what a day........................at 7.30am i rang Joe from Rotomaster about a time during the week to go for a test drive in his supercharged RX8...he asked if id like to visit today..as there may be a small chance of going around the Easter Creek race track in the car.....did't belive my ears.........

'i'll be there around 9.30' was the only logical reply............... ...told the boss going to see a customer on site will be out most of the day......LMAO...the things we do.........

i met Joe at the eastern creek race way just before 10am.........i hope i did't get booked getting there..........lol.........what a suprise........it was also the media event for the A1 GP........and the suport races.............
he was there for a test and tune on some circuit cars..........Wall Racing was the team.......you guys need to see these cars..... they have a Series 6 RX7 that makes well over 370Hp (he wouldn't tell me exactly) to the treads on standard turbos........ the driver Dave Wall was the same guy that drove the two RX8 cars at the RX8 nats..... the guys is an amazing driver.....only 21......
they also have a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR ($700,000 woth of motorcar)....full race spec from the factory with roll cage, air jacks, you name it.....Joe and the guys from Automotive Control (PowerMod) instaled a PowerMod ECU in this thing.......Joe was telling me to have the ECU reflashed by Porsche in Germany was over 20,000 Euro....WTF...... this car doesn't miss a beat...........550Hp @ 890kg.......u guessd it carbon fiber everywhere........i'll take two thanks....

the A1 stuff ok...not a fan.............

sorry getting a little side tracked here.......LOL...........
unfortunatly we didn't go around the track in the RX8.........he poped the hood and gave me some one-on-one time.......so naturaly i parked my car next to it and also poped the hood........lol..............man this set up is realy good, fantastic layout...........everything just fits.........the little details, like the altinator tensioner which uses some standard parts........the way the AC belt tensioner is relocated is fantastic......the oil for the supercharger goes straight in to the unit..no oil lines, no hole in the sump.....ohh bliss.......at this stage comparing the two engine bays alone, i had a smile from ear to ear.......i even chuckled a few times.....cars do funny things to guys..........

Joe said there a minor details like the battery brackets to be finalised, apart from that the kits are available......he has already sold 8 kits in just three weeks.....i asked if any had problems, as you would.........no problems what so ever..........there is a shipment of superchargers that should be here in a week or so....almost half have deposits on them, and three deposits may come this week........he has a customer that want's him to remove and sell him the kit off his car......funny stuff.......

waiting for Joe to get some time to take me for a drive i was chatting to Rad from PowerMod for a little bit.......the ECU is a serious bit of gear..............the airflow meter is not eaven wired in....the PowerMod does not need to use it as it controls the injectors direct....you also have total control over ignition........ there will also be a plug-in available very shortly (any day now) for the RX8...COOL.....

finaly........Joe fired it up....... must say that the sound is not what i expected....... it sounds like nothing i have ever heard......very sinister.......even cool...
we drove around eastern creek (suburb not the track) and wetherill park.......man this thing screams........ awsome...it pulls all the way to redline....it nails you in the seat.......lucky someone knows the streets well...lol....honestly, i did expect it to go but not this well for just 7psi.... this thing realy rips.....he pointed out that he and the guys from Automotive Control and DNA Motorsports wanted the car to keep the standard driving and power delivery charachteristics ....the car had to pull all the way to 9,000rpm or a kit would never be released for sale....hmmm...interesting
Joe confirmed the Renesis turbocharging problems..........and that someone in Aust had access to his car when it was turbochrged and copied his test setup........did not say who.........we all know.........the guys from DNA Motorsports are the Australian distibutor for the Procharger superchargers and are in the same complex as Rotormaster..get this.. PowerMod and DNA Motorsports share the same unit........

i asked him why the Procharger......he simply replied that they are the best supercharger on the market........i will not arguee......lol

the car did not miss a beat....it does drive like the standard car...but put the boot in.... ........power delivery is so smooth........Joe gets on an average 420-430 odd k's per tank..if taking it easy he can get 440-455..but he reackons that is hard....the taking it easy thing...LMAO.......we arrived back at eastern creek race way..man i did not want to leave.....also the sound of the car at idle has realy grown on me.... the more you listen the more you like........i asked Joe if we could swap cars, and i'll pay the difference..he pissed him self laughing..i was serious..LMAO...not realy..

it realy is a fantastic kit...very profesional instalation..the ECU is fantastic.. more than enough power...he will have brake packages soon..as the car does need them for serious driving.......how about this, no clutch upgrade..he put 20,000k's on his standard clutch......he is also working on a stage two kit........didn't tell me the details.....i asked twice.........lol........he just shruged his shoulders........lol

im placing a deposit on saturday.....$5K will secure a kit for me...thank you verymuch........i knew this would happen.....

i did ask about his car at the Nat's (may be of interest to you Timbo)....the cat internals broke and they moved around...some times the car could not rev over 5,000rpm due to the restriction...it was intermitent...then it got hot from the exhaust restriction and the fact he did not have the splash tray on..spilt a little coolant..but it didn't overheat............the second car went in to limp mode a few times..something to do with the wheel speed and stability control..he said that the driver was pushing the car realy hard......he was also very pleased with the organisation of the event..........

oh yeah.......the drive back to work was so dull....my car felt like a barina afterwards........

im sure i missed something.....please ask.......too excited.......

 

great review, thanks for that
how long to go before you have your own supercharged 8?

here are the pix of the 7 and porka mentioned earlier in your post....

 

Very interesting Max, i shall go past this week and check it out.

thanks for the info


Adrian

 

Maxx,

Any performance figures from RM?

