My wife and I BOTH have silver 2004 RX-8's. We are also both wheelchair users. She is also Ms. Wheelchair Tennessee 2018.

She made a video to show how she gets into the 8 and how the hand controls work. Check it out

 

cool op. i have three chair bound friends who all drive. two like your wife does and one who needed a heavily modded van. we have/had a member here from nj who had a similar set up in his 8.

question tho, how do you check the oil?

 

It's not easy being greezy. It's tricky.. but luckily I'm 6'1" so I have really long arms and I sit a lot higher than she does. I've been driving an 8 for a little over 12 years now and this is my 3rd one (jeez, it sounds like a long time when you say it like that) so I've got the "feel" for how to reach it and get it back in the tube now. Only took 5 or so years to get the hang of it.

 

Here is a thread I started a LONG time ago that shows how I did the wheelchair stuff a few months after I got my first one
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discuss...ontrols-92246/

 

i have some left over interior pieces in my part out thread if ya want to replace some best up stuff. i would probably donate some stuff to ya if you want

 

Good to hear about other chair users!

I 've been getting weaker with C M T type MD since 13 and I'm now 66.

I bought a $700 Karma (funny name for med device) 19# chair that folds in middle, and fits perfect in back seat of 07 auto RX8.

I use a Momo brake stick, and right leg works some for gas.

I should have done this in 07 , but I was able to walk to car and ran about 20track days.

Most tracks are run by scaredy cats, and I don't think a guy that can't run from a car fire will be let on track.

I just did a brake pad change from chair which made it less tiring.

 

That's pretty cool

I have actually driven a manual transmission Miata track car one with nothing but hand controls. It's not easy to pick up.. TOO many things to do at once with just 2 hands. but After a few minutes, I got the hang of it. It worked better as just a track car because you don't do a lot of stopping at red lights and stop and go's like daily driving.

But yeah, I can imagine a lot of tracks get more and more hesitant about it.

 

Nice to see you are still around man.

And you too Darrell!

 

Thanks! Most of the beat up stuff in that old post is gone with that car, (that was 2 RX8s ago now) I've gotten better at loading and unloading now, so the car is taking less of a beating. Now it's just the stuff in the back, which is going to continue getting beat up, so there is no point in changing it.

I DO need a couple of very random parts though. I'll drop you a PM

 

I found a picture of that Manual transmission Miata I drove. You can see the "clutch" on the shifter ****. The brake is the big handle next to the steering wheel and the gas is the ring behind the steering wheel.

The brake lever is supposed to have a "clutch lock" on it, that fully engages the clutch when you press it, but it was removed.

 

I'm pretty sure you'd be welcome at NASA Great Lakes Region events since one of the HPDE instructors is wheelchair-bound.

 

Sounds great! However, that might be 1500 miles away.

The guy running HPR near Denver said to come run, but driving 600 miles there is tiring enough.

I took my Bmw X1 to HPR and would like to run the Rx8 for comparison.

 

Here is part 2, that shows her actually driving with them