I just came back from track racing my AT 4 port
 

Guys you are not going to believe the results. Im not going to give you history on my driving skills lets just say I practice almost weekly on a karting track.

2 heats. First heat started 3rd on a 30+ car grid. In front of me was a semi modded dodge neon (friend of mine) and a 350z track edition with track tires, upgraded brakes and more sponsors than you can think of. Behind me all sorts of cars including an evo III that won my class. The driver of the 350z is a karting champion, very good driver.

My car is 100% stock from tires, to brake pads, car has complete interior, everything, AC everything including and amp and sound system. Its a 2005 4 port automatic model. Its my daily driver.

At the 6th lap temps rose to over the middle mark and I aborted the first heat. Temps were just too high on the track and car like I mentioned is stock including 2005 coolant fluid, and brake fluid.

I ran twice and at the 6th lap it just did the same a bit hot so I aborted. Car held up perfectly with the 350z even better at the corners. Straight away speed on the rx8 was just horrible, but the car has such awesome brakes and suspension that I had no trouble braking late and punching it in the chicanes and using the DSC and TRAC to its full capabilities. I ran the car completely on AUTO mode. Using the manual setting is worst.

I am one happy automatic RX-8 owner.

Be proud.

My other car is an FC3S with a heavy list of mods.

The other car we were going to race is a 12a bridge port first gen but we had trouble with the clutch.

... I´ll try to get some videos of the race.

BTW any tips on how to throw away the thermostat and bypass the bypass recirculation crap on the rx8s? I need to get the coolant flowing as temps are way above 40c at this pseudo track down here in Panama.

http://i41.tinypic.com/xo2l94.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/2z5kkqo.jpg

some cellphone pics

http://i39.tinypic.com/xm28nl.jpg this is the first gen that we could not race...

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/1894/p1230809.jpg 350z track version.

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/1170/p1230810.jpg action shot

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/2329/p1230804.jpg Followed by a bunch of slighty modded hondas in a different class.

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/3645/p1230811.jpg almost stock evo that won the my class, even to the tires...only real quick car there.

REMEMBER fully Automatic 4 port 100% STOCK, street original rubber and complete exhaust everything.

I will have to upgrade only the water pump to be able to keep temps. low. My goal is to race again in july with NO MODS...

You could check with Mazmart on the thermostat issue, I think he makes a thermostat replacement that allows coolant flow earlier.

why couldn't you race the first gen?

The first gen was built completely in 15days.... we really cut it short and did not test the car at all before the race. Brakes were finally sorted the night before (TII brakes) , and then we noticed that one of the mechanics installed a new clutch just in case... but it was not broken in properly and was not grabbing correctly, the old clutch was just fine. I personally told the team to abort using the car like that. We really were getting our hopes up but racing an untested car is just stupid. I believe the first gen would have done a great job in its class... no cars were able to compete :) all GT2 car broke down, 1 evo blew a headgasket, another one had clutch problems and another car just didn't make it.

That old car has a nice suspension setup with adjustable racing konis, all of the shock mounts are solid mounts and has a nice 12a bridge port with uncut housing using 2 piece seals. The bridge port is a radical port so I believe is well over 200rwhp although the uncut housings limit the power that it can really make, but makes it very cheap to upkeep and the car must weigh about 1800lbs with the rollcage, on top of that the car has 2nd /3rd gen brakes and a nice differential setup. Very easy car to set and very reliable. I built the engine... ;)

it just sucked..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCJk5...layer_embedded

see minute 3:33 of video, started last on the second heat since I didn't finish the first heat. Passing some slower cars like the on board camera car a JDM integra with suspension exhaust etc etc etc, mazda 2 demio, Skoda Fabia sedan, 200sx turbo, etc etc the yellow car that you see runs very good a Seat Cupra turbo...based on a VW platform with close to 300hp. Also the Civic Si 2009 ran pretty good... sorry that the camera car spun 3 times, the driver needs to practice.

To keep it on subject... I am also considering getting a secondary oil cooler for the car since this model one comes with one.