How did the car put the power to the ground ie wheel spin etc.

Is the car still well balanced with the extra weight? By the way what does the kit weigh?

Was there any changes to the exhaust to give that 'sinister sound'?

cheers
Oz.

 

Sounds great Maxxx. Despite the problems, David Wall still pulled the fastest RX-8 lap at the Nats. And, in the interests of balance, I note the Hymee car (Wildcard's) did the most laps.

Next year, when all these FI cars are fully sorted, should be great. And we look forward to seeing you there, with yours. I have deliberately staying out of any of these FI cars. I've caught that bug before, and there's only one way to prevent it. Abstinence!

 

so how exactly does the power mod know the fuel to use if it doesnt get a signal from the maf? does it have its own MAP?

i would have argued all day about the procharger being the "best". best for what?

 

Let's forget 'best'....and remember a great 'beast'. EZZY, your photo captured a piece of history that needs to be set on its own. Gawd, I'm showing my age

 

Timbo nothing to do with age.. I was looking for a 66 mustang for about a year before i finally decided to go with a early model car.

I have even posted on the justmustangs forum hehe

Regards
Phillip

 

Apologies to Maxxx for a tic...

timbo, this very car was sold recently by Shannons for $320K. It and Pete combined for one of the best photos ever taken in Australian motorsport. The shot was taken at Oran Park in......1969? (I think...)

Here it is.

 

Thanks, 'mez....hmmmm....looks like he has DSC switched right off

 

Maxxx, you said Joe has sold eight kits......all went to Australian buyers?

 

Hey gomez that pic is amazing .....! ive never seen it before .

Regards Daz

 

WOW EZZY you were there.............cool............some awsome cars there......... fantastic pics.......

Gomez...that would have to be the coolest pig of a stang ive ever seen.........

Ozy....yeah 200KW at the treads......i didn't ask about 0-60km or the1/4........ the car let lose in second, he has some semi slick Yokies on it.......it seems very well balanced...dont know about the weight of the SC kit...........the sinister sound is under the bonnet...........

Zoom44...i think it does have its own internal MAP sensor.............

 

Ian "Pete" Geoghegan won three touring car championships in a row in that car (1967, '68 and '69). No-one else has won three in the same car. It is this country's most successful touring car, IMO.

 

If $5K will secure a kit, how much more do you need to actually end up with it in your car and working? Or did I skip over that bit?

Andrew

 

According to the Rotor Master site, $11,900 boxed, ready to install

 

I'm sure it's a great kit, but for almost $12K plus install?

 

Depends how you look at it, I guess

Say it's 13k in your car....and there's some warranty (wonder what the situation is on this??)...that gives you under $80k for a car with 200+Kw at the wheels, plus the handling and looks of the 8. Put that way I kinda reckon it's not bad value...but you have to have a $80k budget and want that sort of power. By all the talk on this forum, there ought to be lots of people who are prepared to stump up....or was it just ...all talk?

 

I think when it comes down to it, its mostly talk. Someone posted in the original RM Supercharger thread, what I believe to be the reason why most people see 12-13k as expensive. That reason was that if it was a cost built into the original purchase price and covered under your loan/lease then most people wouldnt blink. But as most people already have a 60-70k lease, its hard to find ways to pay for an additional 12-13k.

Andrew

 

My biggest thing is the 12-13k and a void warranty. If it was a 12-13k with warranty still in place, well that's a no brainer for me, however as I got the first batch of Rx-8's in the country (June 2003) I am a little worried that if something packs it in then that is another cost. The likelyhood of something packing it in also goes up with the amount of stress placed on it, especially the way I drive.

Under $10,000 for the product on Rotormasters car and there would be a SC on my car today.

I agree with Timbo that the dynamics of the Rx-8 and the SC kit power puts the car in the M3 league, however the M3 comes with a warranty and the knowledge that the car was engineered to handle that kind of power.

As my lease wears on it gets harder and harder to justify. Oh well...

 

I own my car outright so I don't have a problem with leasing, etc.

However, I'm not that filthy rich that I can afford to waive warranty and also face perhaps increased insurance costs. I mean, think about it, who's prepared to pay $15K (kit, install plus other upgrades to cope??) and still face the risk that if the engine or transmission lunches itself it will be down to you to pay for the replacement. Plus we're yet to really see if the rest of the driveline and other bits and pieces will cope long-term.

I'm not knocking the efforts of those who have developed these kits - more power to their elbow - and the risks I'm talking about may be considered low by them - but it's still a risk nonetheless and you have to be prepared to gamble somewhat with what can hardly be called a cheap car. Time will tell I suppose.

While getting one of these things is awful tempting and I encourage the real keen guys to do so in order that the rest of us might live vicariously, I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that it is better for me to save that money, enjoy the car in a more mildly modded form and wait and see what's on the market in a few years when the warranty is up. Huh, maybe I'm just not an early adopter.

There's no doubt that if Mazda sold the car with a supercharged option that was engineered into the entire car and came with warranty that many of us would have stumped up another 15K to buy it but something tells me it would have cost more than that if it was a genuinely factory developed option.

 

I agree, if MAzda offered a SC'd 8 from the factory...even at 15K more, I can tell you I would buy one, as would most RX8 enthusiasts. When you spread it over a lease, loan etc etc, the 15K is easily justifiable.

 

I wonder if Allan Horsley is watching this thread

 

2007 Nissan GTR anyone?

 

its a nissan...... but yes, if it comes in manual, v6 twin-turbo 4wd..

im even thinking of the new Sti or the EVO IX.... maybe its time for a change