Blue 350z

Nice runs! It will be VERY hard to do better then a 2.1 60', expecially consistantly. A 2.05-2.1 60' will net you about a 14.7x.. But you can expect on average 2.2-2.25ish 60's.. Do you have the slips? Also the trap speed is still pretty low, but the times are good!

Judge Ito

vp 100 octane unleaded. car has 1100 miles.

Judge Ito

yes, still have the time slips. I need more then 2 time runs to dial in the 60ft. to a better one. Ill try tomorrow again at my local race track.

Turbo Matty P

wow, a 15.2s quarter mile. My boenstock mazdaspeed protege ran a 15.4s quarter mile stock. After some slight exhaust work and a new intake it would 15.2s I'll go back through my timeslips to see what the rest of the numbers were, but I was under the impression that the RX-8 was faster than the mazdaspeed? Also, it may be a tenth or two faster than a stock mazdaspeed, but a $40 boost controller will seal the deal for the protege. Wow, I'm not trying to knock the 8 in any way. I'm just surprised it's not any faster. I wonder how the two would compare side by side. I know by the numbers that a stock mazdaspeed has more torque at a lower rpm than the 8. Also, with the new flash the msp owners are claiming a much stronger pull. Some claim a 20+hp gain and they have the dyno's to back it up. I think thats great. Also, MSP's are now running for $16K. Again, just to clarify, I love the RX-8. I want one so bad I can sniff it. However, I think I'll stick with the mazdaspeed until the RX-8 becomes faster.
p.s. which car do you think handles better the MSP or the 8? Please don't respond if you haven't flogged the MSP. That car is on a damn rail!

Reeko

You might want to check out canzoomer's posts in the tech forum.
He has allready tweaked out about 25+ hp and lots of torque over most of the RPM range just changing the A/F mapping. (Measured RWHP on the dyno).

I think he plans to run some 1/4 mile times this weekend.

Seems like the RX will respond great to ECU upgrades, (he hasn't even messed with timing yet).

I can't wait, considering since the RX is mostly running rich, the tweaks will probably also help the MPG issue.

Judge Ito

I pulled the car into the scale. the car is a little heavy for good quarter mile times using the N/A set up. car with me inside 3252lbs car is beggin for a turbo charge kit.

O.R.A.

Not that I know that much about this, but going by that weight and by your times and ET on various online calculators, it puts the power of your car right where Mazda says it should be.

Turbo Matty P

Judge Ito, I agree with what you said....almost. The Rx-8 is pudgy for a good quarter mile car, but for a sporty sedan it's perfectly balanced. My MSP weighs 3Klbs with me in it and the light nimble feel can't be touched by anything else save for a motorcycle. The point I was making was a direct comparison between the two cars since they were so similar. They both weigh approximatly the same, both have the same torque, both have LSD (in most models), both appear to run the exact same times. Both are praised for their handeling prowess. Sport Compact Car was quoted as saying that the mazdaspeed is their new litmus test for all front wheel drive cars. It's THE car to beat. I want to see a professional driver drive a course in both cars to see who pulls a faster lap.

MOD, please take this to lounge, I'm jacking a thread.

Buger

It would make sense that a .1 difference at 60' should lead to at least .1 at the end of the 1/4 mile but I would think that a good launch that is up in the revs for a s2000 would be a bit faster since the engine will stay in the meat of it's powerband. Perhaps there are some s2000 owners on the forum who can confirm whether the .1 = .11-.12 rule works for them too?

As mentioned earlier, both runs were reportedly from the same production car (red 90). All of the info is on the rotarynews (http://rotarynews.com/view.php?id=208).

The fastest cars were the "pre production cars that were retrofitted with full-blown production-spec engines". Yellow 44 and Sliver 49 averaged about 14.5 @ 96 mph. The difference in their 1/4 mile times and thier 60' times were about 12.2 to 12.3 secs.

The long-lead press car that Car and Driver, Automobile and Road and Track All used to generate early numbers was called Red31. The one run that was posted was about 14.7 @ 95 mph. The difference in the 1/4 mile time and the 60' time was about 12.3 secs.

The 2 production cars were blue86 and red 90.

Blue86 ran comparitive times that avg'd around 14.66 @ 95.7. The difference in the 1/4 mile times and the 60' times was about 12.37 secs.

Red90 seems to have been the slowest out of the bunch. Perhaps the engine ran a little weaker or it was the heavier GT model? It's best 1/4 mile was around 14.7 @ 95.5 and it's worst was 15.2 @ 94.8. The difference in the 1/4 mile times and the 60' times ranged from 2.35 - 2.39.

Mazda's own testing seems to indicate that the production cars are slightly slower but is difficult to draw valid conclusions from such a small sample size. It would be interesting to see the results of more 1/4 mile slips as time goes on. I would think that most drag racers would choose something like a 350z or Mustang over the RX-8 but I'm sure we'll see a few more RX-8 timeslips in teh coming months.

