For those of us without a trailer, whats the best way to fit 4 wheels/tires, a jack, some tools, etc. in the 8 for an autox day? I do have the spare tire kit (pretty cool that its essentially a tower brace BTW). Thanks

 

That's all you need to carry?

If that's all, you're in for no trouble. (4) 245 race tires fit in the back seat with no problem whatsoever - 2 on each side. I double bag my tires with the thick commercial trash can liners to protect the inside of the car. I use 39 gal liners from the local Lowes. It does limit the seat travel a bit, however.

As for the jack, I have a 1.5 ton alum. racing jack from Harbor Freight, and I keep that in a nylon laundry bag. That fits in the floorboard behind the front seats with ease. I generally put my "travel" toolbox on rear center console between the tires.

This leaves 2 floorboards, the front pass. seat, and the entire trunk for other stuff. You should be able to fit a soft weekend bag, a small soft cooler, and plenty of spares in the car for a weekend of racing.

With a bit of planning, I can fit tires, tools, some spare parts, tent, cooler, clothes, and other miscellaneous stuff in the car.

 

Interesting, I was thinking the jack would go in the trunk for sure. I guess what your saying is you stand up the jack on its end behind the seat? Good to know 4 wheels/tires fit in the back seats because that was my biggest doubt.

 

I remove the rear seats for track days which makes even more room. Three tires and the spare in the back seats. One full size tire in the trunk. You can put misc stuff inside the rim. I remove the bar that holds the spare by the way.

 

All 4 fit in the back seat with no issue, and I had plenty of legroom and in a comfortable seating position... 6' 245 lbs, long legs.

--kC

 

When I drove the car to the Wendover Prosolo this year I put my jack tools and one tire in the trunk. Put one behind me in the rear seat with a seat belt around it, did not want 48lbs of wheel and tire on my head if I had an issue on the road. Then put the other two in the passenger side rear seat and reclined the passengers seat to hold them in place. I put my bag in the passengers seat. Worked out very well and I finally got a chance to use my black-watch racing tire bags.

 

Not that you would want to use 285's, but all four wheels with 285's fit in the back seats without any problem. I fit a large cooler, large toolbox, jackbox, two helmets, and other misc. stuff in the trunk without any problems. I am 6'2" and anywhere between 235 and 250 depending on the climate and my mood. No problems with legroom whatsoever. I don't have the spare, and if I did, I would probably take it out for autocross days.

Jason, did you win those tire bags or buy them? They look very nice though seem a bit spendy.

 

My wife got them for my Bday.

I was also VERY happy I had them at natls this year in the cold with no codriver.

 

For our track days, I remove the rear seats, bottom and back, put all 4 245's in the back seat, our club EZ-UP tent in the front seat, by soft duffel, my track box, a medium size cooler, jack and toolbox in the trunk. I think I must have been close to payload capacity for this past trip. The car sure felt much better once it was unloaded. So, I think you will be fine with the small amount of stuff you are trying to put in yours. And who says you can't put a lot of stuff in a small car. Whoever they are, they must not know how to pack very well, their father's are ashamed.

 

Damn! I didnt think there was room like that in there. It just doesnt look that big. Good to know.

 

This is what I stored in my RX-8 for my trip to nats:

4 wheels, in back seat arranged as described earlier, in Blackwatch Racing bags
Camera bag behind driver seat
Duffle bag behind passenger seat
Laptop bag on rear parcel shelf
plug-in mini fridge and a piece of soft luggage on passenger seat
Helemet on the floor

In the trunk:
- One Action-packer box filled with oil & tools tucked all the way back on the shelf
- next to it, a compressed air tank
- in the depression at the bottom of the trunk, a full-size aluminum jack & two-piece handle (perfect fit)
- Another action-packer filled with car wash supplies & other sundy items on top of the jack
- A small cooler to the left of the action-packer
- A tool tote & one more duffle to the right of the packer
- On top of it all, a colapsable chair for lounging between heats (trunk barely closes now)

It's amazing what you can fit in this car if you set your mind to it. I should have taken a picture.

 

2 tires in each back seat, air tank, jack, tools, helmets, water sprayer, cooler, chairs, umbrella in the trunk. I usually stick my magnets onto my air tank and it all fits easily.

 

am I the only one who packed the kitchen sink in, too?

 

did you have room, or did the spare tranny ride shotgun?

 

4 tires in the back seat, of course. I also found that a large rubbermaid container fits in the trunk allowing rainproof storage of all my tools and other equipment at the event. Need to remove the lid to slide in and out of the trunk though.

 

I'm autocrossing my new RX8 for the first time this weekend and the extent of loading up the car is going to be putting the cooler with a couple of peanut butter and jellys and beverages in the passenger's footwell

I'm driving to and from on the Kumhos and don't need no stinkin' tools...hey, the car's under warranty, right?

Oh yeah, I will bring a pressure gauge and sprayer, 'cause it may be a little toasty at Atwater this weekend.

 

My jack sits fully in the floorboard. No need to stand it up. The generic Harbor Freight/Pep Boys/etc. 1.5 ton aluminum jack is pretty small

When I bought the car and asked a similar question on this forum last year, I didn't believe that the tires would fit, but they fit rather easily. I went from a Miata with a HF tire trailer and Contico box to the RX-8, and I clearly get more stuff in the 8.

I do have a bit of truck/trailer envy at the end of a track weekend. While I'm still changing tires and loading the car, a couple of friends in the run group after me completed their run, put the car on the trailer, strapped it down, and left before I finished packing the car. I freely admit I'm slow and pretty **** about how I pack the car.

Someone else mentioned how the car handles oddly when loaded up. I absolutely agree. With what I'm carrying, the rear suspension of the car is clearly compressed quite a bit. The car just feels a bit skittish in a straight line. Nothing bad mind you, but you just have to pay attention.

 

I'll be trying a new RX-8 loading method now...put it on a trailer and tow it behind that Excursion I just picked up.

 

Wow, that didn't take long...AB told me you were going to go the Excursion/Trailer route a couple of days ago.

 

LOL, I get better gas mileage towing the 8 rather than driving it

 

Re storing standard 1.5ton aluminum racing jack in the backseat footwell, I used to think it was not possible until this thread. To get it to work, you need to elevate the pump-end and slide the roller bar in agaist the outboard wall. Then lower the pump-end and rest the two smaller roller wheels next to center console channel, with one right on top of front seat sliding rail plastic piece and other one in the air. It sound more complicated than it is.

 

I know this is waking a dead thread, but I really couldn't believe I could put four 17"X9" wheels w/245s on them in the back seat with a lot of room left over for stuff in between and no problem for me in the front.

You just gotta love a car that can swallow things so easily, and for an itsi bitsi sports car it's even more amazing!

Now off to the races

 

Maybe a high-jacking attempt or not (not trying to, maybe others will learn something if it's answered) but how hard is it to remove the rear seats and what's the procedure? I've been meaning to remove the passenger seat as well but I think i've got that down. How 'bout the rears, anybody?

 

The rear seat cushions come out with a FIRM upward pull by the middle. Then you remove two 12mm ?? bolts and lift up the seat backs. Both can be done in under 5 minutes.

 

Gonna give it a shot right now.