Hi all, just wanted to share my new setup. Hope you like. I mounted & balanced them myself. Also, did my motor mounts, belts, coils, and an a/c evac & charge. Find me roaming Gaithersburg area.

 

Looks good. I'm actually down in the Gaithersburg area myself, at least during the week; I'm on a project at MedImmune/AstraZeneca, so you might see me someday.

 

I cant quite be sure by looking but it looks like you went with an 8.5" width?

 

18x9 +35 245/40R18

 

Nice video Nathan! It's interesting to see the different lines on a few turns you made that would have saved me some time.

I had a mega brain fart all day Sunday and never shut off the TC.

AJ got a great picture.

 

Anyone want to meet up sometime in the near future and have a rx8 ride out afterwards?

 

Haha with fat tires that are fat there's almost no need to :-)

In my experience one make rides end up with alot of unsafe and illegal hooniganism, i prefer to meet up at the track or autocross course, then you can get it out of your system and then maybe go for a relaxed and only marginally illegal cruise afterwards.

If youre interested, i usually post when an event is coming up.

 

thanks BrokenRecord, will definitely keep an eye out for you

 

Ok thanks , I'll be looking for your post

 

So the next SCCA autocross is on July 13th at FedEx Field, registration is open now. If youre an SCCA member then the total fees are $40, if youre not you can get a 'weekend membership' for $10, bringing your total to $50.

If youve never autocrossed before, then me Chris, Aaron, or John can give you information on what class you fall into and what to do to prepare for the event.

Basically classing for the RX8 fals into four categories:

C-street(CS): if your car is essentially unmodified, although you can replace wear items (brake pads, shocks etc) and there are some allowances for exhaust and intake

Street Touring eXtreme (STX): Coilovers, intake up to throttle body and header-back exhaust, some weight reduction ok, wheels can be 9"wide and tires can be 265 section width

D street prepared (DSP): I dont know much about this class, I think it has the same allowances as STX and you can use R-comps or something, i dont really know, but you can DL the SCCA rulebook from their site if you want to be sure

XP: This is a class for people that started modding their cars long before they started racing their cars, pretty much anything goes, (turbos,20Bs, V8s, tank treads etc)

Basically on your first event youre not likely to be competitive so just pick CS if youre stock and STX if youre modified, no one is going to protest you.

Also me and a couple other guys on here are going to Summit point Kart all day this Saturday, if you want to know just how soft and squishy your street car really is then come out and try them :-)


Hope to see you out there,

Nate

 

Not sure I can make that event yet.

 

Summit Point Kart, might be a good place for a meet:

 

that's right in my backyard but unfortunately ive never raced the carts.

I'd like to try out the autox in Frederick sometime this year...ive got re11's coming Thursday to replace my bald *** tires...so it might be fun now

 

I'm in as soon as I get my oil lines replaced, new tires, and my transmission swapped out! My 8 will be sitting idle for a while!

 

Autocross is fun even on bald *** all seasons, that's what I ran my first event on and I had a blast, RE11's are pretty awesome though and will definitely enhance the experience :-) that's likely what I'm switching to from the Rivals when I switch to 255/40/17, only RE11A and Hankook RS3V2 are competitive in that size

 

yea these are just the stock size...my fiancee works at firestone and i needed new tires. So she got me these pretty damn cheap for my birthday

 

Having played with tire sizes a bit since i started autocrossing i can tell you that tire width has less to do with high cornering load and responsiveness than wheel width.

Example: a 245 width tire on a 9" wheel will perform better in basically every way than a 275 width tire on a 8" wheel, basically you should install the size the manufacturer recommends for your wheel (225/45/18 for our stockers) and count on the tires construction and compound to be optimized for the purpose by the manufacturer.

putting ever fatter tires onto narrow wheels doesn't give you nearly the return on investment that you get from going with a wider wheel.

Basically Im getting at, you made the right choice to stick with the factory size :-)
Dont bother with fatter tires until you have the proper width of wheel to support them.

 

I'm first heat in the morning at Fedex Field so I have to be there by 7:30 for tech, I should be finished my runs by 10-10:30 or so, if you're not busy come on out and ride along or just watch if you like. The paddock makes for an awesome car show.

 

Here's a shot of me overcooking the finish like a knuckle dragger, fun stuff though!

and a youtube vid of that same run:

 

Looks like great fun, Nathan. Hankooks might just need more scuffing-in before they reach ultimate grip. They look like they have too much tread right now.

 

I like the helmet cam. Wiping out at the finish line is my move!

 

Another scca event in the morning, come on out if you're interested

 

Got my *** kicked by the course today and got stomped by my Rival Alex by almost two seconds!

I need to square myself away or i might loose my guru status ;-)

 

Fundamentals!

 

OK, who needs a catalytic? I have a Rotary Performance SuperCat, first version available. I bought it from another local list member but went a different way. I think he said it only had 5000 miles on it (maybe 2000?) and it looks it. Thanks all.