I may have to do that Chin event as well. Roebling was so much fun with the RX-7. I just talked to the person in town that has a 12A PPort race engine with Webbers in his shop. He used to work for a Mazda race team back in the 80's. It was a motor built for the 24 hours of Daytona and was used for practice one day. Has 12 hours on it. Wonder what it might cost me....

What are your recommendations Charlie?

Sounds like you need to get it. You will need more rad and oil cooler as well as fuel pump that can produce the volume needed.

Chas

roebling in November---i like the sound of this---what date?
OD

Nov 17

http://www.chinmotorsports.com/event...ay.asp?eid=225

Updates to come, but we had a blast and everyone is shiny side up and headed home.
Beautiful track and weather!

With so much up in the air right now with my car---I cant say for sure--you dont fi a car and track her the next day----at least I dont. I really , really want to do this. i have to wait and see. I hope it doesnt get full.
Be glad to hear from the Barber crew and how thinks turned out.
OD

stories a plenty to come I am sure. but I will say this, it was an awesome weekend, great weather, a hella cool track and great company. I have some pics soon too.

I am dying here.
OD

pictures.

first, our Miata rep, none other than Mr. Debris Flag himself...
http://www.atrhoads.com/gallery2/d/845-2/BMP-007-02.jpg

and now, Mr. TTD Record holder, and Mr. second place for 2007...
http://www.atrhoads.com/gallery2/d/851-2/BMP-85X-02.jpg

and a couple other cars, that I sorta liked. the black one looked a little different at the end of the weekend, I think dano got a picture of it. GT3's and Armco don't mix...at all. Like flip flops in the airport bathroom.

http://www.atrhoads.com/gallery2/d/854-2/BMP-129-01.jpg

http://www.atrhoads.com/gallery2/d/857-2/BMP-777-01.jpg

http://www.atrhoads.com/gallery2/d/860-2/BMP-777-02.jpg

I have more, will post later.

Ah, the Beautiful Barber Motorsports Park. We must have heard that line a thousand times this weekend. And for good reason. It is so nice, the track surface was awesome, nice and smooth, except out of turn 5…to paddock on asphalt, to sit on a nice grassy hill and take in the racing action, to have a nice classroom, with good air conditioning, to have a good working PA system, to have great places to watch cars go fast, and to have nice facilities when you have had too much water to drink. Or in the weather girl’s case, maybe to much beer to drink…WHO LIKES BEER…WOOHOO!!

Anyway, BMP was awesome. I think I have a new favorite track. I love the flow of it, the elevation changes are awesome, the blind corners are hair raising, and for the 13B powered Locost, I feel bad that turn 4 bit him and the 911 the way it did. But, I loved BMP. There are a lot of corner stations, 16 or 17 from what I can remember. But, they are all placed just right, just where you can see them…if your eyes are up and not fixated on the M3 in front of you. The 8 really loved the track, it ran great, no issues at all, and I had as much fun as I could handle. I think I learned a lot this weekend, “I got to have fun and go fast” which always makes for a good weekend. I think I need a new clutch, but other than that everything went well. There was some metal to metal in our group, which brought out a real red flag scenario, and thankfully, I saw it in good time, since the Classroom Instructor Ron Hale was riding shotgun.

TA, thanks man, you are one hell of a teacher. By the end of the first session, I knew right where I needed to be, and knew what needed to be done to make us go faster. By the end of the weekend, only a couple of cars could keep up with us. Playing with the red M3 was really fun, really exciting, and classic. The post session debrief was hilarious, and then the “Confessions of a blind HPDE driver” we had was funny as hell too. Thanks for the good tips, instruction, and everything that goes with sitting in the right seat. Also, congrats on the new TTD track record for BMP, you were flying, and according to an un-named passenger, must have been near death in the corkscrew! And, congrats on the second place overall finish for 2007 in TTD. 3 events in TTD, 3 track records, and one second place finish…awesome, glad I got to be there to cheer you on. We capped off the weekend with out traditional Zaxby’s meal, and a nice drive home.

