xun4gvn4everx

iTrader: (2)

how much does it cost to do this?

Striker-7

iTrader: (3)

It varies, but a weekend usually runs somewhere around $600 - $700 all told.

Track: $250 - $475
Hotel: $175 average (3 day stay)

Brake Pads (about every third trip): $175-$225 (Hawk HP+ or Carbontech)
Oil: Yeah, you already know...

Road tolls, fuel, other sundries. Oh yeah, FUEL! Depending on the track, you may be paying at the pump in the paddock, and it ain't cheap. Summit Point was $3.25 for 93-octane, and count on killing a 1/4 tank for twenty-five minutes on the track.

Is it worth it? Considering my face hurt for days afterward when I returned from my first trip to Virginia International Raceway, yes! The pain was from grinning so much against the padding in the Bell helmet.

xun4gvn4everx

iTrader: (2)

that more than sounds worth it!! And the pain is that of pleasure!

Is it unlimited track runs or are you limited to so many per day/ weekend?

Striker-7

iTrader: (3)

Typical day nets you about an hour or more of track time in 25-minute cycles (NASA HPDE) or a bit more with the non-racing events like TrackDaze. Believe me, you don't WANT more than 30 minutes at a time, especially when it is 94F, more humid than your shower stall and full glaring sun beating down on your fully covered self. Ask me how I know this...

At a NASA event, you're mixing your no-racing time with the higher HPDE 3 / Time Trial (limited passing) group and the racer classes. Seeing 30 BMW E30s screaming down into Turn 1 is a moment you won't likely forget, and you'll understand why NASA refers to the Spec Miata division races as the "Stinger" events.

blackenedwings

That looks amazingly fun! I can't wait to get my car out there.

Rotr8

iTrader: (2)

I totally cooked my front drivers side rotor, I was using RBs track pad which has a higher grip level but goes quick, I didnt even get to go out for the las time trial, I was consistantly a second to 2 seconds quicker than the NA 8s(one lap was ony 1:28:00 long) The pad wore so fast that the metal ended up scraping and scoring the inside of the rotor, this mixed with a leak in the hard line, we think may have led to air getting into the system cause a total brake failuer on the front side...
Hard lesson learned, check the pads between every session,,,
So the car is up in Jersey stil, in the hands of a rotoray guru. The guy literally appeared outta nowhere, we were at Advance Auto on the trip back and getting ready to buy fluid so we could bleed the system and release the pistons when this Puerto Rican showed up and was buying stuff for his FC gearing up for the PanAmerican Runoffs next week. He ended up living only acouple blocks away and said we could use his garage, he was a Mazda tech and everything...
Anyway we get to his house and he has three barns with 3 FDs 2 FCs(one of which was a 7 sec drag car) a Stralet with a REW engine, a Dhatsun with a track carb'd 13B and a RX2 fullly caged, it was literally something out of fast and furious. So he has the car and I need to call RB today to figure out if the rotor hat can be replaced or if I have to buy a new one, as well as about 4 sets of pads, both street and track ompound...

This was a time trial event so it was one day, five sessions then your hot lap timed runs, first timers with EMRA it cost $145, each session was twenty mins, and if you want to keep you car in pristine condition dont even bother we beat the **** outta our cars, I went off track twice but recovered both times....
Ohhh its worth it the most fun Ive had in years, you have no idea how quick the car really is untill you put it on a track, there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to speed on the road at all its just not the same. I was blowing by Porsches and Cobras all day long,,,
In one seesion I was the leader and caught the back of the field by the end of the session,,,
20min sessions we had five , then the all out time trial hot laps,

You have no idea, its is amazing,,, our cars are track beasts,,, work on getting your water temps down, thats my next goal, this summer so far I have never seen anyomore than 205, yesterday I saw 230-240 for ten mins at a time,,,

Striker-7

iTrader: (3)

Rotr8, you using the "pan rads" as your intercooler radiators?

'Bolt or I could have warned you about blowing through brake pads, I carry a spare set (along with two ignition coils) to every event. An EVO driver at Summit found out the hard way as well, he burned his front pads down to the backers and managed to score both rotors.

The CroFrog photo gallery is from our HPDE1 (Novice) run group at TrackDaze's May event on Summit Point "Shenandoah" course. Our forum buddy Wankelbolt was my instructor. I got to solo during that event, caught a ride with 'Bolt and found out how slow I really was, and just how ungodly fast the -8 can be in pretty much stock form.

xun4gvn4everx

iTrader: (2)

Greg, sux you scored your rodor dude. Just a question, what happens if you drive with a scortched rodor rather than getting it repaired?

