Hey all, it’s been about 10 years since I posted. I traded in my sunlight silver 6mt sport in 2011 for a BMW 1M, which I still have. My wife and I were part of a 30+ car tour through the Adirondack mountains (circa 2007 I believe) that was organized here and supported by Mazda with a big old box of swag. We loved that car! I did some autocross and track days (NHIS, now NHMS) and the pic below is my oldest, 3 at the time, in the paddock garage on a particularly wet track day.

I moved to Washington state in 2008 and brought the car with me, but never got back into autocross or track days until I had the 1M. The 1M is a beast at the track (no longer stock, A-street prepared build) but I sometimes wish I still had the RX-8 for autocross.

Fast forward....that little guy in the pic is now 16 and got his license in October. I have an old 1986 e30 325e that I stumbled upon and bought as a tool to teach him to drive stick, since the only other manual I have is a tuned twin turbo torque monster. We autocrossed it last weekend and he had a blast. My wife saw how much fun he has and suggested he would like a track day (HPDE), which I never thought she would allow. My particular e30 has a number of issues that are no big deal on the street or autocross, but would worry me on track, and probably wouldn’t pass a good tech inspector. Its a 4 door with poorly bolstered leather seats, and has the low power efficient ETA motor, with a few small leaks.

Do I let him run my 1M? He’ll no!

Solution: I am about to re-enter the rotary kingdom! My wife is as excited about it as I am, and even indicated she may try a track day herself.

 

It's good that you are getting him into motorsports so he can keep it off the public streets.

Personally, the 8 got me into the Autocross scene and while I am not that great at it, I will definitely pursue it more with my next car. I hope to do some HPDE as well.

 

All I gotta say is DO IT! Only gonna say one more thing though, but you probably already know... get a compression test before buying!!

 

Looking at a car with new motor (not remanufactured) 24k mikes ago. Compression test is being done two days before I go look.

 

Sounds promising. Hope it checks out!

 

Welcome back!

I just dusted off my 8. Despite having a bunch of cars, nothing feels quite as nice in the corners as it does. Nothing gives me the addiction to modding like it does either. lol. Time to dump a bunch more cash

 

Honestly, the RX8 was the only track car I ever had that never tempted me to mod. 99 Civic Si got supercharged and lots of chassis mods. 05 WRX STi got sway bars and intake. My current car has engine mods, tune, coil overs, etc. All I ever did with the RX8 was hawk HP+ pads. It was so much fun out of the box, and in stock form may be the best car out there for someone new to track days. It rewards proper driving technique, and is forgiving of mistakes.

 

OK guys, compression test done. (normalized to 250rpm, test done at sea level in Seattle area)
Rotor 1 680,710,700
Rotor 2 700,690,700

Review of the tables and charts in the New Member section, "New and potential owners START HERE" thread would suggest these are borderline and nearing failure. The seller has paperwork regarding the replacement with NEW engine 24k miles ago, and was told at the dealership that these were the best numbers they ever see. I have to drive 230 miles each way to even look at the car., planning to go tomorrow (Sunday 3/15) Thoughts?

 

My RX8 pushing high 800's so I'd beg to differ. The car will work though as that's right about Mazda minimum compression. Depends on the asking price. It's a gamble as the engine only has 20k miles max left on it best case scenario. If you can get it cheap it's not that bad. If the rest of the car in good shape you cant go wrong for $3k.

 

Asking price is $8250 due to new motor. Actual mileage is 107k miles. 24k on motor.

 

I would walk away.

 

LOL they out they damn minds...

 

We landed on an acceptable price. The car is mechanically solid, looks great (needs wheels) and should provide several years of back road cruises for my wife and several autocrossed and track days a year for the kids. I’ll repeat the compression test in a couple years to keep an eye on it.

So the kid in the picture above is pretty excited to go to the track, but that may need to wait until coronavirus settles down.

His initial road test went well!

 

With those numbers, if accurate, you're not going to make it a couple of years. What they see is irrelevant, there is a spec, which this engine is on the edge of. It's possible they replaced the engine without actually addressing the problem (ignition, cat), or the engine was poorly built. Either way, unless you have some particular attachment to this car, borderline RX8s are a dime a dozen.

[edit] I see you bought it already. Well, make sure your cat and ignition are healthy. Maybe start premixing.

 

I have always premixed. A case of Amsoil saber pro is on the way. The car won’t see a lot of around town driving, will accumulate maybe 3-4000 miles per year, mostly being used as rotaries should. It cost me 1/4 what I would have had to spend to get something else I consider track worthy for a young novice. Steering/Chassis is tight, transmission shifts better than my previous 8, and brakes won’t need any attention except fluid for the first couple track days.

 

I guess it will be a good training tool for your boy. Good luck with the car keep us posted.

 

We will make the most of it. Cat was replaced with OEM unit recently, and I will have new coolant, coils and plugs in soon. I’ll clean the MAF and ESS connections.

 

Cleans up well!