Dano, I hope you enjoyed BMP. The Lil’ Red Bitch looked good out on the track. I think from what I saw you made some good progress over the weekend. Can’t wait to see you in DE 2 next year. Thanks for rooming for the weekend, I still laugh my ass off at “flip flops in the airport” and Pterodactyl. Good times.

OnRails, as always, fun playing chase on track with you. I am sorry we did not make that happen more often. It is fun to watch flames come out of the pipes on your car. It will be fun to keep up the track time together in DE3 next season. Congrats on getting moved up, you were fast out there, if you threw some 275 RA-1’s on, you would be leaving me so far behind.

They won’t see it, but to Don and Donna. Thanks for the great hospitality. First class people, that I am glad I finally got to meet, and get to know. It was fun chasing the Little Exige out there, it sounded awesome. Can’t wait to paddock with them again at the next event.

I had a great time this past weekend, it was a great way to end the track season. We even managed to have the Georgia RX-8 Club, packed up, and out of the paddock before the last cars came off track. I can’t wait till next season, to get back out there more, drive more, work less. To all those that missed it, you missed a good time.

K, I’m done. Back to work.

I had a blast. Nice to meet some new faces, even though I really didn't hang ya'll. I had a local friend/racer there that actually let me drive his car during one of my sessions so I figured I'd better hang out with him, not to mention his RV has AC!!!! Let me say it is amazing how much feedback you get from a preped race car, and amazing how good it handles.

I really liked the open passing in HPDE4. I was really nervous at first, but after a few session it felt pretty normal and was nice to get to pass under braking or through a corner. It makes you focus alot more on your surroundings. I also got signed off to run a TT event, to bad it looks like I'll have to wait until the spring to do one.

TA, WOW!!! is all I have to say, you are very fast. I need to follow you or get a ride sometime and get some pointers.

I feel bad for ya'll GA peeps that had to drive all the way home, got home about 430 local time, took a nap, took a shower, took a nap, then went to bed. I've never been so tired from a track day.

Weekend wrap up
 

Another track weekend has come and gone. This one started off with huge promise to bring together a lot of our group of die hard track junkies. One by one the group shrank down. We ended up a group of 4 regulars and a few notable friends of the GA RX8 Club. I want to say thanks to all my friends for a fun filled weekend. First the obligatory shout outs...

OnRails – my roomie! Thanks for sharing the room with me and driving to the hotel on Sat nite. It was fun having you follow L8 while I was in the car with him. By the end of the weekend it looked like you guys were running at a similar pace.

Lindon – who the hell is Lindon? Don’t call me Lindon and turn my Celine Dion back on so I can jam before going out on track in my little track bitch biotch. Five track events to date and of those, four were with me in the right seat. I know you are ready for DE2 with no problem. The lil red bitch ran great and you did a great job handling her. You drive with safety, courtesy, awareness, and are constantly improving your skills particularly. We didn’t have any mid corner throttle lifts. The weekend showed a remarkable improvement in speed and comfort level on the track. I am looking forward to next year. I am always willing to ride in the right seat with you if you can handle my manner and lack of manners.

L8 – Great weekend man. You started strong on Saturday. You quickly learned the track and were pretty easy to push harder and harder. You are very methodical and deliberate in your driving style focusing on doing it right each time through. I felt very comfortable turning you loose on Sunday to go out and practice on your own. You’ll be fine in HPDE3 but don’t hesitate to seek out instructors to ride with you to help coach as you will always learn from a right seat observer.

SPICcnmGT – good to see you but too bad you didn’t paddock with us. Congrats on getting signed off to do TT next year. I am curious to find out what class you will end up in. Prelim calculations put you in TTB at least. I think you can be competitive there but if you end up in A, you will want more boost.

The Cliffords – it was great paddocking with y’all. As always Don extends a very warm welcome and invitation to us. I particularly enjoyed piloting the RX7 with Kevin as my passenger. It is a beautiful car with matching performance.

Rob Whitener - I am always thrilled to have the ROAR team at an event. You provide me a benchmark and reality check. I am still amazed you reclassed yourself at Roebling to TTA! Nice meeting Adam as well. Adam looked fast out there in DE4.

