RX8 R3 in Lightning Lap 2011
 

Ill let the video do the talking. Take a look at the lower LL1 class too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pan3N8qdyrE

I bet the driver had the most fun in the rx8.






I BET!!

Maybe because the ride lasted the longest? :evil_laug

Nice video! Loved the comments on the R3.

Cool, even though we came in last. But I still think the rx8 looked better going around the track than the majority of the cars, if not all of em.

I bet that the driver was changing gears at 6.5k rpm hehe.

Cool vid. I recieved the issue in the mail as well.

R3 did indeed look the coolest & smoothest going around the track.

Love the respect the R3 recieved by being entered in the '11 Lightning Lap competition.

Why no 370z?

ROFL!!!!!! such a classic comment

It's never going to do really well on tracks with long straights and long easy curves is it :)

they had the nismo 370 last year

R3 only changed a little but 3 seconds faster?
Mazda needs to put wider tires on that thing. stock tires are rubbish.

well 2.3 actually lol, all in all still pretty impressive, seeing that it just has some shock and spring upgrades

Geesh, R3 got trounced. The Mustang was a life time faster than the 8.

You just had to be that guy, man!

It was painful to type but true. So many try to excuse the RX-8's lack of power with it's superior track capabilities and unfortunately it's just not true. I am curious what some of the other 8 guys are running at VIR. I believe Eric Meyer was running 2:30's or so if I remember correctly in his race RX-8.

Jeez and there is a HUGE difference between $30K and $60K!!..

The 8 was by far the most compose and neutral....Lexus next.

Surprised at the amount of under-steer in the Subaru, I guess this is what happens when you have an engine that produces more power/speed than the Chassis can handle.

Mustang looked that close to over-steering it was not funny...neutral MY ASS!

get the picture...ring any bells..

Yes, the 8 HAS superior track capabilities.

I was surprised that the R3 was 2 seconds a lap faster than the standard RX8.

If you read the actual article, they have print outs of each car, at every corner, showing average speed, entrance speed, and exit speed.

The RX8's numbers are the closest together, corner entrance and exit.

Obviously it just doesn't have the nuts to bring its superstar skills to a large track.

wonder how quick is a MX-5 around VIR.:aroused:

Here's a hint: Z met wall somewhere between 135mph<--> 45mph in 2010's event. The crash naturally scared the bejesus out of the driver, roughly summaried as...

"And it’s worth noting that we’ve never experienced such hellacious brake degradation in the history of our Lightning Lap events."

Somehow I can understand why it's no longer in their competition. Stock, the Z is a decent boulevard crusier, but not equiped for any serious track duty, as this mishap plainly illustrates.

Check out the fun details ..... http://www.caranddriver.com/features...ng_lap-feature

Even the LL1 cars were faster; jeesh.

Most of those other cars are overpowering their chassis. The RX8 is the only one underpowered for its chassis. With another 40-50 hp the 8 would be number 1 around that track. The thing is the 8 could handle 40-50 more hp easily. Many of the others can't really handle any more power.

Too bad they're locked into using MSRP to determine LL categories... a 2010 or 2011 R3 can be had for under $27K, given the likely continuation of the manufacturer-to-dealer incentives. For the cost of some of the other contenders in the same LL2 category, I'll take two, please.

See, again this comes up..low noise and low dust, any wonder the Joe Public's who complain that their Mazda RX-8 or Miata/MX-5 has noisy and dusty brakes!....must be a fault with this car, it is a Lemon!, I (we) will downgrade our customer ownership experience surveys!..MORONS!.

What would they rather have, performance pads that last and stop or those that never will.