zoom44

HAHAHAHAHA quoting myself from last september!!!



:D :p :D my idea MAZDA!! where's my CUT!!!! cash please!

zoom44

THAT IS FRIGGIN AWESOME BABY!!!!! WOOOOOTTTTTT!!!!

p.s. - and by the way it's my idea

edit: merged the 2 threads into one and moved to meadia for all to see

RX-Hachi

I'm impressed. I hope a few of the journalists were from the US. That way we can read about the real magnitude of this stunt in an upcoming mag such as R&T, C&D, or MT.

Charles Cope

Here's another article with some nice pics..

http://www.motoring.co.za/index.php?...icleId=2263812

GiN

The article describes a closed circle track in Germany, with only 2 cars on the track in non-competetion driving. The 1991 Le Mans was somewhere in France with a bunch of other cars on the track trying to run eachother off the twisty corners.

Ike

What were these records that it broke it what I would like to see, and what car held the previous record. Yes I'm being cynical but I bet many of them read "Set so and so record for a rotary power car"... The one record that seems to be talked about most is the average speed VS. the 787B which I don't find impressive in the least, that was a racecar on a track with turns, traffic, heavy braking and overall beating the snot out of the car. The RX-8s were just going around an oval track. Hachi used the word stunt, and I think that's just what it is. I bet there are multitudes of cars that could do the same thing. What I'm saying is what will really prove the Renesis is owning it for 5 years and putting over 100k miles on it and having several examples of people doing so, a 24 hour jaunt around an oval track doesn't really apply very well to the real world.

Awaits the flames.

Ole Spiff

This speaks very well of a production car doing this; these weren't specially prepped race cars with non-stock parts. These were stock cars with stock transmissions, brakes, engines, etc.

My only disappointment is the article doesn't say which Kuhmo (sp?) tires were used in the test. I'd like to know what conditions the tires were in afterwards. I'm certain Mazda has torn down the engines to see what they look like inside after all this too. I also wonder how many miles were on the engines before this test.

Very nice.

canaryrx8

iTrader: (3)

okay so it was oval track blah blah blah, if this is such a common thing and not such a great deal, why aren't all the other car makers putting their rides through a public torture test? The only one to my knowledge is Porsche running a turbo Cayenne up Pikes Peak, other than that, where's the beef? plus these cars were basically stock, I'd be curios to see other "stock" cars like Evo's etc. run full throttle for 24 hours, their interiors would probably melt from the turbo getting white hot (hehehe) (flame on, I don't care) seriuosly though, for a first year,basuically stock, brand new engine/car to go out in public and pull this off I think is pretty cool, kinda' silly comparing it to the 787 though, totally different type of race.

RenoIV

An impressive effort.
A stunt perhaps .... Journalists driving the cars... If the cars failed, what do you think their publications would say about the 8? What would happen to a Z or a WRX? Would Nissan or Subaru have taken this risk?
My guess is that this will add to the journalists emerging understanding of how many positive qualities this car possesses.

my 2 cents

Feras

iTrader: (1)

the 787B managed almost the same average time on the lemans circuit not an oval track...thats whats impressive to me

edit: the 787 is whats impressive...prolly wasnt clearr.

zoom44

yeah but it's my stunt dammit!!! i want paid :D :D

RenoIV

Zoom44, You should send them a bill. The least Mazda should do for such a great idea is to give you one of the 1st supercharged 8s off the line.

canaryrx8

iTrader: (3)

I invented the internet, where's my check :D

zoom44

that works for me

Rupes

Canary RX8, are you Al Gore?

-Rupes

canaryrx8

iTrader: (3)

ohhh heck no, I was just being a smart *** :D

BigOLundh

iTrader: (1)

So evidently no one here can do math. The conversion from the articles average km/h speed to miles per hour comes to approximately 132mp/h...

