I'm not sure why you're thinking the RX8 is "the" car. The E36 has better power (think under the curve) and better dimensions (particularly in terms of width). I think STX should be a very interesting class, now that all the poachers have to play in their own sandbox.

 

The event had a few hiccups, but was fairly successful overall. I only addressed some of the less positive issues in response to the prior post. There were a lot of other more positive goings on too; site is very nice with real bathrooms, about 50 cars got to paddock in the garages, local region humped their butts to the bone, courses were a blast to drive, site management is extremely supportive of Solo activities etc. etc.

 

I agree that on paper the E36 looks a lot better, but based on my unscientific observations there are more RX8 builds in progress then BMW.

 

Agreed! Too bad Jim had cone trouble on day 1, he was obviously the class of the field this weekend. Congrats to Mark for being the quickest "real" STX car again this event. He left the door open for me today, but I couldn't clean up my act to capitalize.

The courses were some of the most fun I can remember running in quite a while. Some videos for those who couldn't make it:

Day1:

http://youtu.be/g19aqATEvmM

Day 2:

http://youtu.be/7qZmS6oouhs

 

The BMW is probably a bit costlier to prepare and maintain (though the initial cost of the car is a lot less and we have to worry a lot less about with respect to engines). Also, there have been a lot of people who have gone strait to DSP and skipped any long term STX runs with the Civics around. I expect there to be a lot more of both. Then toss in a few more WRXs and some other miscellaneous cars and we'll see the coolest ST class, imho.

 

I don't think anyone in STX left there feeling satisfied. I'll just sum it up as: I had the least crappiest combination of run days than the other RX8 drivers

when I run fast and hit cones I'm referred to as a loser, when I play it safe and clean someone else is the class of the field ...

TeamLoserForLife



.

 

I was just consoling myself that Jim almost beat me with 2 cones Mark was the only driver to lay down good clean runs both days and came out on top. It's called winning.....congrats!

 

wish I had gotten enough reruns to the point of almost running out of gas too what was the highest number; 7 or 8 total runs for the day?

 

Unfortunately cones do count and I couldn't get it done on Saturday. Congrats to those who did well (or less sucky)both days.

Sunday we had 8 runs between Teddie and me. Started at about 5/16th of a tank and finished with the gauge slightly below 0! Thanks for the loan of the fuel jug Mark, don't think I would have made it the 15+ miles to the nearest station!

Wish I could have had one of those reruns on Saturday. Ironically the 2 that didn't count were among my only clean ones for the weekend. Fun time and great to meet many of you guys!

Jim

 

I've worn out dozens of those shoes in my autox history so I understand completely ...

tore down my rear suspension tonight trying to resolve the ongoing handling issue that has plagued my car since the Finale/Nats week

the rear toe and camber settings are dead on, it's never the easy thing ...

the rear swaybar will hardly move/rotate, it was fine when I put it in new bushings with fresh grease just prior to Nats, but apparently the grease pushed out quickly and the bushings have clamped down excessively on the bar, will have to clearance those, think this is the main culprit

the aluminum rear shock towers appear to have a slight internal interference with the rear shock bodies, it looks minor but a boring bar and lathe will make quick work of clearancing them as a precaution

the lower rear shock cylinder bushings appear to be binding up, probably because the aluminum rear shock towers are slightly out of alignment so a spherical bearing conversion at the bottom mount to match the top mount is also in the works to resolve this ...

also went ahead and lowered the rear shock gas pressure to soften the loading and hopefully increase rear tire bite under acceleration

the fun never ends ...,

 

Hi guys, nice meeting everyone at the Tour! It was very cool to run in an almost all-RX-8 class. Congrats to Mark and Jim for putting down some great clean times on Sat and Sun, respectively. The courses were a blast and it was a great event for me to shake off the rust (and practice staying off the cones, cough). Thanks to Jim for the co-drive, how had I missed driving an RX-8!

Some pictures from the Tour c/o Perry Bennett and SoloMatters:
Day 1
Day 2

After this event, I can't wait to start my STX build #2. The fun never ends indeed.

 

What shocks are you running?

Just some second hand experience...talked with another Moton owner about this during Nationals. He had similar issues as you and lowered the canister pressure. Car handling went to complete $h1t. They re-charged the shocks with nitrogen and things got better. They ended up re-valving the shocks which fixed the compression "properly".

Good job out there this weekend. Wish I was there to play with the SCCA Rotary Club

 

That just depends on the specifics. In my case its a minor change and within the acceptable limit.

 

Completely forgot about the gigantic Koni stickers on your car until I looked at Perry Bennett's picture.

Good to know...

 

of course this only applies to a monotube shock

 

Hey , everywhere I look you show up, .

Andres

 

 

Ugh, audio problems again, recording. No idea of wtf happened.

I need to start pushing my car more. I keep getting skittish of spinning it out. Though I did have a rather smooth like, 4 wheel drift my last run, unfortunately that wasn't my fastest run.

Can't wait to get better tires come next season though.

No idea on placement for today, yet.

 

Nice run.

 

Nice picture Topgear. Are there more from that photographer hosted anywhere?

 

Thank you Iloverevs.

And yeah, TopGear, she looks really sharp. Really makes me wanna get the MS kit that much more.

 

check out perrybennett.com

 

Thanks!

 

Yeah...I have what you might call history with the RX8. I ran one in 2007 with Matthew Braun at a bunch of National events and drove TeamRX8's STX car this year at Nationals...I like to check in here once in awhile to say "Hi" to old friends.

Speaking of which....hey, Mark, now that you're figuring out why the car was a beotch at Lincoln, howzabout letting me drive it again next year? I had lots of fun co-driving with you.

(jk, it is not even next year, yet, too early to start begging rides!!!)

 

Mike's such a liar, he had a permanent facepalm the whole event