Hey everybody. Just got back from an Autox event over here in Miami. Bear with me as this was my first time to one of these events. I volunteared a lot to help to learn the jobs, and get to talk with the guys that have been doing this for a while. Was really good. Got some good tips that I managed to use a bit and saw a good improvement on my time. Got 3 runs and here's how it broke down.

First run I was going slow cause I gforgot to turn off the AC! Sun was really baking us and I just plumb forgot. I know it disengages when going full throttle, but even so the engine spoolup speed was slower. I also screwed up a slalom area and managed a sad time of 78 seconds and off course as well. So BAH!

But it was still some of the most fun 78 seconds I have had in a while! I also didnt feel too bad because a lot of people made the same mistake I did, and this included some of the event coordinators.

Round 2 I remembered to turn off the AC (as well as the DCS/TCS THAT one I never forgot) and started out a little more agressivly on the car. Managed a perfect run of 66.7 seconds. Still slow by the longtimers runs of about 53 secodns, but much better than my first, AND I didnt get lost this time!

There was 4 runs planned but sicne 115 cars showed up, they had to cut it to 3. So when my turn came again I figured I'd push a little harder since it was the last run. I already knew I had one of the worst times yet at 66 so figured when your on the bottom, aint no way but up. Managed a much better run of 61.2 so a nice improvement. Still didnt hit any cones.

On my second and third runs I also could have done much better but the track was a large hairpin shape, and the U-turn at the end caused me to lose traction on the front wheels. I think there was too much air in my tires since I had to really slow down to get traction back, AND forgot to downshift when I finally had it back. So I know where I messed up and know what to look out for next time to improve. I figure if I hadent done that I could have gotten a 57 second run, and that would have been even peachy-er. I still had a ton fo fun and really learned a lot about some of the limits on the car. It's much more than I have ever owned before and am really apreciating the difference now.

Anyway, I think the best run of the day was a 48.9. Fastest I saw was a 50 even.

Now the cars. Wow! What a collection! Some where trailered in since they where race cars, most drove in and it was quite a show. A Lotus Espirit showed up. A NSX as well. Whole passle of Corvettes, Mustangs and Beamers. Mini's both young (2001-2003) and old (1966). Saw a Audi S6 that hauled *** (but lost it on the last race). S2000's coming out the wazoo! At least 20 of them. And Subarus too!. There was a old 944 that had been completly race redone that just hauled some serious ***. A friends snapped some pictures that I will post as soon as I get them.

Of course, what about the RX-8? Welp, wasnt alone! A black with apearance package GT showed up. He ran twice and got 55's and I didnt see him afterwards. A Blue did 3 runs and got mid 55's too I beleive, but cant rememeber to well. Our fellow forum memeber kuf showed up in his titanium gray GT with strakes and no spoiler and ran 56 I think but missed his last race. And finally my titanium gray with spoiler and sport package. It was cool to chat a bit and see the car running. It's fun but I definitly se a need to improve body roll.

Anyway, hoep some peo9ple try it out for the next meeting in late october. Might wanna think about going to a central florida race too since the thing was PACKED and 3 runs in the day is a little low I think. But then again, there was 115 cars there just for those 3 runs, so yeah. It was fun.

 

Hey All!

This was my first Auto-X event and for those that know what this stuff means here are the deatils:

The RX-8 was in B-Stock. We ran against the s2000 and Miata. The fastest time in our class was 51 seconds (that miata hauled ***!)

The track was fairly straight, there were 3 tight slaloms but the rest of it was fairly open. I never looked at the speedo but the fastest I got it was redlined in second (and I only know this because it was beeping at me). I probably could have shifted into third before I had to brake, but I just held it at the redline instead.

My times were 62 and change on the first run (forgot to turn traction control off) and 57 and change on the second. I had pleanty of room to improve as I was sliding sideways on the hairpin and neglected to downshift at a few points. I missed my third run as I was at McDonalds having some lunch (I got hungry :P)

All in all it was a fun event. Many people came up to check out the 8 and all had good things to say about it. I enjoyed meeting the other 8 owners and to admire their cars. Everyone had something different on their cars and it was nice to see the variety.

 

Weird. The 1.8 Miatas should be in CS, and 1.6 Miatas in ES. Either they're using a variation on the SCCA classing, or they bumped the Miata to BS due to insufficient entries in CS.

Anyway, congrats on your first event. Addictive, innit? :D

 

I dont remember any Miatas in BS. It was just S2000's, 350Z's and the 8's.

But yeah, very adictive.

 

Well they had all sorts of classes running together so I probably mixed it all up. <Shrug>