This is a very good accomplishment by the 2 rx8s, but this article is written very poorly. It is assinine to compare the 787b at LeMans to this event, and say the RX8's were better. Very stupid comparison with two completely different circumstances

BigOLundh

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, they should be able to do that. Especially when one of these was a mass production rotary who's fuel cutoff is about 9.5k rpm.... If they did this at 13k rpm the whole time... AWESOME!!! Go ahead and try taking your 8 outside at 13rpm, and then let us know how that worked out for you.

Perth11

The right Saab is a pretty high performance transportation device; although not as exciting as an RX-8.

The key points here are the overall peformance AND the overall durability.

Thanks.

ZoominRex

which records did it break? I'm confused. I don't see it listed anywhere.

T.T.

You're both right. A rotary engine can take high revs because the rotors are spinning at a third of the rate of the output shaft. Going up to 13k would probably kill the engine from heat after a while though (if you remove the rev limiter). There's probably no way you could do an endurance race at 13k with a completely stock car.

BVD

To be fair to the article, it actually makes no value judgements at all about the relative merits of the 787b record and the one set by the RX8s. It simply reports that the previous best distance set by a Mazda over 24hrs was set by the 787b at Le Mans, and that both RX8s beat those figures. This is an indisputably fact, so where's the harm in mentioning it? It adds a nice touch of glamour too. :D

As a Mazda owner I do find this interesting, and it does give me reason for a quiet smile. The article does not claim that the RX8 would have won the 1991 Le Mans race, or deny that if the 787b had been prepared to run at the Papenburg track it would almost certainly have been able to grab its record back – after all it had around 3 times the power and 4 rotor chambers compared to our 2.

Maybe we should put this in perspective.

The RX8 could probably be described as a “medium-high performance mass production sports car”. There are a great many more exotic and expensive true “high performance” cars that can beat it for straight line acceleration and for top speed. I’m sure that I don’t need to list them all.

What the RX8 does very well is provide a great all round package that has reasonable performance, excellent handling, nice styling and competitive price (and can even double as a family car, thanks to its 4 seats).

It’s real competitors are not the 787b, or Ferraris and Lamborghinis, but cars like the Subaru Wrx, Nissan 350z and, yes, even Saab Turbos.

And if you go to the FIA site and look up some of these class B records, you will see a list dominated by the Wrx and Saab 9000 turbo.

Before all the knockers leap to their keyboards to sneer at Saabs and Subarus, please remember that both have an excellent history in rallying and a good reputation for reliability (certainly with the Saab; I don't know much about Subarus). After all, proving that the Renesis engine is not a five minute wonder is what this record is about.

I don’t know the specs of the Saab 9000 turbo that set the records but some of them apparently had a 0-100kph time in a similar 6-7second ballpark as the RX8, and a chart topping top speed in their class at the time. They set a phenomenal number of reliability records, and beating some of them with a rotary engine whose reliability has been questioned by some doubters seems like a cause for celebration, not more cynicism.

If these records were easy to beat, then other manufacturers would already have done so.

RX-Hachi

^agreed.

This has to do more with Mazda showing off the Renesis's realiability vs. anything to do with an out right speed record. For the general public, the rotary's reputation is somewhat suspect, due to the unreliability of the last TT RX-7 and having been out of the spotlight for so long. Mazda needs to build up public confidence in the new Renesis.

Rotator

I think the point being missed here is that all of the POWER from the renisis is being applied 100% of the time.
That is WOT for a 24HR period.
Yes, road racing is harder on components like transmission, brakes, etc, but easier on the engine as the rms power output is less than 100%.

But we are talking WOT, full 100% power for 24hrs (less refueling).
That is the most extreme operation of an engine - outside of oil starvation.

You can't compare that to cruising on the hwy at say 160 kph, as that would be, say 30% of available power.

What I'd like to know is the 40 records broken. What 40 records?

The speed in itself isn't all that impressive. Any engine that can be operated at WOT for 24hrs is pretty impressive.

Another thing I'd like to know is how they kept the passenger floor from melting.

The cup warmers get hot enough just driving around with the A/C on.

Dookie_Rx-8

wait im confussed did the car win 1st place or something?