Virginia Driving in the RX8
 

Anyone who drives in mountainous terrain knows the problem.... you're bookin' it through a winding road, then you hit a hairpin curve that flips you maybe 100 to 180 degrees and goes vertical.

I find a line, punch the brakes and feather the clutch in 2nd on my way around.... at the turn exit I'm chugging up the incline at 15 mph. I'm new to the RX8 and I feel like I'm doing this wrong.

How do you corner and maintain exit power in this thing? I feel gittery about downshifting from second. Rev match to 1st?

Thanks for your advice.

REV IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 9k is your friend!!!!!!!!

I sometimes downshift to 1st in the hilly areas around warrenton va but 2nd seems to do fine for me in those situations.

Practice man, practice! Downshift, double clutching, whatever, just do it and you'll be a pro someday...lol

15mph, I'd be taking that in 1st, from the sounds of it, perhaps second.

When I'm driving, I personally try to keep the rpm's between 3-4k rpm, until I get to speed.

Hmm, where about are you anyway?

Get a turbo ;)

Don't be afriad to keep the revs over 4000 rpms through corners. if you are doing a hairpin that takes you to down to 15 mph, you'll want to be in 1st going in. I personally don't like shifting in a corner. Break/downshift before the corner, steer/throttle through the corner. Back roads through Stafford and Fauquier counties are fun.

The RX-8 is a momentum car.

Don't be afraid of first gear... it can get you all the way to 600mph! j.k. Keep those rpm's up.

Where in VA?

Driving the 8 in VA
 

I live in NoVA so there are a few back roads *cough* Great Falls *cough* that make for a good drive.

South west Virginia - roads in the mountains outside Blacksburg are highly recommended. Good minor roads between Blacksburg and Danville with lots of climbing.

I'm getting good at the heal-toe method in the 8 now. I'm an X-BMW 3 series driver so I'm used to reasonable low end torque at 2nd gear... I basically had to throw the 'second gear is for cornering' mentality out the window when I switched to the 8.

I don't like the idea of making the syncros do the work, or excessive slippage, so shifting into the right gear and rev-matching are my practice goals. I blip the throttle at each stop light just to get into practice for the hi-speed 1st gear shift.

Here in Richmond, the roads are terrible. There is one called, appropriately, Riverside Drive that follows the James River. However, it is technically a residential street. At night though, there is little to no traffic. Driving aggressively, first and second gears are all you really need for the majority of the length of it... the road, as I mentioned, is in terrible shape though.

There are back roads aplenty in the outlying counties that are mighty fun and in reasonable condition.

I feel OPs pain. The ATs really have this problem...The stupid car will roll in 2nd at like 8mph, mash the gas and it just goes bleeeeeaeaaaaahhhhh unitl you hit like 3200rpms.

AT never wants to go back into 1st unless you paddle it to do so or some to a complete stop.

there are some really fun roads around me as well off a route 15. *Lime Kiln road*

snickersville turnpike is nice if you don't get stuck behind some slow moving vehicle.

Power Curve
 

My father-in-law used to race stock euro cars back in the day.. alpha, porche, etc.... he also test drove one of the early rotaries.

After a quick back-roads drive he made the interesting observation that getting through the low revs up to the power band was like driving a turbo.

haha, good comparison if you are flooring it at 3k and waiting for the car to wake up... 6k comes along and then your butt-dyno finally gets a reading.

As a new RX8 driver, I've learned to lay off flooring it unless I can shift the car into a gear that it'll matter. If I want to scare my passenger I shift down to achieve 5-6k and THEN hit the gas.

I think this is the biggist mistake most people new to rotaries make. They drive it like a piston engine. Then complain it has no torque.

Standard operating proceedure for passing on the highway:

Drop from 6th to 3rd. floor it. Listen to the rotary sing. watch your passenger get :SHOCKED:.

I live in Southwestern VA - and there's no shortage of twisty mountain roads out here - and my 8 loves 'em. Like everyone else has said, don't be afraid to downshift, use all of the gears when you can. One of the best things about the 8 is it's not boring, your shifting hand always will have something to do when you're on the backroads.


I've tried doing some of my favorite roads in just one or two gears, but it never works. So, I spend most of the time going between 2nd-3rd-4th and back again with the occasional dip into 1st for the hairpins.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-o...90725-1837.jpg

my Daughter lives in Rural Retreat, I have driven a few roads in SW Virginia.

Not to make this about 40th anniversary editions, but nice car...

here is mine:

I'm in Blacksburg and I drive these roads as often as I can. Takes a little bit getting used to, but the biggest help for driving these roads is actually KNOWING the roads. When your driving on an unfamiliar road, you naturally hold back a bit. I've been driving these Catawba mountains for so long, I can do it in just about any car. It will take a bit getting used to, but the RX8 is unique in it's power curve, but you'll have to keep the RPMs high to get anything out of it.

Scariest thing you can do is hit a bump in the road, and pop the car up while accelerating. That'll wake you the f up for the rest of the trip. :Eyecrazy:

SilverHokie - good to see a local around. Maybe we should go for a cruise sometime! Nice avatar - it's from a wallpaper I designed for VT back in 1998 :-)

Look ahead...

Definitely agree that I'd be taking a 15mph turn in 1st gear as well! REDLINE is heaven to Rex. Remember, our engines can take 13k RPM, it's our transmissions that have the lower redline...

im In the f-burg here and one pretty nice road is courthouse rd and ones that branch off it i drive it from time to time goin to friends its pretty fun, has some nice sharp turns at some points. LOVE THE HIGH REV :)