell you is $$$$ buys speed and lots of it. The $$$ allows you to have spare cars etc. You talk about the years spent developing the car, we run the car about 4 times a year, pro teams run 10-12 times a year minimun plus god knows how much testing. The shock package is worth about $2500.00 per corner (for Dynamics, thats $10,000 total). If you have some extra money, we would be happy to put "Rotator" down the sides of the car and try and run in the 1.29's. A certified check for about $100,000 would be fine, please make it payable to Alan Balinsky Racing.

Rotary Mike

Give me about another week or so for this baillout to start, and I'll write you one in American dollars (should be worth about $2.53 Canadian by that time)

R.P.M.

iTrader: (1)

Moton 2 way adjustable's cost $6500 CDN built specific for the RX-8. The 4 way adjustable's cost $12,000 for a set.

Rotator

#84 could use the FC optimized ones vs. the RX-8.

I think a set of those - and improving shift speed will help.

Let's see - in the drag racing world - shepracing.com was using a synchro tranny running under 10's. He produces synchro trannies capable of pulling 8's in the 1/4.

So the 11 shifts at mosport - are you counting downshifts?
You only have 4 speeds - I doubt you are going into 2nd in any corner but possibly 5a/b, and 9.

Ever watched those best motoring videos? They shift like lightening. I would imagine their speeds are in the 200ms range clutch in/out.
What is interesting in watching the in camera views of their races are that it doesn't really matter much the guys who shift really fast vs. the guys that shift slower.
Watching them run the Touge course with street cars, no cage and helmet is just plain insanely stupid.

Do you run any datalogging software to analyse the race data?

Something like a racelogic vbox synchronised to an engine datalogger and some incar video would be very good analysis tools to see where you can gain time. Not expensive either.
If I remember your car is pretty simple from an electronics standpoint having a carburetor and not fuel injection.

These things are cheap enough now that you don't need an F1 budget to do some pretty quick analysis.

One thing I would like to know is how you get away with the car being as loud as it is???? You have to be over 110dB @ WOT.

Bit off topic - but ever watch the ROC races?
Interesting to see how different drivers from different disciplines stack up in different cars. Especially cars that aren't theirs.

Wonder how much different speeds are when you don't have to foot the bill if you stuff the car into a wall?

01Racing

Dude you really arent familiar with close ratio 4spds (lol) I am in 1ST GEAR in turn 5 up to the top of 4th going into turn eight, down to 3rd then down to 2nd in 9 &10. Back to 3rd for 1 and 2 then back down to 2nd for turn 3, then back down to 2nd for 5A and 1st for 5B. My ratios are 1st 2.01:1 2nd 1.57:1 3rd 1.27:1 and 4th is 1:1. You cant compare drag racing to road racing, drags is 3 or 4 shifts then nothing for 3 hours. The gear oil barely gets warm etc.

I can flat foot my shifts to save time (learned from drag racing since I was 16) but my trans would live about 5 minutes if that. Part of the reason for slow shifting is again your favorite word BUDGET.

Anyways we can go back and forth for ever and ever, just build a car and come out and support the series and rotary's.

Like I said before anything you wish to donate to the cause would be greatly appreciated, if not pick another post to pester

20b-3rotor

iTrader: (2)

Al I got a motor package that will put you around 1.20 and i will give you the car for free if you buy the engine lol... 600 plus hp in a 2300 lbs car that would be crazy... i might even put in our 14" brake kit...

01Racing

For those who don't know, this is how a "showroom stock" or World Challenge, Grand-Am Cup cars start out life. Pretty close to a tube chassis car...................

R.P.M.

iTrader: (1)

What sort of Grand-Am car are you talking about?

Our tuner works for Karl at Compass 360 Racing and the cages they have in their Grand Am cars are a very simple 6 point cage with some added braces, no where near as complex as that^

01Racing

I think there must be a miss understanding of what a 6 point cage is! The 360 cars were the Kensai cars at one point and Ronny O'Brien did the cage. These were like 12+ point cages when I saw them being built. The car is the picture is a World Challenge GT car, Corvette I think while it was under construction.

R.P.M.

iTrader: (1)

Yeah sorry, I guess the roof points count as points as well.

Compass runs in the ST class....much less involved in the ST cars compared to GT lol.

01Racing

Grand-Am Koni Challenge was a whole lot less than World Challenge Touring in the past years. A Koni car would only cost maybe $100,000 (lol)

Rotator

That's one strange looking vette.
So much for the illusion of these being showroom stock.
The hydroformed rails must be stock though right?

The Koni Cars are pretty limited to what you can do.
I can't see it costing $100K to put together a competitive car for that series.
Not when you start with a donor car you can pick up for $10K or less.

Rules are HERE

Mazda RX8
2004 5.12:1 17.9 2650
Tire size: 225/45/17. RPM limit TBD. MAZDASPEED aero
#QSEA-50-020-X1, QSEA-51-96Z and QSEA-70-900-X1 are allowed.
Allowed exhaust header. Allowed oil cooler vent in trunk. May use
aftermarket ECU.


On a whole other note - totally off topic - How about that Caparo T1??
922 bhp/ton
672kg with 610bhp.
Cough - Street Car - Cough

There is a car with a weight about 250kg less than an LMP1 car, and just about as much power.

01Racing

Like i said before in many previous posts, until you start to build a car you have no idea how much it costs until your paying the bills. Just a cage and shocks would be about $10,000. Aside ffrom the cost of just parts alone, what about the hours of labor to build a car? What about the transport costs? The list goes on and on and on and on. Call a couple of top flight Koni teams and ask what their budget is for one year of racing. To rent a seat for a weekend is usually about $30,000 for a GS team, and thats not including your costs of getting to the track, food lodging etc. God help you if you crash the car! Then it really gets expensive.

FYI: My costs for my little side seal failure at the end of last year is at $3500.00 not including labor, and any misc parts I still need to buy.

Rotator

That Sucks.... $3500+ buys a lot of BEvERages.

Does Mazda Canada pony up any funds for exposure in Canadian events?
I think they did the targa newfoundland, but what else?

01Racing

Mazda Canada has supported various team/drivers (including me lol)through dealerships in Canada, they also support a wide variety of events from Canoeing and Kayaking to Outdoors shows etc. To my knowledge other than the Meeting of the Mazda's they have not supported any race events other than Targe Newfoundland in the last few years.

Rotator

It's too bad they weren't more involved. Considering MNAO shows the ads on the US stations about how supposedly more Mazda's are racing on Sunday than any other Automaker. I guess the US gets more budget for those types of things.
Judging by the pricing disparity of parts, and even vehicle prices between Mazda US and Mazda Canada - you think they could afford to buy some exposure up here.

Honda Canada has some involvement with the CCTC series.

Seems like a good promotional tool to me.

01Racing

Personally I am not in favor of Mazda supporting a series per say, I would much rather see them support the individual teams with a contingincy program if some kind. I had a long conversation with the Motorsports Team Development Manager of Mazda USA. They have sold through Mazdaspeed 2500 MX-5 Cup kits to prepare the cars in the USA. We have not sold 2500 MX-5's in Canada between 2007 and 2008! That is why we dont get the same support as our USA counterparts. I would just like to see the Canadian drivers/teams get some of the press coverage in Mazda's advertising that the grassroots drivers from the USA get in Mazda USA's advertising.