And I am wondering how the car will do against the compeition. My main compeition will be GTI's, Jetta's, a Volvo 262, eclipse, WRX, a Civic, and a SRT-4... any thoughts on how a turbo 8 would do? I have to be frank and say that I'm not sure how good those drivers are because I'm not too familiar with them.

 

heh. There is something inherently funny about a statement that says you want to race, but not sure if you can beat Jettas and Civics. Sorry I can't help more (or in this case, at all)

 

You are going to have to deal with traction issues and learn how to use your extra power. I think anything all-wheel drive will be more challenging than FWD and RWD. I'd say, from the list the WRX is a threat.

 

Well, when I first got my car (bone stock to this day)... I (staying within rx8club rules) had a good experienced against a "modified" GTI VW.

 

This is what I was talking about. I am already starting to get used to the extra power and torque in launching. I really have to modulate the throttle to keep the rear wheels from spinning in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th when I go WOT. Granted, in solo II I will never see 3rd and above.

I'm going to use slicks this year so that will help a bit. Thanks for the comments guys.

Oh yeah, Jason, I'm not worried about eh civics and jettas.. when I was BSP I still beat the raw & pax times of those particular drivers.

 

Nationally, Tunnell, Sias and Reitmeir have set the SM bar pretty high with their FrankenM3s...and will likely raise it higher this coming year.

Locally, I don't think that you're going to know until you get out there and compete with them.

 

I only compete locally, this will be my first full season. I ran my first two races last year.. finished 3rd and 1st.. that was in BSP.

 

E36 M3s and Civics will most likely be your toughest competition nationally should you ever want to go that route, and also WRXs, Evos, and STis if there are any that are decently sorted in your region. Most of the fast guys in WRXs compete in STX, whereas most of the SM WRX guys modded their car how they wanted and just fell into SM as a result. In general the best drivers aren't going to be found in SM, they tend to gravitate towards other classes for some reason.

Of the cars you listed you might have your hands full with the Civic and the WRX but there are just so many factors that it's hard to say. But a well sorted Civic on an autox course is pretty damn impressive.

 

Thanks Ike, I appreciate the insight. The big thing I have going for me this season at my local club is I'll show at every event, where as the other guys only make 1/3 of them all season

 

I have to agree. I have a good friend that runs SM with a well tuned and prepped Civic. He nearly always wins his class and is usually within 1 sec of the S-2000 in BS and about 1+ sec's out of FTD (excluding the carts). I did manage to beat his time on a couple of courses but not consistently. I am still going to stay BS for now. I am having waaaay to much fun :D :D .

Paul

 

Agreed with Ike... If the Eclipse is a GSX driven well, along with the WRX and Civic, they'd be the ones to look out for.. but it still comes down to driver.

About spinning your tires at the launch and controlling it's power ... is there any way to set your engine management where you won't hit full boost in 1st off the line? The launch at a solo isn't ultra important since most courses are set up (should be set up) to not have a drag-type launch. By limiting 1st gear power, you can get out of the hole fairly quickly, and faster than spinning your tires, and then hit 2nd and you'll have full power for the course.

Also, if you have to go back down to 1st on the course, you still don't want full 'boosted' power. I would think this might save some wear and tear on your drivetrain too.

Just something that some SM WRX and DSM guys do (and they can spin all 4 at the launch).

--kC

 

Well, with the added torque down low in 2nd I won't have to shift to first unless I hit a very very tight "S" turn where I would have to slow down that much. I found a way to launch the car without spinning the wheels, it's all in the throttle control. After the first 15 feet I can go about 80% throttle and still keep it accelerating at max efficiency and keep the wheels from spinning. Well, that and tire pressure Just don't want to go too low, or I'll roll the sidewalls on the tight turns. I normally run 10psi above normal when racing, but I'm going to experiment with 7psi and see how that goes. I'm glad we have a test day before the season begins

 

But you're in SM... with a little engine management, you can do the launches consistantly and have them repeatable taking out any 'human error' from your right foot being 1cm higher or lower than it should be. Essentially, planting your foot in 1st gear every time, but having the computer apply the throttle to that 80% position. :D

Just thinking out loud.

--kC

 

Yeah.. once I find a suitible replacement for e-manage I may go with a "smarter" engine management system. For the time being, I don't really plan to tune the e-manage until I get about 500 miles on the turbo. Then I'll tune it optimal solo II conditions. I may also tune a map for drags too, but that's a topic for a different thread.

I appreciate everyones input, thoughts, and critiques. That's what I like about this forum compared to others, if you ask proper questions, you get proper answers.

 

Philodox, You mention alot and I also saw in yopur video that you spin out the tires. I know this has been discussed on this forum, but what do you feel ultimately eliminated the wheel hop common on the 8?

 

I have the Racing beat front/rear sway, front end links, and springs.. I believe the bigger rear sway bar eliminted the wheel hop.

 

...I'd wager it was the springs

 

Short answer: not good. Your suspension is the most important part of a car for autocross and what you have doesn't compare to real two-way adjustable shocks. Having said that, chances are it's not the car but the driver that you have to worry about. Relatively few people have well-sorted cars and are good drivers--unless you're in the San Francisco region and then you have nationally-ranked drivers everywhere.

To give you a really gross example, I competed in the SFR SM-Novice group in the 2002 Championship season which spans 17 events. The only reason my 540i was bumped into SM was due to slotted front rotors. The rotors were OEM-sized but at the time slotted was only allowed in SM. The 540i has good hp/torque but it's a heavy, big car that isn't well suited for autocross. Regardless, I took first place in 10 of those events and won overall points for the season. I don't want to sound like I'm boasting but it wasn't the car, it was the driver.
________
Ship Sale

 

Just found out that my times last season in BSP were better than the SM guys by an average of 3seconds for each race I participated in... so we'll see how this season goes when things pick up again in March.

 

PUR NRG is spot on. If a serious driver/car combo shows up, you are toast. But, if you are a good driver, you could do well locally. SM & SM2 are big-buck classes. Even though they are relatively young classes, and we haven't seen the wild, frankenstein-type cars that are likely to eventually dominate, the current top (national) cars are thoroughly prepared and streetability is usually not a concern. But don't let this stop you from running! I have a medium-boost Miata I am putting together and will run SM2, and I know it's not nat's material, but it should be a hoot anyway. And since nobody else runs SM2 I know I'll take first.

BTW, I thought the RX-8 was in SM2, even though it has back seats? Anybody have a rule book handy?

If it's SM, I think a well prepared RX-8 has a shot at being competitive, but it will take a lot of work to get there.

 

The RX-8 would be in SM since it's considered a 4-door vehicle. SM2 is for the 2-door guys

 

Nope. SM2 is for two-seat cars. SM requires rear seats. Older M3's like Vic Sias's monster car have two doors.
________
Extreme Vaporizer

 

Oops.. you're right... I knew that too.. that's what I get for posting right after waking up from sleeping.. hehe

 

How much did ur turbo cost and how much hp and torqe u got now? i was thinking about forced induction but didn't know which was better, turbo or super charger. But then again i havent' seen any supercharged 8's yet so maybe i don't even have a choice. help would be much appreciated.

 

If you've never driven (or ridden in) a turbo rotary, you need to find a 3rd gen RX-7 meet local to you and get a ride. It's like nothing else.

Flooring my buddy's third gen single turbo RX-7 is sickening (when the boost hits).

Personally I'm curious to see what Pettit's positive displacement supercharger can do. I'd rather fatten the torque curve than get more top end rush, especially for autocrossing. Could be a real contendah in SM if you can get enough power out of it. Vic's car is putting out around 340chp and probably weighs around 2800lbs.