you answered your own question, but to be honest I also had a shock issue at the time too. Everything came around once I put the OE rear bar back on, and frankly it is so flimsy WRT wheel rate that it was obvious to me there is more going on with it than just that, which was later confirmed through other sources.

 

I ran no rear bar last year for the first half of the season with no problems. In my experience, you pick up a little grip on corner exit with that approach, but I don't have hard data (i.e., data logs) to prove it.

Of course, I had spring rates which allowed that setup (no rear bar) to give a neutral-to-slightly-pushy balance.

 

well fwiw the one of the most serious racers here who use to heavily espouse that setup no longer does ... live and learn

 

^Yes, I'm aware of that. But, this is solo on street tires. Might be different. Might not be. I'm livin', and I'm gonna learn!

 

actually it was semi-R tires, and we are talking street tires so if that is your argument give yourself a slap and no it won't be different. However, I am only referring a no rear bar setup, not your no bar setup so don't get all riled up. The whole argument for a no bar setup is supposed consistency, which is the same argument for not using a no rear bar setup.

You've got me thinking though. I figure the net weight loss of dropping the bars, links, and mounts offset by slightly heavier springs could net me another 15# savings ...

 

I think if you have a stockish LSD, there is likely advantage to be had in a no-rear-bar setup, but if you want the car to behave the same, it's important to figure out your motion ratios and the rate of the bar you're taking out, and add most (if not all) of that back via springs, and so of course you'll need the motion ratios of the springs as well.

 

^Yes, exactly, we've done that, although it's easy to fine tune the balance with rake.

Ran a practice event yesterday, and first points event today. Car was reasonably neutral in sweepers, so we chose well on the spring rates, but it was a bit loose in transitions, so Shaikh didn't get the damping balance quite right (still on non-adjustables).

Subjectively, car felt great - never had terminal push (even in spots where it can be very common on this lot) and it was easy to recover from whatever stance the car took when the hack driver over-drove it.

I did get schooled good & proper by a well driven STR MX-5, as well as Jerry Jenkins in his ES Miata. Not sure exactly what's up with that right now, but my most convient excuse is that both of those cars were dual-driven & had tire blankets, and I had neither. Conditions were upper 30s to low 40s, dry but overcast. Oh, and it was a very tight course (not Packwood) and that helps the Miatas as well. And, oh yeah, the car was loose in transitions. So I have three excuses that don't involve driver skill. LOL

I took a run in the STR car and it was amazing how much easier it was to pick a good line.

The STR car was on R1Rs, I am on last year's RE11s. Of course, both Miatas are driven by very skilled drivers and I didn't expect to run their times, but I should have been closer.

I'm going to stick with the setup for a while (hopefully with some different shock valving). We have another event in Portland on the 27th and then it's on to Packwood. That will be the real test.

[edit] Just talked to Shaikh, he hopes to get me the front DAs by the next event so I can fine tune the car properly. Need new tires to...

 

practice course at the Houston Tour event today, just made four runs to get a feel for the surface, nice grip level

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmcKa...=youtube_gdata

 

Mark I saw you trying to cheat and get a free look at the sweeper on the course tomorrow!

 

lol, it's not my fault they didn't block off the course for a n00b like me

(un)fortunately most of the key cones weren't in place ....

 

I also gave you a wave driving Jay's big truck and was completely ignored! Haha i'll see ya out there tomorrow.

 

sorry man, hopefully I can shake off that tunnel vision by tomorrow

 

Hey, guys,

I bought a Corbeau FX1 Pro seat and ordered the sliding bottom-mount bracket with it. My hope was that I could use this much more convenient bracket. I can't. It makes my head room problem even worse.

Is anybody using a side-mount bracket? Did you accommodate the stock seat belt?

The good news is that the OEM seat belt buckle has its own connector. I had read (yay intarnets) that the buckle was just wired into the seat loom and had to be cut out. It should be a piece of cake to find the pins to keep the seat belt light off.

