Originally Posted by rotary crazy

the new chassis may solved the two problems, firts the weithg and then the power, if the team chosse a good chasis with better cooling they can go for a more acresive tune, and if they have a bit more space they can use the varible leght intake that will give more avarage power and maybe a 4 rotor.

Any body knows if the speedsource GT car is going to be at lime rock?

Originally Posted by rotarygod

The biggest issue isn't so much the chassis to having the cooling ability bu rather their approach to engine cooling that needs work. It is true that the Courage chassis needs better cooling ability but what BK is neglecting is oil cooling. They now have 2 radiators but only 1 half sized oil cooler and that is placed behind one of the radiators where it gets fed hot air. This setup would work fine on a piston engined car. Some high powered piston engined cars don't even run oil coolers. Some run heat exchangers which use the coolant to "cool" the oil. This is the approach that BK is taking to cooling a rotary. I don't care what chassis they use next, if they keep the same logic, they aren't going to cool the engine down.

They need to remove the second radiator and install an oil cooler as large as the primary radiator. Then they need to make sure it gets fed it's own air. They'll probably find out that even though they have less "coolant", their engine temps will go down. They need to learn this before they get a new car or they'll never figure it out in a new one. It's even more scary to think that they could potentially add a 4 rotor into the mix when they can't cool down a 3 properly. They need to start thinking differently. They'd save money if they did.

Originally Posted by rotarygod

I went back and looked at some engine bay pictures from last year. Interestingly enough it appears that they did used to have a larger oil coler on the left side of the car. Unfortunately I can't see what's on the right side of the car. This was early in the season when they had the overhead intake that they have again now. The only picture I can see of the right side of the engine bay was with the side intake that used the snorkel. I can't see any type of cooling used over there. It's not saying there wasn't any. I just can't see any way that it would have fit or vented. This is a little bit perplexing. What did they do then? Is what I'm seeing actually a radiator on the left side instead of an oil cooler? What did they use for oil and water cooling with the snorkel intake in the way? I wish I had pictures of both sides of the car throughout all of the progression rather than just one side of each.

Keep in mind they may have in fact already tried the setup that I feel should be used. I am speculating a possible fix based on what I saw on the car here in Houston. It doesn't make sense to me. I just don't see the logic of using poor oil cooling on an engine that needs more oil cooling than any other engine. Maybe they can't get any setup to work properly in that chassis which we do know is part of the problem.

We know that they had cooling issues when they had the side intake setup. That's logical based on the amount of space available and from what I can see. I'm not sure how they could get enough oil and water cooling with that setup. I just wish I knew what they had previous to that. Was it as I suggest it should be done or was it not?

Originally Posted by rotary crazy

i was hopping some one had any info other than the grand am site, this is not good they are missing too many races

Originally Posted by Senna

but interesting speculation. I plan to get a good look at it at Laguna but hopefully they'll have it sorted out well before the last race!!

Originally Posted by rotarygod

I've got an inside source in the ALMS who is not affiliated with Mazda. I'm not going to say anything other than my input doesn't matter to them. I'll leave it at that. You never know who might be reading. I really do want them to get their issues sorted out though. I want to see them succeed based on what they have vs other people's misfortune. I'm not sure if they have they have the overal potential to win even if everything is working properly but they could definitely do better. With Carlos taking care of everything, they should be able to get their issues worked out. He's a smart guy who's been working with rotaries for a long time.

Originally Posted by rotarygod

If you get up close to the car with the engine cover off, take pictures of oth sides of the engine including the cooling systems. It may not look very photogenic to most people but it's interesting to me. I didn't get all the pictures that I wish I had when I had the chance. I'd like to see if they set it up any differently for that race than it was here.

Originally Posted by RotaryGoober

I guess Mazda wanted a new look to Rotary Racing but why in the heck aren't Downing and Engman more involved? They know the drill when it comes to cooling. They have seen and solved the problems associated with rotary race cars before some of these folks had a drivers license. It's similar to the the situation we find with the flooding and starter battery issues on the street car. Some new engineer didn't think to ask the old (pushed out to retirement) engineer how the history had played out. Why reinvet the wheel. Go grap Rick Engman and listen to him. He will tell you how to make it run and last. New blood is great, but do not forget who got you to the dance.

Originally Posted by rotary crazy

i was hopping that road and track could solve the funds problem

Originally Posted by RotaryGoober

I guess Mazda wanted a new look to Rotary Racing but why in the heck aren't Downing and Engman more involved? They know the drill when it comes to cooling. They have seen and solved the problems associated with rotary race cars before some of these folks had a drivers license. It's similar to the the situation we find with the flooding and starter battery issues on the street car. Some new engineer didn't think to ask the old (pushed out to retirement) engineer how the history had played out. Why reinvet the wheel. Go grap Rick Engman and listen to him. He will tell you how to make it run and last. New blood is great, but do not forget who got you to the dance.

Originally Posted by rotary crazy

Additionally, the Road&Track logo will appear on the Mazda RX-8’s entered by SpeedSource Race Engineering in the Grand American Road Racing Association’s (Grand Am) ST and GT classes as well as MAZDA6 sedans campaigned by Tri-Point Motorsports, Protomotive and Tindol Motorsports in the Sports Car Club of America’s (SCCA) SPEED World Challenge Touring Car class.

I have the impresion you dint read the article? the deal was by mazda and road and track not by an individual team.

Originally Posted by Senna

and there it is plain as day!! Thanks for the correction. I hope this means the GT 3 rotor will be able to compete in more races.

Originally Posted by rotary crazy

Im sorry to say that they wont be in the 6hr at the glen race