Is the 8 really all that slow?
 

My buddy has been pressuring me to go to the track with him for quite some time. He is a track junkie. He has always had mustangs and corvettes but just got a '04 350Z auto about a month ago. There was no way I was going to race his old corvette or mustangs but a 350z why not.

So we went to a local drag strip last night. The only thing done to his Z is the exhaust. My car has intake, highflow cat, GReddy SE catback, Racing Beat race flash, and AF short shifter. (goto vBGarage for full list). Anyways I flat out destroyed his auto Z. I pulled away from him in first and continued to pull away all the way through my third gear. Honestly I embarassed him and his Z.

A guy was there with a G35 coupe and saw me and my buddy race and wanted to take a run at me. He had a black G35 coupe 6 speed with exhaust and intake. It sounded really nice. Anyways he gave a better run than the 350Z. He got me out the hole. But by the time I topped out 1st gear at almost 10K rpm I was pulling away. I wound up beating him by like half a car length. My best time was a 13.7 not too shabby for a slow 8. Anyways that will probably be the first and last time I goto the drag strip. I have been modding my car for the track for like a year now. Just need some sways and some coilovers and I'm set. I thought everyone would enjoy this story though. So is the 8 really all that slow? :dunno:

good stuff!
You may (or may not) want to check your clutch after that :D:

Yeah I know.....thats why it was my first and last time at the drag strip.

Nice !!!!! The 8 has potential cause its alot lighter than the z and g. Good stuff :cool:

i have never felt that the 8 was "slow" it kinda pisses me off when people bash the 8. i only drive mine 6months or less and just brought it out a week or so ago and i love it. as far as straight line stuff i feel that it is pretty good for next to no tq. btw nice story terch

^ yup considering its a 1.3 with no torque.... The amount of power it puts out is pretty fast to me.

Yeah guys, I also only drive my 8 like 6 months out of the year. Maybe once or twice a week during that 6 month time frame. I also get irritated by people bashing the 8 for being slow. Really its not. My wife has a 4 cyl Solstice. That is slow! The 8 is plenty fast given the right modifications and tune.

13.7?? Does the Racing Beat flash really make that much of a difference?

People compare it to a muscle car and it just isn't. Sure it's slower off the line because of lack of torque but once you're past that and keep it up in rpm's it's great :) drag racing isn't racing to me. It's a pissing contest about who has the bigger motor. Race a track or do Autocross and the 8 will keep up if not beat cars more powerful and expensive. On the straights we lose ( a little) but we make up for it in handling and cornering speed.

I guess it does; the car really pulls nicely from 6k to 9.8k. The proof is in the pudding!

Too true! I am planning on having the 8 ready for the track by late June early July.

i think back in 2004 and 2005 the car was pretty fast when comparing it to old 350z and g35s. but now in 2011. you have the new 370z, g37, sti , camaro SS, mustang 5.0L who are using new engines and upgraded parts from older models. and mazda has keep the same rotary engine for a long time. its over due for a new rotary with more power. i america we have open roads where straight line speed is fun. even a muscle car ( mustang 5.0L) is hitting 0-60 in 4.3 seconds and also keeping up with a m3 at the track, that why i don't call mustangs muscle cars anymore. its a sports car now :)


the bottom line is that comparing the rx8 to newer models, it simply can not keep up.

^ You made a good point. I wouldn't expect the rx8 to fair well in a straight line race with a new Vette or Camaro. But as we all know the 8 wasn't produced for straight line speed. I thought my experience was interesting because the 8 is so often compared to the 350z or G35. My experience goes to show how very close the rx8 is performance wise to that of the Z or G. With very little in the means of performance mods I was able to beat both of these cars in a straight line. On a track they wouldn't stand a chance against an 8.

On what track does a mustang keep up with an M3? Sports car with it's live axle? Noooo. Granted it looks great this year but a sports car it isn't. And the M3 will kick it's ass on any track with a RIGHT turn in it. I bet if both are run on the nurburgring nordschleife (14 miles a lap) it'll beat the mustang by atleast a minute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOwSPccbzl4

lets get real here

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

where have you been bro

13.7? What mods do you have again? Any chance you can post up the timeslip so I can see your 60ft times, etc.?

Yeah no offense but you don't have a clue as to what you are talking about.

:icon_no2:

FYI, a highly modded, even if it's a 'factory' or special kit modification (including Boss, Supersnake, etc ...), is not "a mustang". Trying to pass one of those off as justification for your claim isn't really working. It's like passing a Grand-Am GT class 20b RX-8 off as an RX-8 in a comparison against a street driven Lotus.

It is in the same class in Grand Am, but there are rules to level the playing field between them, and neither is really stock any more.

That dude in the video is LOVING those rumblestrips.

I agree Im tired of all the rx8 bashing saying its slow..thats a pretty good run for a car with a 1.3 liter engine

I don't understand what you are saying. The Boss is just a package just like the GT, V6, Cobra, etc. It's a Ford dealer model Mustang. The last time I checked Mazda never produced a 20B RX8 for the public and you sure as hell can't buy one at a dealer. The Boss is just a model above the GT premium.

In fact, Ford even offers a Laguna Seca package for the 302...

What is Fast to one is slow to another. Line up at the drag strip against a new SS Camaro or Mustang GT (or V6 actually) and you will think your 8 is slow. Line up against a Mazda 2 and you will think your 8 is fast.

As for mods I have the following:

custom K&N typhoon v2 w/ modified Revi duct
rx7store highflow cat
GReddy SE catback exhaust
Racing beat v2 race flash
Axial Flow short shifter

I also have the Sohn omp adapter and premix although that should not impact performance.

