Well, of course they weren't as good as you Mach, they were driving BMW's :)

That must have been it.
The RX8 felt very nice out there and I was the only one at the school (out of about 120 drivers + many instructors) who brought one out to track it. There was someone there with a red one but it never saw the track, probably friend or family of one of the students or instructors.

I must say that the STi, E39 ///M5, E46 ///M3 and S4s, were able to take me on the straight aways. One of the E46 ///M3 had a really good driver and the STi driver was probably better than me. The Evos had poor drivers so I owned them all day.

By the end of the weekend I was passing the E36 ///M3s and 330Ci ZHPs... ;)

It was funny when it started raining bad, I ended up passing all the E46 ///M3s. All that power is nice but only if you know how to control it...

Lucky! I was getting pwn3d by c5 vettes and z06's when I was out there, not a lot of lower HP cars

A good example would be the 500hp Mallet corvette, the 700hp MKIV Supra and a ton of well driven EVO's and STi's

I was in a novice rungroup. Other first timers like me :o

How's this :D

http://photos.e46fanatics.com/data/500/36955money.jpg

More pictures.

http://photos.e46fanatics.com/data/500/36955money2.jpg
http://photos.e46fanatics.com/data/500/36955money3.jpg
http://photos.e46fanatics.com/data/500/36955money4.jpg
http://photos.e46fanatics.com/data/500/36955money5.jpg

Nice pics. Did I mention that the Mallet and several of the Z06's were in MY novice grp? Talk about a unfair advantage

So what is a good track only pad for the RX8? Should I replace all four or just the fronts?

Excellent!

I ran Hawk HP+ on my fronts, I havent found anyone who makes rear pads for the RX yet. I was very impressed with the braking performance of the Hawk's, they just dust like crazy and are very loud in street driving.

The EBC Yellowstuff R pads look like they would be good for the track. Looks like $200 for front and rear: http://www.perfectbrakes.com/products.asp?cat=2214







http://www.perfectbrakes.com/images/comparisonchart.gif

I think I need to get more tire and power before I need to do any more brake upgrades

If you're working on stock brake pads and/or fluid, in an RX-8, and you have more than a very few track days under your belt, you're doing things bass-ackwards. It's more important to be sure that you will be able to stop that that you be able to go faster. Stock, this car is quite capable of going very fast, and it has great brakes, but the stock pads and fluid will overheat once you learn how to brake aggressively.

I have those Hawks and I'm running DOT 4 motul fluid

Then I certainly agree that you don't need to worry about brake upgrades in the near future. If the Hawks are "hybrid" pads, you may find that you could brake more aggressivelywithout engaging ABS with full race pads, but hybrid pads and DOT4 fluid are good for a while.

must.....have.....more.....track......time

Yeah, I know the feeling. It rains a lot in Seattle (I know... Duh!), so my last three track days were on wet tracks. I know that you learn a lot of a wet track, but it's a lot more fun on a dry track. I have my next track day on May 17, and I'm looking forward to it.

But I figure that, between entrance fee, gas, some coaching perhaps, and amortizing expendibles like brakes, pads and rotors, it costs about $500 per track day, so I've got to ration them. :mad:

Wow spider, my track weekend cost me $350 plus whatever gas was. I can see how good of a deal that was.

Well, for me, the cost is something like this, for one day:

Fee: $175
Coach for an hour: $75 (this is optional, but useful)
Brakes: $60, more or less (brake pads cost something over $300 for a full set of race pads, and last no more than five track days)
Rotors: $30 (just a guess, since I've not yet killed a set, but I'm still fairly new at this).
Tires: >$100 (A set of track tires, mounted, costs at least $800, and lasts only a few track days.
Gas: I get about 8 mpg on the track, and generally get 150-200 miles in a track day (over 200 if the weather is good). At $2.80 a gallon, that's $.35 a mile :eek:

That all adds up! That's a big reason why I autocross--it's a lot less seat time, but it is challenging, and much less expensive for those of us who do it fairly casually.

by the way, my father used to have a few 124 spiders when I was a kid. He really loved those cars but has since moved on to his true love, Jaguar E types (and any Jag actaully).

I love it when the guy who started the thread participates in the hijack of that thread. :p

My first car was a 1969 124 Spider, and I later had a 1978 (both very used when I bought them). They were great fun to drive, but an exercise in frustration to own (mostly because something was always broken).

At least I graduated to a Honda, which actually works; while I really love the old E-type roadster, I don't know that it was a paragon of reliability. :)

too bad all the tracks i really want to run on are very far away from WI. I would love to check out Laguna Seca, Thunderhill and Watkins Glen, but all over a day of driving away :(

If it makes you feel any better, some people drive half way across the country to go to Road America which is practically in your back yard. We had a guy last weekend that drove a 2002 all the way from Huntsville Alabama. Lots of folks from Iowa and one guy from Portland Oregon.

wow. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. Now all i have to do is find the time to go to sevenstock this year :)