RX-8 Festival coming in August!
 

* * * NOTICE * * *
Notified today (June 25th) that Shenandoah Circuit WILL NOT be ready in August and our contract is cancelled. So this event at Summit Point, as well as the high speed driving school, for August 28-29 is cancelled!!! Any plans for a make-up date/location will be announced when/if we can get one.



The second annual Mid-Atlantic RX-8 Festival will be held August 27-29 this year. The site will be Summit Point Motorsports Park in West Virginia at the new Shenandoah Circuit. Summit Point is about a one hour drive west of Washington DC. Like last year the event will be the same weekend as a Mazda Performance Driving Seminar - intensive instruction and track time driving your car at speed. You will be able to participate in both events, if you choose. Registration start and fees for the driving seminar have not been announced yet. Whether a separate fee will be necessary for the RX-8 Festival is unknown at this time.

The planning is under way to make this year's festival bigger and better than last year. To that end I am soliciting your suggestions on what RX-8 activities would interest you. You may add your suggestion to this thread or send me a private message.

The headquarters hotel will most likely be in Winchester VA with special rates for this event. Once the hotel has been confirmed, reservation information will be provided.

Looking forward to it again!

Rotary Maintaince seminars would be nice.

Naturaly Aspirated Rotary Tuning seminars would be cool too!

Just my opinion!

9-K Rever

I'm looking forward to it too! Last year I had a blast, despite the low attendance -- it was fun meeting a few of the folks from here on the forum.

Would there be interest in an Autocross event on Friday the 27th? And by interest I mean you would actually sign up for it and attend.;) Since rental of the course lot and insurance is required, there will be a minimal cost.

Due to manpower and location restraints, very unlikely the autocross could be done on Saturday or Sunday.

Actually, how many of you think you would participate in Friday events whatever they may be? How many just coming for Saturday and Sunday?

9-K: We are working on some technical presentations/talks.

Hotel information will be available soon.


Keep the suggestions and wants coming...

How about "Rotaries for Dummies" or some such. And an autocross event sounds fun, though I'm sure I'll be clueless and terrible at it. And I loved last year too- meeting other 8 people was a lot of fun.

Just keep me posted.....

So, not much response to the autocross idea. Your silence is convincing us it is not worth the effort and expense to provide. No experience needed. No special equipment needed, except helmets, and we have loaners. What you do need is a desire to have fun!

Check out these pictures from our last autocross and see if your interest level improves. And if you want to practice, MAX-18 is April 25th at Rosecroft Raceway. Watch the MSCW website for open registration or just come out to observe.

Contracts have to be signed and money paid well before August. So if you really want an autocross event at the Mid-Atlantic RX-8 Festival, we need to hear from you. Well, that actually is true for the whole weekend.;)

Do you have folks coming in from MazdaSpeed or possibly dealerships / parts suppliers? I would be interested in seeing all these goodies that people talk about.

How about some wheel / tire folks?

We are working to get vendors/parts/dealers. Part of our problems in getting these folks to sign on early is no solid idea of how many attendees there will be. Based on the posts so far we colud have six RX-8's. Vendors, expecially tires/wheels, want big numbers to make the trip worthwhile. This is only the second time for this event, so there is no track record to show vendors an attendance trend.

Latest on the autocross- not Friday unless another location can be found. The original lot is no longer allowing autocrossing. Looking at maybe on Sunday if suitable lot can be contracted. But again, we need to know the interest in continuing to pursue this. Especially since a Sunday autocross would require additional volunteers to run it simultaneously with the track event. How many plan on doing the 2-day track driving event and therefore not able to do autocross?

Thanks for your continued input.

I think, based on my experience this past weekend, that I MUST find the time to attend this event.

For anybody reading this thread who's considering it, stop considering and SIGN UP as soon as registration opens! MDA puts on a FANTASTIC event. Track time was maximized, the instructors were superb, the vibe in the paddock was way-cool and everybody had a great weekend.

I would definitely be interested in attending. What would the cost of track time and autocross be?

With the steady increase, albeit slow for my tastes/addiction, in aftermarket developments for the 8 I agree that some kind of tuning-for-dummies seminars would be wonderfully informative.
As to the question of auto-x, for anybody planning to participate in the track events that weekend I'd suggest against also doing auto-x. The concentration and fatigue that ensues could be a bit much... especially for a beginner/novice such as myself!
Anyone coming for the festival and NOT participating in the on-track fun should ABSOLUTELY try autocrossing. These cars are great performers and deserve to have some fun!

$0.02

I have never been to one of these events and have only had my 8 for a month now but, I would definitely come. Please post info as to where to sign up when you can.

Still working on details.

To address one item from an earlier post, the autocross (if held on Sunday) would be for those that are not also enrolled in the driving school on track. Timing and possibly location would not be conducive to doing both without impacting your track time. At this moment, I would say the autocross has only a 30% chance.

Another possible acitivity would be a scenic drive from the track to Harper's Ferry or other local area on one of the days.

Seminars/presentations in the works.
Vendors in the works.

All will be revealed as soon as possible:D

If it helps in your planning...I would be signing up for the track not autocross...

I have put this event on my calendar and am looking forward to getting the sign-up details. I would probably tend toward the driving seminar as my 8 far outperforms my driving ability.

Just a quick update on our planning... or lack thereof.

The Shenadoah Circuit at Summit Point is not finished and will likely not be completed on time for events scheduled in May and June. Now rumors say July/early August are in jeopardy. That's getting uncomfortably close to our scheduled event and the track has not sent us the contracts to sign yet. hint, hint

We are monitoring the situation and discussing other options for this year's Festival. One such option would be to hold the Festival at Virginia International Raceway again. Other than the drive some of you would have to endure to get there (only 4 hours from DC:)) if we make the switch it would be our next reserved track dates of June 19 & 20.

I'll keep you posted and continue to welcome your feedback.

I would still consider going although 4 hrs out of DC would be getting towards my limit (also Friday for me would probably not be an option). Would also be more inclined to sign up for driving seminar as my driving (like msrecant) has not come close to the capability of the 8.

TreknMazda, it was nice to meet you at the MazdaRevItUp! competition. Nice looking RX-8, nice because it matches mine! Anyway, I would like to attend the Festival and would suggest soliciting a good dyno shop that has the ability to set their dyno up wherever the event may be. There are a couple of well known rotary tuners in Virginia (can't think of them right now, but I'll get back with you) that would be worth inviting, as well. Other than that, the whole thing sounds cool.

Like several other folks, I would likely sign up for a driving seminar.
Carl, it was a pleasure to meet you at Mazda Rev It Up. Your car looked great .... I'll probably get the wheel centers after seeing them on your 8.
Reno

Just an update on our planning status.
We are still anticipating Shenandoah Circuit to be ready for cars and our Festival August 28 & 29.
Finding an appropiate autocross lot nearby has been fruitless so far.
Considering a catered BBQ at the track for Saturday at the end of that day's driving seminar (around 5pm).
Getting closer to identifying the host hotel.
Speakers/vendors being solicited.
Scenic drive from the track to Harper's Ferry or nearby likely.
Car show likely with a possible return of our real ROTOR and PISTON trophies for the winners.

Concurrent Mazda6, Protege and Miata group gatherings are also being considered by their respective coordinators.

Sent my check in yesterday for the driving seminar. Looking forward to all the other activities.

Lock this baby down!

VIR is about about the same distance from my house as Summit Point so either one is good for me - YAY!

I plan to go to the performance driving course at Summit Point. Can't wait to hear more details about the Festival and how much those of us in the driving course can participate in it, too.