Brian

Ophitoxaemia

i seem to recall that early testing of the S2000 had widely varrying results- if the surface was too grippy the engine would bog on launch and *kill* the times.

i also remember that on the S2000, the 0-60 time went from 5.x seconds to 12 seconds if you shifted at 6K instead of 8K.

15.2 is way slow these days, my bone stock 1994 probe GT can beat that, FWD, 170hp. 14.5 sounds better and might be surface dependent.

james

14s4doorNA

The Mazdaspeed Protege is a piece of ****. It makes 170 hp with a turbo (!!!) and is slow and hadles well for a FWD but come on that car is a product of Ford's control. A FWD slow piston POS. It makes less power and accelerates slower than the RX8 with a bigger motor AND a turbo.

Blue 350z

I wouldn't call the MazdaSpeed a POS, but these days getting 170HP out of a 2.0 4 cyl turbo is pathetic and on Mazda's site they brag about it like its a breakthru!! I used to own a 1990 Eclipse GST and that had 195HP and over 200TQ and that was also a 2.0 turbo and almost 14 year old technology. Also the Mazdaspeed is very heavy for such a small car.

The Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V is making 175HP and 180TQ from a N/A 2.4 4 cyl.. Also putting up better accereration times and is less expensive and comes with lots of options, even brembo's are avail and a 500Watt 9 speaker stereo!!

The only thing good about the Mazdaspeed is that you can mod it easily to get more HP since its FI. But you can go out an get a Neon SRT-4 for the same price if you just want cheap speed.

O.R.A.

Well, you can call it slow if you want, but the man is right in that it posts times pretty close, if not the same as the RX-8.

Yeah, it's a turbocharged car, but it's pretty much a cheap kit slapped on to the standard N/A Protege and you can get it all for about $16k. Heck, it doesn't even put out 7psi stock. With a few very simple tweaks from Home Depot and a cheap exhaust, you are running 14 flat with then handling to back it up, since the car (like the RX-8) is not really a drag car. It comes alive in the twisties.

To compare the size of a piston engine and the rotary...well, you should know better than that. It makes no sense, but you know what, from what we have seen posted on this board vs. what we have seen posted on mazdamp3.com, both cars are putting down pretty close wheel horsepower on a dyno and the Protege is close to 200 pounds lighter, so maybe you should think a little bit and do a bit of research before you react.

As for it being a product of Ford's control... well, doesn't Ford control everything that comes out of Mazda anyway? I don't know what you mean by Ford's control. Ford didn't design the chassis, didn't design the engine, didn't design the suspension, heck Callaway did the turbo kit and I thought Callaway was much more of a "GM" man than a "Ford" man.

Anyway, you shouldn't let the man's comments hurt your little pride like that. He did say a bunch of times that he didn't mean to say that the RX-8 sucked or anything.
Neither do I. I happen to love the car.

Sneakyracer

Yes, mazdaspeeds protege is a case of too little too late. The upcoming Mazda 3 looks like an AWESOME vehicle. Lets see how it performs but the styling inside and out looks top notch for an affordable class vehicle. :D

Nissan overated , ala mazda, the SE-R spec V but tried to mend the mistake by improving the transmition, the susp. and offering brembo brakes only one model year after the cars intro.

And yes the NEON SRT4 virtualy makes the turbo protege pointless. More so that the Neon is UNDERATED! from the factory. Its rated at 215hp but puts down close to that to the wheels!! stock! making it more of a 240hp+ vehicle for 20k, thats unprecedented in the sport compact market.

mikeb

you have alot of nerve calling it a pos

Turbo Matty P

haters haters, almost the whole lot of ya! The neon SRT-4 is a very fast car. However, you're forgetting one important factor. It's a force-fed NEON. The car has nice seat, but everything else on the interior is garbage, the body kit is garbage (fake ram air?? COME ON!), the exhaust with no mufflers is REDNECK garbage. In a straight line only contest the neon wins hands down, but it'll also smoke the RX-8 so by your logic is the RX-8 a pos? A $19K TRUE 4-door will smoke the $30K RX-8. Forget the fact that 8 is a great handeler, forget that it has a revoltionary motor, forget it's styling and interior feel is decades ahead of dodges, forget that more watts on stereo doesn't always mean it's better, forget this and tell me that the mazdaspeed portege is a pos. I'll see you at the track. To all of the people who hate on the MSP. Bring your $30K car to the track and let's see how well you can justify the extra $13K. I'm not trying to insult any RX-8 owners. I just wanted to ask what you guys thought about the similarities between the two cars. If it's going to turn into a challenge I'm sure the mazdaspeed forum will be more than willing to go out and flog a few laps with you guys. Any going to pick up my gauntlet?

elusiv

uh... how about u remove the turbo from the neon or add a turbo to the rx8? that'd be a bit more fair.

also, you're getting a car with much more potential *i think* than the srt-4. ive heard the neon is pretty tapped out from the factory? correct me if im wrong.

