petitt denied rolex entry for 456whp rx8
whines all the way home
iTrader: (2)
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 7,402
Likes: 2
From: Towson/Baltimore, MD
Bastage how many races have you been to, Ive only been to two,, NJMP and the 24hrs of Daytona,, totally badass,,, Sylvan even got the whole crew to sign my MazdaSpeed hat..
Regarding a Pettit Rolex car: the body is just the Mazdaspeed competition body (also used by SpeedSource); the engine per the rules is supposed to use "Mazda spec" 20B parts which I take means Mazdaspeed Motorsports Development determines the engine and SpeedSource is MMD's 20B builder. Of course they've got that stupid 8600 rpm rule in there now. Hopefully they don't get hit with more "competition adjustments" this year (unless they are beneficial!).
yea this is pretty old news. visted pettit when i got my car in 06 and it was in their showroom along with some pretty hawt FD's and they were just starting testing on the supercharger. gotta say though.. Cam is an awesome dude!! helped me get my lugnuts off when the tire shop there stripped them (stupid tuner lugs)
speedsource car is pretty sick as well. havnt met sylvain yet though!
speedsource car is pretty sick as well. havnt met sylvain yet though!
for more pics of a grand-am RX8 refer to this thread
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-multimedia-photo-gallery-6/racers-edge-pics-khronus79-162104/
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-multimedia-photo-gallery-6/racers-edge-pics-khronus79-162104/
I went to the Mazda Sebring Pre-Race party at Classic Mazda East and there were several racing teams there. That's where I took that picture
Just to set things straight, Cam (Pettit Racing) modified his build to give their car a little more advantage and protested the mods to Grand-Am and Grand-Am said sorry. He could have easily fixed what he needed and then tried again but he didn't. And then SpeedSource/Riley pretty much got the monopoly on the 8 chassis and that was it.
The Riley chassis are great and I look forward to seeing the other 4 SpeedSource built 8's out on the track. That's right there are 8 SpeedSource 8's built, problem is the teams that bought the other 4 not on track can't pony up the money to play in the Rolex series right now.
Oh and Rotr8, I've been to 7 races since last season, gonna try and make 3-4 more this year! hehe Don't you hate me? jk
The Riley chassis are great and I look forward to seeing the other 4 SpeedSource built 8's out on the track. That's right there are 8 SpeedSource 8's built, problem is the teams that bought the other 4 not on track can't pony up the money to play in the Rolex series right now.
Oh and Rotr8, I've been to 7 races since last season, gonna try and make 3-4 more this year! hehe Don't you hate me? jk
just noticed that in the same magazine an RX8club member got his car pictured. he was pleading for more coverage of rx8s, and he mentions RX8club.com!
his is a stormy blue. let yourself be known. good job!
wonder who it is. wasn't me.
his is a stormy blue. let yourself be known. good job!
wonder who it is. wasn't me.
I too was at the Rolex Grand-Am race at VIR. I was talking to one of the SpeedSource crew members and asked him the common question "What does the SpeedSource Rx-8 and production Rx-8 have in common?". His reply was "Frame hinges, fender vent, and door handles". Gee, I thought that they would a least share the same frame. I believe the Porsches were the only car out there that had the same frame as their production models.
Anyway it was a good race the SpeedSource #70 car performed well. Here's a video of the #70 car on a straight at VIR. God I love the sound of that 20b!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvYd8...e=channel_page
Anyway it was a good race the SpeedSource #70 car performed well. Here's a video of the #70 car on a straight at VIR. God I love the sound of that 20b!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvYd8...e=channel_page
Lance I thought you knew the SpeedSource/Riley chassis is nothing like the production version. It's literally a tube box with wheels and body panels clipped to it. You should see it with no body panels on it, very cool.
As for Porsche, they are the manufacturer that produces a truely worthy production race chassis. If you ever get a chance to drive GT3 cup car, you would realize why there is no reason to build a tube chassis version.
As for Porsche, they are the manufacturer that produces a truely worthy production race chassis. If you ever get a chance to drive GT3 cup car, you would realize why there is no reason to build a tube chassis version.
I just want to mention the fact that the speedsource car has 250k-300k budget to spend on the car while the rest of the field doesn't. Just as the old saying goes, you pay to play and they obviously can play, lol.
Rolex will be crying when they stop making Pontiacs. Don't get me wrong, people will be losing their jobs but it's Rolex's love affair with Pontiacs and how they have treated Mazda that really ****'s me off.
The ICO and ALMS have some of the stupidest regulations of all time and most biased I should add (Insert Diesel and Audi gripe)
Problem is the rotary is considered 2x displacement. But given the petrochoid combustion chamber's relative inefficiency to making power when compared to the cylindrical shape of the piston engine this comparison is unfair.
This is because as you should know we have 2 power cycles per rotation.
I don't believe that the rotary engine is banned per say but rather that the size of the restrictors to be fitted on the rotary is such that it is totally disadvantageous to run it.
Problem is the rotary is considered 2x displacement. But given the petrochoid combustion chamber's relative inefficiency to making power when compared to the cylindrical shape of the piston engine this comparison is unfair.
This is because as you should know we have 2 power cycles per rotation.
I don't believe that the rotary engine is banned per say but rather that the size of the restrictors to be fitted on the rotary is such that it is totally disadvantageous to run it.

The Rolex GT races seem like they've been very fair this year. Both Speedsource cars got banged up bad at the 24 but 70 had the pole there and Virginia. Virginia they only lost because the Pontiac teams had a better strategy - not a better car. Still managed a podium.
Last weekend was wet as hell and the 8s don't seem to do well in water. 70 was still in the top 10 until Trembley (I think - maybe Ham) went for a little offroading in the final minutes.
Hard to bitch about anything with Grand Am except for the coverage which tilts about 75-25 DP to GT. They should replay the entire GT race when Speed does their replay.
It would be nice to see Cam and co. give building Rolex cars another shot.