I am 90% sure I left the timeslip on the kitchen counter when I got home last night. I will see if I can bring it to work tomorrow and scan it in. Worst case I'll list the stats from the slip.

:lol:

Doesn't really change my point, though perhaps my point wasn't clearly made.

Just pointing out that saying "a mustang" is pretty subjective given the wide range of available "mustangs". The difference between the lowest end RX-8 vs highest end RX-8 is so miniscule that you can safely say "an RX-8".

Given the context, everyone will pick "the mustang" of their choice for comparisons.

I'd rather compare against the automatic V6 all day long, but it hardly proves anything, just like it hardly proves anything to compare against the top line, quite a bit more expensive, and significantly better performing mustang (of whatever type, branch, or flavor of preference)



Semantics. I get my panties in a bunch over them ;)

well my point was saying that a 32k GT can hang with a m3 on a track, and if you want a even better mustang for the track there is a better one. that comes at a reasonable price

You must be one hell of a driver. I have seen turbo 8's run not much faster than that.

9K I have no reason to lie to anyone. It was a nice cool night and the car was running strong. From my experience with the car it always runs strong especially in cooler temps. By the way I am a hell-of-a good driver. ;)

I would think a boosted 8 would run high 12's low 13's but I have never seen one run and havn't driven one myself.

Well however you decide to compare is up to you but if you go on price the RX8 is still no comparison in terms of performance. And sadly a new automatic V6 premium Mustang makes 305HP and will destroy a new automatic RX8 GT in most stats boxes.

don't rx8s run like 14 stock? so 13.7 is good with mods and a tune.

^ that's why I don't get in comparison wars.










Just grammar, spelling, and context wars.

I'm not calling you a liar. I have just seen many RX8's head down the 1320 and a 13.7 for a NA RX8 is the fastest I have ever seen or heard of so much props to you.

And as for FI 8's, a fast time depends on many things but the two we had running locally for a while were typically 13.4-13.7 range cars and those two dudes went to the track a lot. I used to embarrass them in my boosted Civic :)


As for my 8, on spray I can hang with a Greddy RX8 but I have never ran the 1/4 with nitrous yet. Hopefully I can run the nitrous on the track before the turbo goes in. Stock NA I ran a best of 14.5 IIRC. If you get that timeslip post up in the timeslip thread, that would be awesome.

Professional drivers have averaged 14.5-14.6 over the years. It took me much practice an many runs to get a 14.5 stock and I have been drag racing for years.

o ok ya i wasn't sure.

Drag racing is more driver than anything, I have seen some great upset times. terch obviously knows his car and found the sweet spot.

Time to send my ECU to racing beat :P

I would recommend it, just make sure to get the v2 flash.

As mentioned earlier, fast is kind of relative. I was fairly satisfied with my 8 when I owned it, though I did feel like I wanted just a little bit more power. In general though, I definitely felt like it was a well balanced car and I never considered it slow.

My new car has twin turbos pushing 22 psi of boost, which translates into at least 400 awhp. Keep in mind, I'm not saying one car is better than another, but in terms of acceleration, it's not even close. The feeling of being pulled back into your seat when those turbos hit full boost is pretty intense. When I had my 8, my dad's car was pretty similar in terms of acceleration. I enjoyed the feel of the 8 more, but his car was far from boring to drive when I was visiting. After driving my new car around for a few months, I ended up visiting for the holidays and got a chance to drive his car a few times. Every time I decided to open it up to have a little fun, I worried that something was wrong and causing a lack of power. The truth is, I got used to having, admittedly, excessive amounts of power and his car suddenly felt like any boring sedan used to feel after driving my 8.

I have no doubt that if I got in a stock RX-8 today, it would feel amazingly sluggish. I honestly think the 8 should have received a bump in power at some point during its life. I feel that at least a little more power would have made a pretty significant impact. I loved the 8, but I always wanted a little more power and I would definitely hope for a bit more now that I've had a car with noteworthy acceleration. Then again, I still want to modify my car to have more power, so maybe I care more about power than others. I definitely don't think a nice bump in power would hurt the feel of the 8.

In regards to discussion about mustangs... The 302 is an amazing car, but even if you don't count that model, the GT is a pretty amazing competitor as well. The fact that it can hold its own against the M3 is noteworthy, in my opinion. Things have changed with recent models, but when you talked about mustangs and performance in the past, it was kind of assumed that you were talking about the GT. So I think it's pretty fair to assume for a GT in discussions like this. The mustang's performance is pretty tough to beat, especially at that price. It at least deserves respect in that regard.

The only car I consider slow is a geo metro.

All other cars, fast or slow it really depends on who and what are u going against with.

Our 8 being called slow because most people have no idea how to drive plus they have been spoiled by torque way too much. So when any of us crush them at the track the facial expression on their face is just priceless. Oh don't ask me how I know :lol:

I don't have a flatbed scanner at home but here are the times from my drag slip.

Reaction - .709
60 ft - 2.091
594 ft - 8.518
1/8 ET - 9.056
1/8 MPH - 83.62
1/4 ET - 13.755
1/4 MPH - 104.87

Awesome man. Nice RT.

Thanks 9K! That will be my last drag time. I need some lap times now. ;)

Enter them into your vB Garage.

105 mph trap speed and 13.7 ?! Wow, either very impressive or the track timing was off.

I want to see what you do on a track.

What track are your planning on going to?

I've been looking at Thunderbolt Raceway in Millville, NJ but track time is expensive as hell.

Done.

Nice job Terch. 13.7 is a hell of a time for a N/A Rx8.

^ Keep in mind I have literally every performance mod possible without going FI or using a bottle. By the way I am contimplating the bottle. ;)

Oh and a header. That will probably be my next purchase.

Ok maybe not every performance mod. My tranny is bone stock.