Abendschein

Part of that is also the design. Short tread depth, lower wear ratings, and much larger contact patches between rain channels.

Tires and alignments have definitely made the car much more different now than it used to be. Videos of my car from 2011/2012 on ZII's and such make a lot of things apparent.

MikeTyson8MyKids

iTrader: (1)

Oh yea, I was on Z2SS back in 2015...and my videos from back then...my hands were WAY busier than they are now.

hufflepuff

MikeTyson, how is the balance with the 600lb/in F and 400lb/in R rates? What's your swaybar and alignment setup?

I'm coming from HPDE and Time Trials... at those events the car can be set up more loose since you're not transitioning as quickly as autocross. While I've been autocrossing for over a decade, the last half of a decade has focused on time attack. So i'm having to re-adjust the car, and the driving.


Time Attack Set-Up (this was a hair loose even for smooth track driving... i was going to go with a re-drilled front bar to tighten it some):

SUSPENSION & BRAKES
Fortune Auto 500s, 10k/7k Swift springs
OEM front bar (redrilled but need new adjustable end links)
Removed rear bar
Whiteline front offset UCA bushings
Hawk HPS pads

WHEELS & TIRES
17x9 +35 TRM FF10 wheels with 255/40/17 200-TW non-cheater street tires [DRY]
17x9 +48 Kosei K8R wheels with 245/40/17 Continental ExtremeContact Sport tires [WET]

ENGINE
Pineapple Racing engine standard rebuild
HKS Hi Power exhaust
AEM intake (need to modify to be STX legal...)
RX8Performance pulley kit
Versatuner engine tuning
Race Roots poly engine mounts
Aluminum undertray & improved sealing
Pettit Racing closed-loop coolant overflow system

2018 SETUP (time attack, too loose for autocross):
Ride height: 13.5” F, 13.75” R
Front camber: -2.75*
Front toe: zero
Rear camber: -2.3*
Rear toe: +1/16” in total (+1/32" per side)
Caster: Maxed, equal

For autocross, i've been thinking of dropping the rear spring rate and/or increasing the front, along with connecting the front bar to a stiffer redrilled setting...

REGARDING CAMBER, i have never run cheater 200TW tires. I plan to run the RE71R, and i've heard they wear heavily on the outside edges. How much camber is good for a modern STX RX8?

hufflepuff

Regarding 245/40/17 versus on 255/40/17 on the allowed 17x9 wheels in STX, have you all found one option to be consistently faster, or better subjectively?

hufflepuff

Regarding 245/40/17 versus on 255/40/17 on the allowed 17x9 wheels in STX, have you all found one option to be consistently faster, or better subjectively?

MikeTyson8MyKids

iTrader: (1)

My alignment (going from memory):

Ride height: 13.5” F, 13.5” R
Front camber: -2.6*
Front toe: zero
Rear camber: -1.6*
Rear toe: 1mm per side
Caster: Minimum, equal
Bars: MX5 front bar, stock rear bar

Its a balance I like. Nice and neutral in the sweeping sections, doesn't jump out in slaloms. It tends to rotate a little if there's any compression in the corner, or any elevation change. Every other person that has driven it has spun it..lol. I've ran it for 7 years now and never have...but I like that balance.

Like I was saying before, I'm sure there's some things I'm probably missing because I've tuned by feel and results from autox. I haven't really done much TNT with it.

I've only ran 255's.

RE-Vision

On the west coast cars (mine, Guy Ankeny's, and Steve O'Blenes) we are all between -3.5 and 4 degrees of camber. It usually comes down to tire choice. Bridgestones like camber, BFGs use a little less.

Abendschein

255 on a 25" diameter is hard to beat. Just be early and it sends.

hufflepuff

WOW.

maybe -3.5 up front and around -3.0 rear for the rx8 then?

hufflepuff

that's what I was leaning towards. Thanks very much!! I feel like I'm getting a solid plan.

Abendschein

-3 in the rear seems excessive. Sounds very pushy.

​​​​​On the east coast there's a few of us atmorelike - 2.6/-2.7 in the rear.

MikeTyson8MyKids

iTrader: (1)

I run mostly on concrete, so that's why I run a little less in the rear. If I were mostly running on pavement, the first thing I'd do would be put in a little more camber. Anytime I do happen to run on pavement, its usually pretty free. WWWWeeeeeee

RE-Vision

I do believe that Steve's car is at -3 in the rear.

itsmeteej

From CalClubs Autocross School 2 days ago. From L-R (O'Blenes, Me, Guy and Adrian)

itsmeteej

From the Cal Club Autocross School Last Weekend. (O'Blenes, Me, Ankeny and Cardenas)

RE-Vision

Though this thread isn't reflecting it, RX8s in STX are experiencing a bit of a resurgence. Some very good drivers are building these cars on both coasts, so Nationals will definitely be subject to the song of our people. At any rate, I think I finally got my car in a good place, as well as having very good benchmarks (racing against 2nd place in STX last year).