Rotr8

iTrader: (2)

yeah it was my mistake, I had spare everything even coils and rear pads but not the fronts,,,,
Calling RB in alil bit...
No the pan rads tie into the heater core and thermostat, anyone can use them NA or FI, you should look into getting them, I will be installing mine whenever I get my car back, I expect my car to run much cooler, I logged all runs so we can compare at the next event...

Rotr8

iTrader: (2)

Ohhh and another thing, I didnt grab a pic of it I hope Garrett did, my exhaust got so damn hot it melted the shrouds and was glowing white,,, AWESOME....

Im_DANomite

iTrader: (1)

230-240!? holy crap dude, that's dangerously high. try more of a water mix with your coolant and maybe look into getting that mazmart water pump (i know i am). aluminum radiators don't seem to be helping out, met a couple of 8 guys who said it didn't do **** for them. the additional radiators Moon came up with will definately do the trick. other than that, nothing else seems to help cool our little rotary monsters.

Im_DANomite

iTrader: (1)

what!? that's not good either, you might be running pretty lean, causing the high temps as well...

baysj

iTrader: (1)

Yea, thats not good. You need to get those water temps down. I would say the water pump is the first part step. I heard above 6k rps the stock pump cavitates.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

I helped do an install over the weekend of the water pump upgrade, radiator, and thermostat, and I took pics of the difference between stock pump and the upgrade. I have to filtch them off my wife's camera and post them up. Night and day doesn't even begin to compare. The stock pump's vanes look like a blender, vs a jet turbine on the upgrade. Easy to believe that the stock one has trouble moving coolant at high speed.

Rotr8

iTrader: (2)

I already have the REmedy water pump,,,
The secondary coolers go on once I get the car back,
I think the high temps had to do with it more than anything else, track temps were well into the 100s and and the ambient was 90+, it'll get resolved...

blackenedwings

Yeah thats crazy hot... the coolant temps are well into the danger area there. Pretty awesome you randomly met the rotary dude with barns full of RX's... that is like something out of the F&F!

Im_DANomite

iTrader: (1)

this might sound stupid, but when i went to VIR last year in August, track temps were definately in the 100s. plus, with my turbo, i was overheating constantly. so the only option i had was to blast my heater on full...talk about being uncomfortable. but it helped, nearly dropped my temps by 5-10 degrees on the straights. so i can only imagine how helpful an additional radiator will do...

Striker-7

iTrader: (3)

Hell, nothing stupid about it! I keep that trick in my back pocket for massive traffic jams, when you have no airflow through the radiator, the fan is picking up 130F air from the overheated pavement and you're fresh out of stale Gatorade to pour through the inlet. It just goes to show you how limited the OEM rad really is, and why you should never stack another radiator ahead of it (like a transmission cooler).

BTW, where does the Pettit intercooler radiator mount?

Rotr8

iTrader: (2)

They mount in front of the Rad by about 8-10 ins, I was already planning another setup for them too,,, but the secondary rads will go a long way....
I was thinking W/M but I dont want to delubricate my housings. I was already having to top off after every session,,,

elysium19

iTrader: (1)

*COUGH COUGH* I'm N/A, thank you... Best lap of my day, 1:23.2

Rotr8

iTrader: (2)

I meant in our student group... of course you were quicker, you had much more experience, my boost was all over the place and the heat was amplified with the blower...

Striker-7

iTrader: (3)

Timely for this portion of the thread, a very recent observation from Speed|Sport|Life:

Racer-Boy: Time Attack, or how to race on a real track without totaling your car

Tells it pretty well, bit of a snarky attitude but this crowd won't mind.

mcain

All this track talk is making me want to invest in recreation. Now I just need to find a very large potential client who likes his/her car so I can write it off and I might be able to convince the wife to let me.

nah, who am I kidding? :-)

Rotr8

iTrader: (2)

Got the car back today,,, BIG THANKS to my savior Papito from RX7club,,, he was generous enough to pull his beautiful FC out of his garage and store my wounded and limping 8 for 3 days without even battin an eye,,, Great guy, said any time any of us go up to NJMP to let him know, he will come out and watch us tear up the track and our cars, and be there as our pit crew in case anything goes south,,, Awesome guy, he will be running two of his cars this week in the PanAmerican runnoffs in Atticca,,,

Anyway the oe front brakes are back on until I get replacement parts hopefully tomorrow, and the car goes in for a 225lph Walboro fuel pump as well thanks to ChrisRXR, then over the weekend the secondary rads go on then off to the bodyshop for the kit install,,, busy busy busy...

Costly mistake DO NOT RUN STREET PADS DURING TRACK EVENTS ON AFTERMARKET BRAKES KITS....

xun4gvn4everx

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like a great guy!! And we are all now able to learn from your bad. sux, but thank you in the long run!