StephenF

I’m a little concerned about the RX-8’s performance when it comes to racing. The series I’m talking about in particular is the Speed World Challenge. Mazda has stepped up support and advertisement in this series with Protégés permeating the touring car field. It only seems likely that Mazda would continue this trend with the RX-8, but how would it fit in?

It undoubtedly wouldn’t be in the touring car class because both Mazda’s flagship and cheapest cars in the same class would be embarrassing. But would it be able to compete with the 911, Viper Corvette, M3, and S4? By stock comparisons, the RX-8 seems to fall between the two classes. I know World Challenge has done an excellent job of equalizing the cars’ performance allowing radical modification to those needing it (Cunningham’s NSX has a supercharger on it). But how do you think the RX-8 would fair?

-Stephen

Sputnik

I read an interview where one of the Mazda reps, who was involved with the successful engine program for the Protege', said that they were looking into doing the same for the RX8 in the GT class. As far as how they would get it up to speed, he didn't say.

But if they do the same engine program, it would give the teams a great chance at being competitive.

I would love to see it, myself.

---jps

wakeech

yeah, i had the same concerns when i heard about it, but they were somehow allayed by someone... my head hurts too much to remember right now... friggin' Ridge Racer givin' me a headache...

well, a turboed RENESIS should be able to hack it, no??

Christopher

There's a high chance the RX-8 will be racing in our GTP series in the near future. It will go up against EVO's, STi's, HSV's, GT Falcon's, R32 Golf's and M3's. Can't wait to see how it goes.

StephenF

That's some pretty steep competition... I wonder what Mazda has up their sleeves. I'm not familiar with that series, what type of engine mods do they allow?

rx7tt95

The speed world challenge does allow power adders, correct? Doesn't the Comptech car run a supercharger? If so I'd high expect something similar from Mazda. The n/a version just won't cut it against higher power rivals in that class. It'll be great to see Mazda racing more than one car in a series too.

And don't forget about the Prodrive contract either which would ready cars for FIA and ALMS more than likely.

StephenF

Boy, I'd lve to see some RX-8s in the ALMS. That's a great series. It'd be interesting to see how they fair in the enduros.

Yeah, World Challenge allows power adders. As I stated before, Cunningham's NSX also has a supercharger. But it seems, I don't know, sorta embarassing if Mazda has to do all these radical changes to the car just to bring it up to the competition level. Afterall the RSX is in the touring car class and doesn't it have similar performance to the 8?

-Stephen

Sputnik

The RSX competes in the Touring class, so if the RX8 goes in the GT class, it will need some "equalization".

---jps

StephenF

The fact that the RX-8 may be more comparable to some of the stock touring cars in World Challenge made me wonder if there were any rules saying which class a car would fall into. The only thing I found on the website was this: This is a little vague. Does this mean that if the displacement (for a boinger) is over 2.8 liters OR if it has forced induction it is automatically placed in GT? Does that mean a Mazdaspeed Protege could run in GT if it wanted to and could be "equalized" accordingly? It seems like there has got to be a bit more to it than that.

Does anybody know what displacement the 1.3L rotary equates to in SCCA rules?

-Stephen

bern

I here grumblings/rumors of a shot at Grand-Am Racing or a run in the Speed World GT Challenge. As someone mentioned earlier, Peter Cuningham is running a blower on his NSX, so there is no reason why Mazda wouldn't lobby for the same exception for the 8.

Stay tuned!

BTW, it's funny that Sputnick would have a pic of Petee's car in his sig...

StephenF

You think that's funny? I named my cat Petee.

I think he was flattered when I told him at the last race last season (VIR), but I'm not sure how I would react if someone told me they named a pet after me. I meant it as a compliment anyways.

-Stephen

rpm_pwr

They run ECU,exhaust, shocks thats it. rx-8 is not expected until mid-season though.