Anyway, if you've gotten the OEM belt to work with a side-mount bracket, let me know how, please!


Mark, I haven't been on the site all weekend, so I haven't even seen yesterday's results. Good luck today!

 

I have an STX-legal wheel and tire setup listed in the classified section of this forum if anyone is looking. Thanks.

 

you can drill and bolt the seat belt side buckle to a side mount bracket, but you may want that particular side mount bracket to be steel rather than aluminum if you are concerned about crash safety for street use etc.

on the driver side seat there is also a on/off hall effect seat position sensor for the steering wheel airbag deployment force that you need to either retain or fool in order to get the SRS light off

 

Thanks, Mark. I'll probably do just that with the side bracket. I'm pretty sure Corbeau's is steel, but I'll ask SPS just in case.

As for the seat position sensor, is it in all versions of the car? Somehow I got the impression that it's only on the power seat. I wonder what sort of information the car expects from that sensor (voltage, resistance, etc) , and what the 'safest' sort of spoof would be.

Thanks again.

 

it was on all the manual seats I've messed with, which is only several, pretty sure it is all, you just need to remove it from the OE seat mount and make sure it's plugged into the harness, if you want to spoof it instead I'm not entirely sure what is required. MM claims to have done it, but I can't recall ever seeing him post any details. I didn't ever bother with it (could care less if the SRS light is on) and gave my sensor away to someone else here

 

My manual seats had the Hall sensor too.

As for mounting the seat, last year I struggled a bit with mounting a Sparco to my Bride rails, but eventually got it to work. I ended up buying a pair of the Sparco steel side-mount brackets, cutting them into three pieces, discarding the center section in order to clear the release mechanism on the Bride sliders, and finally drilling some custom holes in what was left of the Sparco mounting brackets to get it to all bolt up. It was a little tricky because the Sparco shell is wider than the Bride, and it very nearly didn't work.

The result was a seat that was about the same height as the OEM manual seats. Not as low as the Bride, but acceptable.

I can post pics if you want.

 

That sounds like an interesting solution, George.

Pictures would be very helpful, thanks!

 

Congrats, Mark. And not a small field, either. Looks like you coned away 3rd, ouch.

Were you running the 17s?

 

Thanks. Yeah the 245/35-17 Toyo, but I am likely going to a different size once this set is done. The car was more than capable of winning, I just didn't get the job done.

Should note that the highest finishing RX-8 was Steve O'Blene in 2nd with the ex-Isley/Christopher car

 

Congrats Mark. Looks like a close race with less than 0.12 seconds separating second through fourth in STX.

 

Also - after two years on Toyo's, I made the switch to AD08's this year. I went to two events this weekend with cool and windy weather both days. Temps started in the low 30's and peaked around 60 on Saturday, slightly warmer but much windier on Sunday.

First impressions: As countless others have stated, the Yokohamas need some heat. Saturday was a non-SCCA practice event with less than 50 cars. I was typically seeing less than three minutes between runs, and the tires were able to keep some heat in them. They felt amazing. I never really got my car dialed in for the Toyo's, and I never fell in love with them. A warm set of Yokohamas seems to suit my driving style a lot better, even if I'm leaving some time on the table vs. the R1R's.



Sunday was an SCCA practice run like a typical points event with long waits between runs. Despite temperatures reaching 70+, the tires never held any heat. I also drove like crap and was consistently late on nearly every element, so I still have to knock the rust off after not autocrossing for five months.



It was too cold both days to really get good tire temp data, so I still have to dial in my pressures, alignment, and shock settings. But - so far I think I'm happy with the switch. On hot days, I think I'll have a good shot locally.

 

The R1Rs are a bit unique, have to scrub them in a bit first (started off on a new unscrubbed set at ET) and then their competitive life is about 50 runs or so, use them full tread only in RX8 sizes and save the used castoffs for street use. I am not a fan of high spring rates for the 8, not even for DOT-R tires ....

 

Thinking of doing the NJ ProSolo... what you guys think?