WDCR did a Night Event, I wasnt able to capture video of my fastest run but I did get this one which is 2 seconds (!!!) slower. Still was a fun event we werent calling cones or anything or posting results we all had to keep track ourselves which actually made it kind of fun in an old fashioned sort of way.

 

Season ended with WDCR SCCA today. Managed a 2nd in class behind Matt Jones in a BRZ. My runs were a bit manic and my best scratch times were fast but my clean one was still good for 2nd


Also my buddy Chad codrove with me, he was much much smoother than me and only 0.4 behind

 

Last event of the year for SUSQ at Hersheypark, I don't have any video, but I made a bunch of errors and couldn't stay off the cones heheh, I had some tough, national level competitors to compare myself to. I have some more prep I can do this winter, so I'm hoping the car will be strong next season and I can be fighting at the top consistently when I grow as a driver.


context: Don, Josh, and Matt were 1st,2nd, and 4th of 149 in PAX, I was 10th, so being in 4th behind them wasn't too embarrassing ;-)
http://www.scca-susq.com/results/201...sults.html#pax

 

Nate- i'm thinking of getting the whiteline bushings as well. My right front tire took a TERRIBLE beating at SP Shenandoah, even with maximum front camber and hotchkis sways.

 

I have a set of whiteline bushings ready to go in my car too once I find the time to tear all the suspension apart. Let me know if you would like to order a set Hufflepuff, I'll give you a great on them.

 

I haven't been paying super close attention to this thread so I just caught this. Unless you ream out the arm so that it's a nice smooth surface, you probably won't want to go without the inner metal sleeve. On my control arms, the bores are slightly tapered and aren't very smooth. Aluminum doesn't really like relative motion either, so I wouldn't put the rotation on the arm anyway for that reason.

I just made some delrin bushings for my UCA's and was only able to offset the pivot by about 1/8", but I have some weird control arms as I mentioned in the DSP thread, so if you have the normal ones, you could probably get nearly twice that amount of offset. I calculated it out to ~0.5 degrees of additional camber, so you may get a full degree.

 

Thanks Ken, I remember your wonky control arm posting in the DSP thread :-) I'm just going with the whiteline's as delivered for now, I'll probably switch to delrin later on. Matt if you want to make a day of it I have a 12 ton press at my place and a lot of familiarity with taking the whole suspension apart and reassembling.


Oh btw, I've been using a 14" ride height all this time, I think I'm going to drop down to the 13.5" everyone else seems to be using and see what happens. I'm just not sure how much travel I have before bumpstop engagement (on the rear especially)


Oh and another thing, this TXS system is the loudest ******* thing ive ever heard. I think I'm going to get and weld in the Moroso 94055 that Team had pointed out, then I can be friends with my neighbors again.

 

For reference, my car was more than inch lower than that in the front. Plenty of camber with stock bushings at the ride height I ran. Front dampers were about an inch shorter than factory and didn't bottom out, at least to the point of damage, so never used bump stops.

 

Wow that's pretty low heheh, I think the car gains about 1 degree per inch in front and 1.3 per inch in the rear so an inch lower would definitely hit my camber goal. I'll try it out this weekend, thanks Jeff :-)

My OEM bushings are still torn so it'll be good to replace them regardless, I figure I can go to max caster and use the bushings to keep the camber I was after if necessary. I have a fancypants thermal camera now so I can see if it's working.

 

I'm super low too, though I don't remember the measurement off the top of my head, and I also never felt like I needed more camber with stock bushings. I have the Koni 2812's which are pretty short so I have no travel issues either. I just did the eccentrics because I was always running maxed out and I want the tuneability. It also tucks the top of the tire more which will be valuable when I try to stuff 315's or 335's under it, but that's not for this thread!

 

This was a pretty cool find, you can use the arrow keys to adjust ride height and static camber to match your own and it will give you the camber curves under compression:


NC Miata Camber Curves


my front wheels iirc at a height of 14" are right around -1.7* so that additional inch lower will add significant negative camber, about -2.5* according to this


(Oh and Ken Id love to stuff some 275/35/17 A7 shod 17x10+50's and go play in DSP for a bit heheh, I'm sure that's what you were thinking but I don't know if anything over a 295 is fitting without surgery!)

