epikeddie

Hey guys,

I'm from the Socal area and was heavily involved with the S2000 clubs and Miata clubs. Currently, there are the grassroots racing series - S2K Challenge and Miata Challenge.

They run similar formats and have three distinctive categories. Since Speedventures was overseeing the track functions, most of the tracks were on the West Coast. Willow Springs, Buttonwillow, Infineon Raceway, Laguna Seca, California Speedway, and more.

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in getting this started.

kster

I'd be up for such an event at Buttonwillow (time trial?). But that would be as far south as I would like to drive.

epikeddie

I think if we can get the same deal as the S2000 guys and Miata guys from Speed Ventures, we'll get the California tracks including Infineon and Laguna Seca......which are much closer to you.

I'm trying to gather some interest. I want to work with a few guys I know and see what they think about organizing a series of events.

I also like the format that they run currently:

Street, Modified, and Unlimited.

They have a points system that accrues and places you and your car in a category. Some of the Unlimited guys in the Miata Challenge are very competitive and run in excess of 300 whp while the cars are stripped out, caged, and ready for action.

It would be nice if we can get some of the vendors involved as well. 949Racing organized the main Miata Challenge series and has consistently worked to bring products of interest for his customers.

Let's just say that his business is doing very well now.

kster

I hope there is enough interest for such an event but I'm doubtful. My last track car was a Miata and I've owned an S2000 in the past. I know that both of these cars have a much larger track day enthusiast group than the RX8 (at least in this area).

blamerobb

I really Want to track. I live in socal.

epikeddie

I've owned a RX8, Miata, and a S2000. They're all awesome machines for the track and feel right at home!

We have a lot of guys here that race professionally. But like me, there are also a lot of guys that race on their free time as their hobby. This challenge would be designed to fare us against each other using a points system to separate the classes of RX8s in the events.

We have had vendors in the past award the season winners with items like a race wheel / tire package, suspension bits, oil coolers, intercoolers, and much more.

This format allows guys that are NA run against guys that are NA. It allows people with R-compounds to stay in a group that is all running on R-compounds. It pretty much levels the playing field and keeps the event FUN!

I had a blast with my past experiences with the event. I'm sure some of the RX8 guys here can post some lap times on par with the S2K challenge group and the Miata challenge group. It'll be fun and I'm sure it'll also ramp up more race-related parts development from some of our vendors.

Anijo

The work to organize such an event is non-trivial, so make sure you do your homework first. I went through the work of hunting down everything I'd need to organize autox sessions locally for 8's and there's a lot of things to consider (insurance, safety/tech rules in addition to what's mandated by insurance, how are you going to deal with novices, how are you going to deal with passengers, how much is everything going to cost, which will drive how much you'll need to charge, timing equipment, what are the limits on the classes you define and how will you handle any disputes...).

It's not *that* bad, and if you have a few volunteers to help it's perfectly manageable, but you've got a lot of things to decide on beforehand.

wankelbolt

iTrader: (21)

Spec RX-8

specrx8.com

jay524288

Are there enough people taking RX-8s to the track to do something like that? I've been to 5 track days since December (Big Willow and Streets of Willow) and the only other RX-8 I've seen belonged to the owner of SpeedTrial and that's his SCCA race car.

There have been 5 or 10 S2000s and Miatas at nearly every one of those track days.

For anyone that is interested, Speed Ventures will be at big Willow on 2/20 & 2/21. $330 for both days.

epikeddie

Interesting.....

I used to run in the Spec Miata class before. I like the idea of having tiered levels for different levels of modifications.

It really provided for some exciting races especially when the season is about to end and everyone is scrambling for points.

There aren't enough RX8s out there on the track. It's a shame because these cars handle the track so beautifully.

epikeddie

With a new job change to something in automotive, I think I'm going to dig through our company's resources and see if I can contact Speedventures about this proposal.

Once I draft an idea, I'll post here to see how much interest I can get. If we can get enough, I'm sure we can some of the vendors to support.