Mood - what OD said. I just put a wrench to the suspension bolts to make sure all is tight and do a visual inspection to make sure there are no cracks, nicks etc. As for weight savings, I think meaningful weight savings is difficult to do with a street driven car. You sure have the hp to overcome the weight but it does mean your brakes and tires will get a workout. They have a lot more work to do than an RX8. By comparison, my RX8 weighed just under 3200 with me in it at the scales at Roebling last year. I don't remember the cross weights but it wasn't 50/50.

OD - same sizes on the Toyos.

 

Lighter seats 'can' save you up to 60 lbs, dpending on what you have in there now. Talk to 32V, he knows how to get the weight out of a car.....

 

cleaning the maf can make a differance. That is where it al starts for us. Do you have a standalone ? Our 8 are known for spitting oil back into the intake.
It good to clean it everytime you at least change plugs.
Speaking of which-- since high rpm power for the rotary is very ignition sensitive, bringing plugs with me. Anyone checked their coils lately?
OD

 

REVi filter cleaned. Car feels peppy
Of course it is just my imagination but who cares?

 

This coming Sat For the RX-8:

Bleeding Brakes (got all 4 speedbleeders now)
Install HP+ Pads
Change Oil
Get the 710's mounted on the old wheels


I'll take the RX-7 to get the corner weighted next week too. I have a feeling it's close to 2000 lbs. Custom coilovers/Progressive springs on the way for it. The RX-7 will be taken to the September Roebling event. BTW, if you have ever wanted to know what 22 year old brake fluid looks like, see below. I fully flushed the RX-7 too and got stuff out that looked like motor oil. See the progression below. This car is so much fun to prep! I can't wait to take it on the autocross next month!

 

Lego, can't wait to see it.

 

11.......

Countdown to Roebling

 

which is exactly 10 too many.

 

I have seen it - I love old sports cars!

If you get 2000# - that would be

 

Since I never have been to Roebling - I need some help on the track. I went to the web site and can't find anything on banked turns, off-camber, elevation changes, or walls. Can you guys help me fill in the blanks so I can get a better picture in my mind of what the fastest line will be on this track. I also assume that we run this coarse clockwise?

Here is what I got (assuming clockwise):
Turn 1 is a decreasing radius turn
Turn 2 is a constant radius turn
Turn 3 is a constant radius turn
Turn 4 is a decreasing radius turn
Turn 5 is a constant radius turn
Turn 6 (looks like really-really high speed) is a constant radius turn
And with almost 3/4 of mile of speed (includes turn 6 and straight before 6) before turn 1, my brakes are going to love me there!

 

Just out of curiosity, what kind of life span are you expecting with v710's for track days? I've only run about 40 runs on mine, and they are wearing quite a bit(still very sticky though). I am just thinking of how hard Roebling had been on my old hoosier s04's at the 2 autox events there last year, couldn't imagine running them for several 20 min sessions. Again, keep in mind that I'm a tracknoob.

 

Mood
Most make turn one and turn 4 double apex turns. So you can trail brake going into turn one and 4 easily--flat turns , no real elavation changes and the only neg camber turn is coming out of turne 5. Its a narrow track, although not too much so. Lots of run off room. Turn 2 is a high G turn, but ONLY a VERY small straight (just enough to settle the chassis) before a sharp turn 3 so be ready to brake. It is a hard of the tires track, easy on the brakes. Get good speeds. Turn 6 is a little tricky so be careful with that high powered car you have because if you get loose there you need to go ahead and point it off track into the dirt as the slightess overcorrection --then you will end up in the pit wall--and you dont want to get in the dirt sideways or spinning--it will flip you.
It is the most fun track we have been too.
Pit area is really nice--under tall pines, facilities close by, electric power available, on grass and pine straw not asphlat.
hope this helps a little
olddragger

 

Here is a down and dirty explanation of the track. I am not the authority on it but I think I got it when I was there last fall. See the picture for the turn numbers. You will notice turn 1 and 2 are the turns you referred to as turn 1.

Overall thoughts about the track - every corner is a late apex. You must think about where you want to be for the next corner so you track out properly. The course is very much a rhythm course where a successful turn leads to another successful turn and a botched turn will lead to another botched turn. Your instructor ultimately will be your best guide. Or STF can chime in as he has a lot of laps at this track.

Turn 1/2 - most people double apex this corner. The second apex is very late and sets you up for good exit speed. Another option is what I did and that is taking the rimshot. Turn in and let the car find its groove around the middle of the track through turn 1. Set a single steering input and use the gas pedal to keep the car turning. drift to driver left at the track out of turn 1 and turn it in to late apex turn 2 in the same spot as you would apex if you took the double apex.

track out driver left and bring the car over to driver right for turn 3.

Turn 3 - another late apex. If you get going fast through this one (90+) you will find that on turn in you get a nice 4 wheel drift. I think STF takes it at over 110 but then again, he is crazy fast. Stay tight driver left after the apex hugging the edge of the track on exit to set up for turn 4.