Now on to the story of the weekend. I picked up my car from Mazcare at around lunchtime on Friday after it was expertly diagnosed and fixed. I headed home to pack and finish a few last prep details. I was on the road by 4:30pm. Thankfully I stopped at Wendys and got a snack. When I arrived at Barber, they had all the NASA folks in a gravel parking lot until they opened the gate to the paddock at 7pm. They waited until the IRL folks had left. While waiting, I got teched and just hung out talking smack with some 300 other NASA faithful. The potential for a huge cluster was high for when the floodgates would be opened. Surprisingly, it was reasonably organized. It took a little less than an hour to make it to the paddock where I found L8, Dano, and the Cliffords in a primo spot. We unloaded and the 3 musketeers went to dinner. At around midnight there was a soft knock on my door. I opened it up hoping to get my pillow fluffed but it was only OnRails.
Saturday was fun. Sat night was fun too. We drank lots of MadBrew beer, then went to the awards banquet. I took 2nd place for the season but won the day (woohoo for me and my big head).
Sunday was fun too. We left the track before the last run of the day. Hard to believe that! L8 and I stopped to eat at the obligatory Zaxby’s. I made it to within 10 miles from home when my heart sank into my stomach. As I was accelerating away from a traffic light the shifter didn’t want to slide into 2nd, then 3rd gear. WTF??? Sure enough, I could barely shift my car. I kept it in 3rd and limped toward home as I chewed off my fingers in horror about what may be happening to my tranny or clutch. I timed most of the lights fine, ran one or two and generally did OK until I was less than a mile from home. I stupidly chose a route where I would reach a red light on an uphill. I was able to get the car into 2nd and with extreme clutch slippage and roasting I was able to get away from the light and home. I drained the tranny fluid last night and it felt gritty. It also looked a bit silvery at first. Doesn’t look good y’all. I may need to replace the tranny. I am away this week so this weekend I will put some fresh fluid in and see what happens. I am not hopeful though. I don’t see myself doing the PBOC event at this time. I know I can get it fixed in time but my wallet is going to hurt like a motherfucker by the time this is over.
Despite this terrible twist, I had a great weekend. I am thankful this happened close to home and I am thankful my wife didn’t make me feel worse or give me shit about my car. I am truly blessed to be married to her.

Congratulations on a great weekend guys and especially to our resident pro... TrackAddict. I'm very proud of you!

It looks like everyone had a great time at the track. I'm a little embarrassed and dissapointed that I missed it. I'm going to try to go to the Chin event at Roebling though.

TA,

Sorry to hear about the transmission issues. The syncros are brass in those things, so if the metal grit was brass in color, or the fluid was more brownish, it could be that. If the grit was more of a silver shiny color, that's gear (or shift fork). There are several good places for mazda transmission rebuilds like Charlie and you can always use ROAR to have it rebuilt as a "race transmission." I believe it's about $1800 for a race ready rebuild if you want to continue tracking. Also, another common failure point in the Mazda tranny is the 4th to 5th shift gate. ROAR was losing those quite often at the beginning (trannies lasted about 1 race) until they had their transmission person start rebuilding them. You may want to ask Rob what his name was. They're using hardened gears now.

If you need anything, let me know.

damn TA, sorry to hear about that. keep us posted, once you get back in town, and can spend some time figuring it out.

Well just from looking and adding up points it looks like I'll be in TTA. I come up with 50-51 points. The killers are 14 for an ECU, and 7 penalty points just for the car. But According to the rules I need to get reclassed from the Nat. TT director because of my turbos, which look stock and use the stock housings and manifold, but the internals are larger and capable of more abuse/boost. So I guess it's possible I could be in TTS. Or I could lie/cheat, which I had rather not do. If not for the 7 point penalty and turbos, I could take a few non performance things off and run TTB. I don't really expect to be competitive in either class, especially my first year or two.

TA, good luck on the tranny, I know FD's have some tranny problems also, so I'm just waiting for mine to go.

OK...first let me just say up front...U GUYS SUCK!!!

Lindon??? Oh I can't wait to hear this one.........

