Drag Strip racing: 1st time last night for me and my RX8
 

I went to an 1/8th mile drag strip which is ~ 40 minutes from my home:
http://www.dunnbensondragstrip.com/

I think it went very well for my 1st time there....many differnt type of cars from gut wrenching corvettes, novas, trucks to WRX', Hondas and 240SXs.

My best time was 10.02 seconds with a .4 reaction time......and a trap speed of 71.03 and doing the1/8 mile. The WRX (running 20 psi boost, 3" pipe with no cats) was trapping out at 75mph and doping the 1/8the mile in 9.75 seconds.

I was impressed with how well the RX8 did...actually my problem was that on the Launch I could not prevent the rear tires from spinning. 1st time I launched I just sat their and spun the tires......I guess was a little bit nervous and would have my RPMs to high....I tried to launch around 3500 to prevent will spin....but that would still spin them some what.

For an example a late 90's Honda accord, interior stripped, with racing slicks on, and a bunch of upgrades took me off the line, but I was still able to run it down and beat it.....same with an Eclipse that was modded. And spanked a Maxima.

I did 6 runs..if this was a 1/4 mile track I would be better able to run these other cars down and not worry so much about the launching. All the racing I did above was with out the Zex Nitrous Kit. Actually I am concerned about using nitrous on 1st gear if I can't even hold the power down as it is......and I have wider tires in the back already 245s. with the Zex I should easily be able to hit mid 9's or better if I can get better launches and hold the car's power down.

ANd how many drag cars have Satelitte Navigation too :mdrmed:

Any thoughts on how I can do better?

Nice!

Try the 1/4 mile

Is that Zex kit dry or wet? Oh and with the Zex it taps into your thottle sensor line so it activates only at WOT. On the launch you won't be on the squeeze so you can spin tires NA but as soon as you hook up and are on WOT you can lay power.

I used my dry Zex kit on my Proete5 and plan on using it on the RX8. With the car running so rich already I think I should be safe with a 55 hp shot. I should consider a mid pipe before I start installing it though because I figure even a few short trips down the track would kill my cat. No?

Has anyone else installed a dry nitrous kit in their 8? Details please! Oh and pics of the install would be appreciated.

The Zex kit is wet...Kit#82021. I am not sure about killing the cat, my guess is that it will not plug or melt it as long as the car is running stoich (not lean).

I have not installed the kit yet,,I just bought it last Friday. The thread link below has a lot on Nitrous. Charles R Hill is the board's nitrous expert.

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...35#post1380835

What's the altitude at that track, the traps and et's seem very low for the WRX. Even on street tires that car should be able to pull 2.0 EASILY and with 20 psi I think he should be doing mid 80's trap speeds. Also trust me the RX8 doesn't have more power than the rear tires can hold down, you probably just spun too much because you didn't feather the clutch or you didn't let enough air out of your tires. It sounds crazy but you should have probably around 20 psi in the rears and about 40 in the fronts.

My 130 whp Sentra SE-R managed to run a 9 flat @ 73 mph here in TX with nothing but intake/100 dollar pacesetter header and a set of drag radials. My 176 whp 173 wtq turbo civic before that ran 8.52 @ 83 mph at the same 1/8 mile on the same set of drag radials. Both of those cars were pulling 1.8 60 foots out of the hole, with a 2.0 60 foot on street tires I'm pretty sure the 8 could AT LEAST be a 9.2 second 1/8 mile car if not 9 flat.

By the way, the most significant time in 1/8 drag racing isn't reaction time it is 60'. I'm guessing yours was something like 2.5+

Your time would amount to about a mid 15 second run in the 1/4