 

Adjusted suspension to 13" front and 13.5" rear #datdirtnastylowlyfe

Camber looks better I did some figure 8's in a deserted pad not far from my house and got FLIR images that suggest I have almost too much now. The car feels very planted especially at the front and there's just a bit of oversteer on corner exit if i give it a bootful.

I did scrape a bit over a speed bump but whatever 🙄

Thanks again Jeff the car feels great, any other advice to keep me ahead of the twins is very welcome!

 

After seeing how much camber ("too much") the EF STS Civics run, I wouldn't take a lot of stock in the heat signature. The only true way to know is a skidpad and a timer. Good luck... and thanks for the camber curves link! This will be useful to me next year

 

So at the 14" ride height my toe settings were:


Front: 4/32" total toe out
Rear: 0


after dropping the car the 1" in the front and 1/2" in the rear, the toe was affected thusly:


Front: 11/32" total toe out
Rear: 4/32" total toe out


so I adjusted the front to get back to the way it was, the rear I couldn't break loose in the time I had allotted for this project so I left it for the time being:


As the car currently sits:
Front: 4/32" total toe out
Rear: 4/32" total toe out


I noticed doing the adjustments that one hex flat on the steering link gives you a change of roughly 1/32" which was a handy piece of info.


Perhaps at some point this week I'll try to get that rear toe broken free and sorted out, I soaked it in PB blaster so we'll see what's what soon.


Two more events this year, I think I'm doing one with the RX8 and probably the other with my insight on snow tires for lolz.

 

I did one of the two remaining events and set my first FTD! It was raining pretty good so I never got to sample the car at 100%


Another event tomorrow with PCA Hershey, I've got a few national level guys to tangle with, and Ryan Davies is going to be codriving with me so I can see where I stand compared to him.

 

Last event in the books and done for the year! Davies feedback was about the rear toe which I already knew but hadn't mentioned it. Impressive sensitivity to the cars needs, helps to show he knows what he's talking about.

Managed to be the fastest car on street tires! A fantastic last couple of events the car and I have really started to grow fast together. I can't wait for next season!

 

De-modding my STX car. Parts for sale:

https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-parts-s...6/#post4729954

 

Back to CS?

#ThisHasNothingToDoWithPAXOrTheTwins

Them wheels and tires are compelling...

 

Street car for now. Something else is brewing...

 

I am debating a switch to STX (form CS) - just curious - what are the pros and cons of the RX8 Vs the FRS/BRZ in STX. Is there any reason the RX8 can't be competitive?

 

you can get a decent car for $4000-$6000 vs whatever the twins are costing. it has better suspension from the factory, so you can have softer springs for streetability without worrying as much about camber loss. it doesn't respond as well to legal bolt-ons. It seems to have better balance / less understeer tendency (the FRS I have drove and rode in seemed pushy at turn-in). you have to worry more about the health of your engine; a fresh renesis would be a big help (175WHP vs 190 WHP would make a difference, for instance).


I'm pretty sure Nathan Atkins has been competitive in the WDCR when he has run STX, and I imagine he will be even more competitive next season after the engine refresh. SO- there is NO reason why the RX8 shouldn't be competitive in STX.

 

There's no inherently obvious reason but if you look at the results from SCCA Nationals the writing is on the wall, at least for some guys. I watched three nationally competitive STX RX-8's go up for sale in the last six months (one of which I picked up), seems a little more than coincidence.

Aside from that, differences in weight, powerbands, and most importantly, response to modification seem to be the major factors. Not to mention the twins have seen tons of development since they arrived.

 

Thanks for the comments.

Yes, that is the puzzling bit - I've been checking out RX8 in STX form and the numbers seem to be dwindling. I remember a comment a long while ago also to the effect that the 8 is not competitive in STX (somewhere earlier in this thread). From a suspension perspective the RX8 should be competitive...

I wonder if it has something to do with engine performance -- the twins make around roughly 200HP to the wheels apparently. Can anybody here please share info on what can be expected out of the rotary with all the STX bits and a proper tune applied?

 

Is that stock or after STX mods? Stock they put down ~170whp. They're also a tad lighter iirc.

While engine performance is a factor, I think weight, gearing, and suspension dynamics play more of a role than people realize.