Glad u guys had a great time and everyone stayed safe. TA, congrats on your wins, thanks for the call on my BD and sorry to hear bout the tranny...on the bright side it could be just a clutch.....when I lost 2nd and 3rd at 14k, the hub had separated from the disk.

Can't wait to see the vids.....

oh yeah....u guys SUCK!!! Tentatively only one RR next year...yeah that sucks too....

P.S. Wait to you see what the DW surprised me with for my BD......:SHOCKED:

Well, I had a lot of fun at Barber MotorSports Park. This may be my favorite track yet. Like L8 said, the elevation changes are like riding a rollercoaster and the blind corners make you pucker up the first few times through. Once you get into a groove, the car just flows from one corner to the next. It really is a wild ride!

I had Rod Whitener as an instructor again. He was my instructor at Road Atlanta as well. He is a good coach and knows how to make the RX-8 fast on track. He saw fit to let me go solo my last three sessions on Sunday and recommended I sign up for DE3 next time. w00t!

The only bad part about Barber is the 6 hour drive. I left right after work on Friday and didn’t make it down till right at midnight. I was so tired I think I said three words to TA and hit the sack. Needless to say I was not very chipper at the 7:15 drivers meeting. The drive home was exhausting as well after being at the track all weekend although I managed to make it back in 5 hours and 15 minutes and I stopped twice – once for gas and once to get something to eat. Thanks go out to whoever was in that van I was following. :)

TA – Thanks for sharing a room with me. Sorry I got there so late and didn’t say much to you when I arrived. Sorry to hear about your transmission issues. I’m sure you’ll get it worked out but it sucks to have to spend money on something unexpected. Congrats on your TT wins and 2nd place season trophy! Not bad considering you only competed in three events this season. Next year you’ll have another one to add I’m sure. I’m looking forward to doing some Karting here in a few weeks.

L8 – Was fun being out on track with you although I had a hard time keeping up. Your track experience really shows. It was so funny to have that M3 driver come over and confess that he was feeling the pressure from you chewing on his bumper. After that I got immediate point-bys from him. I think he thought I was you! I think I got some pretty good video of you throwing fireballs and black smoke. I’ll post it up when I get a chance. Thanks for bringing the TracMount down for me. Next year, we’ll do some DE3 together for sure.

Dano – Congrats on moving up the ladder. I can tell your confidence level with the Miata has really improved and you are starting to have more and more fun with it. I knew you were going to DE2 when I heard you start complaining about not getting point – bys. Glad you didn’t have any CELs this time out. Sounds like the bitch is taking it like a champ. Ya'll are going to have to tell me the name of that comedian again.

SPICcnmGT – It was good to meet you at the end of the weekend. Your car looks really good and I hear you passed your checkride to do TT. It will be fun to see how you do. More rotaries on the track is always a good thing!

It was fun hanging out with Don and Donna. I liked being able to look over and see that Exige S. The only bad part was that people kept coming by and asking us if we were driving the Lotus. I just started telling people yes after awhile. :lol2:


What a great end to the NASA season! I’m so glad I decided to go after all. Now I’m going to take this time off to think about what I want to do to my car for next year. I’ve got several different possibilities I’m considering.

See ya’ll next time!

nope not clutch he was slipping it to get going and there was metal in the fluid. sounds like synchronizers to me. Hope not. Trannies are not cheap to get --most of the time they do not rebuild them.
TA---you are kicking ass. Glad I have grown up with ya! Hope they dont end up reclassifying our cars! Course I am out anyway.
Glad yall had beautiful weather and a great time. I think I may need to go instructor next year!
I am hoping to make the Chin event in mid Nov at Roebling.
OD

Roar gets their trannies built by Mike at ISC. He had only done one when I spoke with him a couple weeks ago but thinks he may have some kind of fix. For what we are doing in NASA, Chin, etc., I think stock is fine and 1800.00 for a rebuild is kind of steep. I think a OE new trans is 2600. list and the failure was in the shift fork but was remedied within the first 6 months of production. There was not a TSB but definitely it was documented.

Thanks for the clarity, I should have said shift fork, not gate. I think it's aluminum isn't it?

I have talked to the guys at iscracing.net before. They also do (or did) some 1st gen stuff.