Turbo Matty P

why turbo the Rx-8? Thats what caused all of the problems with the last RX-7. I would personally love to see some weird 4rotor set up that would produce gobs of power. You're correct the neon is strapped from the factory. However, bolt-ons are making more power. Boost on the neon is 3 times what it is on the MSP. It's also coming from a larger turbo. Also, the block in the neon is a 2.4L as opposed to the 2.0L in the protege. Mazda tried to use as much high quality content as it could affordably. Chrysler built a $20K motor and threw it in a POS chasis. It's not a complete package like the MSP or the RX-8. I'm waiting to see what the aftermarket guys do for power on the new renesis. I'm thinking a centrifugal supercharger like a Paxton would be great, but I'm new to the whole rotary thing so I'm not sure. Here's an unusual question.: If the rotor housing and rotors were enlarged 30% over stock (the same motor, just larger) would that "increase displacement? Is there a particular reason for the compact size of the rotary other than weight? Would larger, yet lighter rotors produce more torque? Also, with larger housings Port size would increase drastically. Again I'm assuming, but my point is that it's not going to be nearly as easy to create gobs of power from the renesis as it is the FZ-E with the factory turbo.

elusiv

you're missing the point. when comparing the straight line ability of a car thats NA vs one thats turbocharged, obviously the advantage is with the car thats turbo'd....

if you're so leery about turboing a rotary engine, then remove the turbo from this $20k motor and im sure you'll find it running much slower.

not to say the neon is a bad car or anything... just recognize that although its plenty fast and cheap, its relies on its turbo.

Turbo Matty P

this conversation got real retarded, real fast.
The neon is a piece of crap. Yes it relies on it's turbo. Yes the MSP relies on it's turbo. Yes the RX-8 relies on it's rotary engine. YES the MSP and the RX-8 are equally fast. YES the MSP does it for $15K less than the RX-8. YES the MSP should put down more power because it's turbocharged. Most do. Most owners already have some sort of boost controller, custom exhaust, front mount intercooler etc. and those cars will fly. I said to look at the cars for what they are...I love the RX-8, but my MSP has four FULL doors (not a big deal for me since the freestyle dors work so well and look cool), Seating for 5, has the same performance characteristics as the RX-8, gets MUCH better gas mileage, has cheaper replacement / upgrade parts, costs $15K less.
This is why I'm hanging onto my MSP. I love the 8's, but I can't justify spending double for a car that really doesn't outperform. It's only real advantage now is that it's rotary powered and super sweet looking. to someone who is broke like me that's just not worth the extra money spent.

mikeb

sucks to be broke

Ike

You're very wrong, the SRT-4 is far from rapped out from the factory. Simple bolt-ons and the car is running 12s. Also, it's a pretty good handler for a FWD car, it's not just a straightline performer. If you want bang for the buch it doesn't get much better than the SRT-4, and contrary to popular belief the engine is very very strong with many upgraded parts from it's PT version.
I wouldn't want the car for various reasons but you have to respect what the car can do for so little.

Ike

mikeb

it is defently priced right

Turbo Matty P

it is priced right, I guess....but look at what you get with dodge and the mazda for the same price. Dodge has a very shotty interior, slightly upgraded suspension, MONDO brakes, no stereo, no power windows or locks, a super cheesy-looking body kit with fake ramair (most redneck upgrade, the psuedo-raim-air) NO GOOD COLOR CHOICES! With the mazda you get a complete package. You get great styling, great interior treatment, great power (although some say overrated) great power potential, great mazda reliability, great stereo, great brakes, best in class suspension, better gas mileage, a more user-friendly daily driver. Dodge will cook in the straigh line, cornering isn't bad, but no LSD and soft springs really give it lots of attitude.
Again, I think it all comes down to the TOTAL PACKAGE. Mazda has provided this with both the RX-8 and the Mazdaspeed Protege. I see the same thing happening with the 3. Mazda is just stepping up to the plate in a big way. They don't ignore things to concentrate on acceleration. They view the car as a whole, not as a chasis to cram a STRESSED motor into. Yes the neon is stressed from the factory. I don't see them lasting very long. I bet a year from now they're littering the dealerships because are sick of this thing being in the shop. Remember the eclipse turbos? good cars until they got some mileage on them .After that you could kiss em goodbye.

elusiv

er, got any specific links? i had no idea srt-4 was capable of 12's with just simple bolt ons. i browsed thru a few forums but couldnt find any time slips.