Yay :d

I was very happy on the track with my 05 AT. I ran in manual mode.

And yes the cooling system is an issue with the AT. Mazmart waterpump and thermostat will help a little bit. But the main issue is the lack of an adequate radiator. Mazda failed on this.

who makes aftermarket AT rads though?

I am taking my car to the track for the first time laster this month, is there anything one can do to make sure the temps are as low as they can stay with a stock setup?

BHR of course. i believe they are still the only ones that make an aftermarket one for an AT.

Really!? :wallbash: BHR AT Radiator

Scroll to the bottom of the page. ;)

changing the radiators in RX-8s is a pain in the butt...We just finished repairing a broken radiator today on another RX8 and God are these cars a bucket of bolts, it's like a 3rd Gen with even more brackets and bolts to make it more interesting to work on.

I just noticed that the stock radiator on these cars is tiny, BHR is right... this one from a manual model is just too small in my opinion, I guess mazda designed a great air flow system that requires to use a small radiator to maxime weight savings, but it's just too small for extreme abuse like turbo and/or track racing. The engine is shot in this car we are working so it's coming out this week, its leaking water through the engine seals and there is nothing that can be done to save it... time for a replacement.

I had over heat problems too in all the track days before :(
is all depends on the track u run, like Buttonwillow, my 8 runs well with 4AT, but in Street of willow, 2 corners I lost so much coz it was around 40mph when I exit the corner, then u will need to wait like 10sec + to get yr 2nd gear runs up to the power range.....

Thats a good idea and does help, per MM. But it may or may not be enough for you and your car depending on the conditions because even though a secondary rad helps, apparently it is not enough in some cases..... ;)

glad to hear/see this thread. i've been seriously thinking about attending Auto-X events and such in my 04 AT. glad to hear everyone is pleased with the results, makes me look forward to getting on the track even more!

In my experiance a solid secondary radiator with ducting made the most inpact on the s/c 4at with an extensive list of cooling mods, including the BHR radiator that did exactly nothing.:shocking:

this is good to know. I have a second oil cooler, makes me feel much better/

I raced with a 4AT on a 1min 17sec track and lapped him in less than 20 mins :dunno:

yea, that mod worked way better than anticipated. Never have any problem with oil temps anymore.

i feel ya both. I'm just saying there are those out there who after adjusted fan trigger temps, coolant/water/additive mixtures, and the pump - the secondary radiator still wasnt enough for track duty, though it would get you around town fine.

you may see more of this(and the eventual next step) documented here in the next few weeks, at least i hope so :)

I don't know that I would call it a SMALL secondary radiator... :) We went to a bigger secondary radiator and 80/20 mix and dropped about 15 to 20 degrees with those two changes alone. (from a smaller secondary radiator and 65/35 mix).

I also found that if you run the heat on full blast from the time you start the car in the paddock, it seems to run about 10 degrees cooler overall. If you wait until you are already heated up to turn the fan on, it doesn't make much of a difference. I run it through the dash. I close the vent on the drivers side completely, and point the two center vents and the passenger side vent out the direction of the passenger window. I open all four windows, and with that I can't even tell the heat is on. A passenger/instructor may not appreciate this on a hot day, though :)

The BHR radiator lowered the trans temps about 10 to 20 degrees. I wasn't having trouble with those (I have a gauge), but if you are that could help. Or I suppose you could run a secondary trans cooler. It didn't help with coolant temps. I think it is because a lot of it has to do with the poor airflow with the 8's radiator location. If you aren't getting much air to it, it doesn't matter what kind of radiator it is.

As mac and red devil said, the second oil cooler helps a lot as well.

At my last track day, the highest the water temps ever got was 215. Most of the time they were around 210 or a little below. In my last session with running the heat on high from the getgo, my water temps never got over 206. The track day previous to that, which had similar ambient conditions (lower 70s F), my best session had the water temps at 225.

This last track day, my oil temps stayed in the 180s, and my trans temps stayed in the low 200s. And mac and red devil can attest to the fact that I wasn't babying it - just ask the Evos and the GT500 that I passed... :)