I haven't really posted much of recap...But I had a great time.

L8Apex and I met up and got in to Barber about 2 on Fri. There was a little line waiting to check in with NASA, so we said heck with that, lets go watch Indy cars. Set up overlooking the carousel of 2 -3 and enjoyed the beautiful weather and sounds of the Indy cars. (I'll try to link some Youtube of the sounds.)
After a bit of the that, we strolled the paddock, stalked Danica a bit, and watched the pits and main straight from on top of the control tower. Very cool afternoon.

We got registered and teched by NASA just before 5, and went back to the hill. Even though the track sessions were ending, we couldn't get in to the paddock till 7, so we set up the chairs in the shade, broke out the cooler, and had some frosty ones and shot the breeze for awhile. It was kinda funny when Barber security walked by and pounded a "NO Parking" sign in right in between our cars. He was cool, and once he knew we were NASA, told us we were in but if we left, we couldn't come back in till 7. And that there were 300+ NASA cars and trailers sitting in a big dirt/gravel lot with no bathrooms waiting to get thru the gates. And here L8 and I are sitting on this huge beautiful hill with a cooler o beer, and no one around.

Us and the Cliffords were the first ones in paddock, picked the best spot, and waited on TA to fight the traffic. We did a basic unload in the dark, and headed off to dinner. (L8 rode with me with TrackAddict following). Of course L8 is going "apex, throttle, he's watching!" and TA of course noted that I braked mid turn in an off ramp. Jeesh, I was trailbraking ok. :)

Chilly Sat morn, and first session good, second session I got discomboblulated, and as I was finally starting to get it back together saw a yellow in 5 for a 914 off to the right, and the Nova in front of me went around to the left. (Drive thru the smoke Cole! You can make it!) Pass that and yellow in 6. Triumph or TVR off at the bottom of the corkscrew and all the grass on fire. Had 3 hours to wait for my next session, which is never fun when you have one your not feeling strongly about. Good 3rd session, and all good on Sun.
Lots of fun. A tough track to get used to as OnRails said, but once you do, it is really fun.

Sat night was fun at the banquet, and was proud to be there to watch TA get his just due. If he had run more that 3 events in TT, easily first place, but amazing that he ran just 3 events and took 2nd for the year. And total class in making a point to catch the first place guy and congratulate him. (Unless he went over to say - 'I am gonna kick your ass next year!!')
Got back to the hotel and watched a comedy channel show with Daniel Tosh. L8 and I laughed our ass off. Seems to happen a lot at these events for us.

TA - Having you in the right seat is always a pleasure and great learning. Getting a ride with you really recalculated my thoughts about the track and allowed me to understand it a lot more. You drive that thing like a scalded dog, and carry on a conversation while doing it. And you teach as well as you drive, cause you know when to praise, when to correct, and when to loosen some one up. Just don't call me Lindon. Biotch. Sorry to hear about your issues coming home. Hopefully not as bad as it sounds.

L8 - What can I say. We always have a blast hanging out. There are very few people I get around that I end up laughing so hard my side hurts and I can't breathe. Seems like that is normal around you. Wish I was better photog to repay the pics, but always love watching and hearing you tear around the track.

OnRails - Glad you decided to come down and that you enjoyed it. I hope a bit of it was due to me prodding you at RR. I know it is a long drive, but its always fun having you around. Congrats on going to 3. Would have liked to have been passed by you guys next year. The comedian you are looking for is Daniel Tosh. I should be posting some of his stuff on the Ga site soon. Its on YouTube.

The Cliffords - Thanks again for all the hospitality. Ya'll are great, and hope to see you next time.

ROAR - Rob and all, you guys are great. Fun to be around and always a great source of info and humor. Proud to say I know you, and I wear the hat proudly.

Marietta8 - Thanks dude. You and the guys give me confidence I can push the car. As I get quicker, the car always responds and I love knowing that someone who knows their shit had helped oversee it.

haha, the no parking sign. I posted it in the "Illegal Places" thread, forgot to post it over here.

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1192533276

thanks for the new avi dano.

less than 60k---maybe warrenty will do it? Long shot but worth a try?
OD

TA is over 60K on his car.