There was a big baseball tournament that weekend, next time we're there we'll be able to use the other lot for paddock like normal. Just poor timing with baseball tournaments there. There's a new "jump" towards the other end of the lot now too after it's settled and there was a TON of trash on the lot, screws and other crap to pop tires. Not ideal, but without FedEx...

I don't have much interest in driving the 3 hours to Summit for autocross, I'd rather just go to the track.

 

I don't have much interest driving one hour to Summit for autocross, hence why I've done zero local events this year. I should get up to MetLife for some of the locals but I can't summon the motivation to pay all those tolls.

 

Bad enough from Philly, I feel ya. Sucks

 

My fiancée Amy was codriving with Eric Simmons to get ready for nats too! Simmons pulled off the win in STX with Amy not far behind in third. RX-8 is well sorted now too. We're looking forward to killing it at nats!

Amy's fastest run:


Simmons' fastest run:

 

congrats to Adam T., the only RX8 that managed to trophy in STX with an early S1 at Nat’s
.

 

Yeah, didn't go well for us. Simmons red lit away 2nd place in the Pro then just over drove for Nats. Amy struggled in the Pro but salvaged a second place in STXL after leading on day one. Her trophy is bigger than mine, haha

 

I'm going to a post mortem on my runs a little later, but I essentially slammed the car together on Monday before driving out to nats, which made the Pro a test and tune for me (not that I'm all that great at pros). I felt like I got the car dialed at the TnT course, but I still had to make changes up until Friday - a rear ride height change really woke the car up. Unfortunately the same thing happens every time i get to nats, I underdrive and overthink. The only run that came even close to how I normally drive was #2 on Friday.


Oh well, same time next year.

 

Congrats to all that made the trip! I'll probably "never" make it out to Nats, but I'm still looking for a car to actually start driving again. Any suggestions on a "better" to start with model of the RX8? Or is it more of a drive what you got if I'm (shouldn't say it but) never going to be out at Nats? It's an addicting sport that I have been itching to get back into. I've driven a 2005 Ford Focus that just got my feet wet and an unprepped 95 Miata that I did upper to mid-pack regionally in ES. Also spent a little bit in an STP 88 Mustang that was fun to toss about, but didn't win me any trophies, lol. Thanks for any advice, this thread has been great.

 

IMO, I'd say any manual model should work for you. If you are tall, or of any torso length, no sunroof will provide you more headroom so you can fit in the car with your helmet on without needing to replace the seat. Other than that, less is .... less. Less features = less weight. I'm working with a Shinka, read feature rich model. Still an amazing car to drive fast, but sure wouldn't hurt to not have the additional weight.

 

Yeah, good point about the sunroof. I have a longer torso and my head with helmet tends to be right on the roof with other vehicles. I guess that probably means I'll be looking for a base model haha.

 

2004-2005 non-sunroof and non-DSC 6-spd manual is what I'd look for, later years of same will just be slightly heavier, but less of them were made then too

getting harder and harder to find; my original RX8 is a 2005 version that I bought new off the dealer lot, did manage to find a 2007 last year that I'm sitting on for a future track car maybe ...

 

Lost 6th gear synchro on the way/to from nats. Joy. Super early build S2 so not unexpected, but oh well.

 

well sort of a blessing, because accessing 6th gear only requires pulling the tail housing off

shouldn’t be too bad to do, or overly expensive if you take it to a trans shop
.

 

Series 2, so 6th gear is buried inside. If it was just pulling the tail housing off I'd be all for it, I've got enough tools to get that far.

 

oh, I thought the S2 was the same, sorry about that then

well in that case at least it’s a top loader style, the S1 is even worse if you have to get into the main case
.

 

I just ordered a new trans from Mazda, so I'll have a cheap S2 trans for sale. Shifts great into every gear but 6th, that crunches unless you wait ages for it to fall in, haha.

 

Send me a PM on the S2 trans details

 

My '09 S2 trans also lost a synchro - is this endemic of the early units?

I'm planning to fix it before I sell it, I figure the cost of repair parts will more than be made up for by the difference in asking price between a busted unit and a good one.

 

Maybe s2 gearboxes are just hyped over s1 transmissions. They fail at the same rate

 

It occurred to me to ask, why a non-DSC car? Can't you disable the DSC?

 

DSC cars have *significantly* worse ABS systems

 

Well isn't that a little counter-intuitive.

 

never heard that before and have to question if that’s true once DSC is turned off

DSC adds a bunch of crap you don’t need or want imo; more things to break/maintain, plus the hassle of having to turn it off. If your asking which model to look for; then obviously the lightest, cheapest, and most user friendly one …
.

 

Non DSC units don't have ice mode in their programming. DSC units do (and suck as a result). They are a completely different ABS unit.

 

What all parts need transferred from a non-DSC car to a DSC car to "convert"?