Turn 4 - late apex and again keep her tight driver right.

Turn 5 - couple of different lines. I double apex it. I turn in towards the inner curbing early and brake a straight line heading toward the last red curbing on driver right. Turn in is sharp to come back in on the left hand turn. There is very good grip on the inside of turn 5. I have seen several cars go off in turn 5 as it is pretty sharp...

track out driver right and come back to the center of the track for turn 6.

Turn 6 - Do not go to the far left of the track for turn 6 since the track has a crown effectively giving you negative camber on the outside edge. Instead start in the middle and bring it in tight to the inside curbing powering out and letting the car track out for the short run to turn 7.

Turn 7 - starting from driver left make your turn in. The apex is after the pit road entrance . It is a late apex (surprise). This corner can be very fast depending on your grip. I find myself shifting into 4th midway between 6 and 7 and have to feather the throttle through the early part of the turn and roll into the throttle when I see the apex. Word of warning - if you go wide and find yourself in the grass, do not try to save it and instead use the generous run off room to merge back on track after slowing down. Otherwise, when you get back on track, your car will hook right and smash into the pit wall.

Front straight - relax the death grip, breathe, check gauges, floor it...

I have video here.

 

Wow - this helps out a lot - I didn't pay attention to the distances on the turns - double apex makes sense. And the hint about turn 6 is a great one.
Any hints about what speeds to expect around the track?

I found in my MTB racing - that if I imagined the line in my head before I raced - I was twice as fast as normal. It should apply to all racing?

Thanks!

 

First, this isn't racing so don't call it that. This is a Driver Education event. There is no reward for being faster or fastest. With all the HP you have, I can guess you will see 140 into the braking zone of turn 1. The rest is up to your level of car control. I doubt that knowing the track will double your speed but it certainly lowers lap times. BTW the HPDE groups are not timed so lap times are generally unavailable. I got some of my times from reviewing in-car video. Speaking of video, Google video quality generally sucks. Here are some links from SilverEight's website:

The famous RX8 vs Corvette vid

Full session 3

Full session 4 (with some good instruction at the beginning)

 

10!!!!!!

 

Sorry - I was talking about MTB (Mountain Bike) Racing. No racing here.

 

wow....12:40 and it has not been done yet.....bump






cause only 9 more days...

 

Sorry, my bad....

Fri
May 19

Partly Cloudy
85°/64° 10%

 

no worries, and them is good predictions, we like it.

 

Hey guys - I signed up for a Track day with Chin at Barber Motorsports Park on July 15th. Anyone want to join me?

 

that sounds like fun to me, but I am doing the Panoz event at RA that same weekend. Closer to home, and I am familiar with that track, better place for me to learn the R compounds.

As for Roebling, I have an appointment to get the alignment checked out, I am going to add some more negative camber in on the front, I am hoping for a little better corner speed and a little better tire wear on track anyway, as a result. Also getting the old oil out, and the new in.

I have discussed this with TA, anyone else with a few miles on the car noticing that it is consuming a bit more oil now? I am adding more than I ever remember adding, at least a full quart every 1000 miles, as opposed to the quart every 2000 miles that it was before.

 

What alignment are you going for? I have -1.5 all the way around, yet was thinking of going for -2 to -3 in front eventually.
I also have Tein Flex - what do you set yours at for the track? I found that 2 in front and 10 in the rear works best for me, yet have EDFC so I can change on the fly.

 

I would shoot for -1.8-2 in the front and -1.9-2.2 in the back. Go with more stiffness up front, and less in the back, it will keep the butt end behind you through 3. Also, stagger your dampening to create some negative wedge, it will free up the car to the right, and help add to your mid corner speed.

Catch me at the track, I will help you, if you want.

 

I currently have -1.0 in the front, and -1.8 in the rear, and am going to go up to -1.6 in the front and -2.0 in the rear. I have to look at my spec sheet to see what toe and caster settings were, but they seem to do well so far, but what does that mean to a track noob like me....not much.

As for the Tein's, I do not have the EDFC control unit, it was not worth the money to me. So I am not familiar with what the settings are based on it. I always run the front shocks more firm than the rear, the car seems to feel a little more settled that way, and keeps the proper end pointed the right direction. At TGPR I had the fronts a couple clicks on the firm side of halfway, and the rears a couple clicks of the **** softer. At RA, I had them a little more firm all the way around, and will probably experiment with going to full stiff and backing down if need be for RR. Phlash ran TGPR at full stiff, and said it made a huge difference. Time to try it out.

STF, I really want to try and learn about what you said about creating wedge, and all that, I have heard you talk about it, but just don't quite get it...sorry...dumbass at work. I really want to learn about setting the car up, and responding to what is happening on track, and then being able to compensate for it with the setup.






Oh Yeah....only 8 more days....