Abendschein

The 8 is a very fun car, and honestly a good alternative to a Twin for half the cost in some cases. Also, lots of used pimpy stuff is available and a lot of after market support. But everyone just hangs out in the dsp thread anyway.

schickane

Oh cool there's an STX thread!

Abendschein

😂 🤣

schickane

Since I've seen others post their setup details, here's mine:

2004 Base with Sport and Appearance Packages (no sunroof)
2,830 lbs with 1/4 tank (no weight reduction yet)

Reman motor built by IR Performance
Sakebomb/AEM coils
Cobb tune (currently on the MazdaManiac base map - haven't decided what to do for tuning the new motor yet)
Racing Beat Rev-i intake
Racing Beat header
BHR catted and resonated mid-pipe
Custom 3" exhaust with Thermal R&D muffler
Koyo radiator
RX-8 Performance motor mounts
RX-8 Performance delrin diff mounts
OEM diff

255 Bridgestones on 17x9 RPF1
Ohlins DFV
14 kg/mm (784 lbf/in.) Swift front spring with 168 lbf/in. Swift helper spring
8 kg/mm (448 lbf/in.) Swift rear spring with 336 lbf/in. Swift assist spring
Ankeny Racing bladed front sway bar (no rear bar)
Mazda Motorsports offset delrin front upper control arm bushings
Mixed poly bushing brands for the rest of the arms and links
-3.6 deg camber and -0.3 deg total toe (out) front
-2.8 deg camber and 0.14 deg total toe (in) rear

Overall the car works really well and has the pace. I have an FD Torsen diff that I need to put in my spare carrier and get on the car, which I'm hoping will help the car rotate on throttle. The DFVs are decent, but the adjustments don't have much authority until you get to the upper third of the range, and even still you need several clicks to feel anything. They're also single-adjustable, so some doubles are next on the upgrade list.

Abendschein

Damn. I guess I should go about making one of those posts now. Crap. Lol

AkursedX

Seeing Evan's stuff, I at least feel a little bit better about being on the right track. This is just my 3rd year of autocrossing and I've been building up my STX RX-8 through the whole time. I'm doing my first big-time event at the Toledo Pro-Solo in a few weeks.

Here's what my setup is at the moment:

2004 RX-8 Grand Touring (With cloth interior and sunroof)

Mazda Reman with 42k miles on it with 7.5-8.0 compression. (I have the newest version of the Rotary Compression Tester)
BHR Coils
Cobb with MazdaManiac tune
Gutted stock airbox with the intake flapper ripped out and K&N filter
Silicone intake hose from Rotarycompressiontester
RX-8 Performance mounts
BHR Midpipe with HJS 200 CPSI catalytic converter
HKS Hi-Power exhaust
Smaller Deka battery
Stock header and diff
Porterfield R4-S pads

RE71's in 255-40-17 on 17x9 RPF1's
Koni 2812 double adjustable shocks with custom pillowball upper mounts
700/400lb Eibach Springs with some Genesis spacers and helper springs to take up the slack
Hotchkis front bar with Evo-R links and currently no rear bar although I was running the stock bar earlier this season
Whiteline front offset UCA Bushings
Powerflex LCA and rear camber arm bushings

14" ride height (I know 13.5" seems to be optimal but this is the lowest I can go to fit my QuickJack underneath it without prelifting it first)
3.25* camber 6.8* caster and 0 Toe in front
2.15* camber and .10 toe in the rear.

The car is a joy to drive and I have had a great time building it. Admittedly my driving skill is lacking, especially to the guys making the RX-8's look good in STX. Evoschool has helped a lot and I hope to build on it with more quality seat time.

I have a set of the delrin rear diff bushings that I need to install and that's about it for mods this season. Hopefully a rear diff will come in the winter.

NotAPreppie

Well, since we're showing off, here's my heinously compromised, non-competitive setup...

2005 Base+Sport package, completely stock except for...
Napa Echlin D585 coils
VersaTuner OTS tune
CSF radiator
TurboXS cat'd/resonated 3" midpipe (already throwing a P0420 after 1 year!)
Tanabe Something-Or-Other 2.5" catback (yes, I know 3-->2.5 is stupid)
KW Variant 3 coilovers (not nearly stiff enough)
Hotchkis MX-5 front swaybar
Enkei RPF-1 17x9 wheels
Hawk Street/Race pads
Corbeau FX-1 Pro driver seat
LiFePO4 battery in the trunk

Abendschein

Fun fact: KWV3 is sad. Springs are fine if you're going for a bar setup, but shocks aren't the greatest. Compression in the front is sad until you're in the last 2 or 3 clicks on the high end. I swear these shocks are poorly built/tuned for the spring rates they ship with.

NotAPreppie

Yah, in a perfect world I'd have the funds for an FCM setup...
Need to start playing the lottery paying the "bad at math" tax.