Well--they said in the article that it probably was making closer to 330HP than 390HP and yes--more than likely it has a lot to do with the traction.

In regards to the price--thats alot of money spent on the suspension and wheels--money most will save on and end up with an RX8 closer in price (probably a little less) to a fully loaded G35 Coupe versus a 400HP $50K Vette.

I think that its a pretty good deal actually, especially if you can for-go the extras and you really like the RX8. There will always be a faster car...these comparisons are

 

Thats obvious you can build any car to beat the next thing out there. i am just comparing the current price of how much it would cost to build , yet net gains that some stock cars produce. Like i said, if you read my other post , kudos for the tuner to extract that much power out of a RX-8, but i reeally would have tipped my hats off if they could have gotten that power down better to the ground.

I love my rx-8 just like i loved all my sports cars i owned in the past, i guess i don't see the logic that you guys see in spending that much money on sub-par gains.

 

i think Vette's get 28mpg too!

 

thats what im saying- he'll stay out of my way and i can have some fun. its the tail lights of the busses and such in the twisties that bother me MOVE IT PEOPLE!! or get out of the way!

 

Gotch' ya!

 

hey guys just wanted to clear up a few things....

1st, the car made a dyno pass of 330whp 2 days before we left to go to the event, so the 390 they are refering to must be "calculated flywheel" hp

2nd, most cars have a fine line between spinning or bogging and if you get it just right you can pull away from a dead stop very well, however our rx8 for some reason or another.... be it driver, be it tires, be it power, be it weight, be it 30 degree pavement and no vht..... whatever the case doesn't seem to have that fine line. You either spin or you bog, they did the same run like 8 times to try and improve on the launch with no success. However a 109 trapspeed imply's with the proper launch and traction it should be in the high 12's low 13's.

3rd, the rx8 cannot out handle the new z06.... to be very accurate any z06 2003-up will pull a .98g skidpad which is better than and rx8. However if you happen to run into the 02-lower z06 then they only pull .93 skidpad which would make them fair game :D

Hope that helps

Jon

 

Why are you citing skid-pad-rating and using it to make the case of one car "out-handling" another?

 

He was clearing up previous posts of people comparing the RX8 vs Z06 in regards to handling.

 

390/330 hp or whatever and marginal improvment over stock. Its got pretty paper numbers but not the right kind.

 

Also when I got my rx8, local chevy dealer had several 2004 corvettes base C6 on sale for 36K. OTD ~ 40 k. I almost bought one. Still liked the rx8 more. Its the finesse, 4 seats and the uniquness. Everyone here has a mercedes a bmw a corvette or a porsche. Rx anything is rare.

 

That suspension is not anyhere near the best.

R&T even said they were surprised at how many times they scraped the front stock spoiler.

 

That is great if you plan on driving in circles.

I am not sure anyone said anything about a Z06. They were referring to the base C6.

 

Nice article... now it's time to get me one of those kits!

 

Too bad the new ones aren't as cheap.

 

Did I miss something - when did the vette become the benchmark?! I don't want a vette. I don't like the vette (for me). I didn't buy the 8 because I couldn't "afford" a vette - I bought it because it was a really good, really cool rotary-engined car. What's more, I can't understand why anyone who's into straight-line acceleration and quarter-mile times would buy an 8 in the first place. That's like buying a Swiss Army knife and complaining it sucks when you carve a turkey. No one should buy an 8 thinking "Gee, I'd love to have a vette but I can't swing it right now so I'll get this 8 instead and oh look—it has a rotary engine—whatever". You buy the 8 because of the rotary, not despite the fact it has one. The engine defines the car, and the reason it defines the car is because the tiny, little engine makes the rest of the car—its balance, its feel, its handling, its smoothness, its uniqueness, its accomodations—possible. So of course they'll be people who want a faster, FI RX-8 who will have no interest in a vette. Because at the end of the day, it's not just about speed in a straight, boring line.

 

^^
Amen


And I'll be stubborn about this, but there is nothing I see, or have seen at the track that leads me to believe that a suspension modified RX-8 cannot competitively handle against a supsension modified C6, or Z06, I'm only speaking strictly in regards to suspension. IMO, the RX-8 puts out very good numbers from the factory considering the low spring rates/dampening and narrow 225 tires.

 

That's my point. Skid Pad ratings have very little to do with handling - and are NOT the deciding factor as to what car handles better; Skid pad numbers are as usefull in deciding which car handles better as vehicle color is in deciding if a car will crash. Sunlightsilver notwithstanding.

Want higher G-force on the skid pad? Buy new tires.



Mclaren F1? .86 G

Tell me that car doesn't handle well. Please. Go for it.

 

DMP, can you think of a logical way to compare which car handles better other than lap times at a track??

i personally dont go to very many road race events but i have friends that go all the time and the corvette is not too shabby around a road course.... in fact they usually pull some of the fastest times. that has alot to do with power obviously but you still have to get around the turns and it manages to do that very well.

and i shouldn't have quoted skidpads because your right thats not the deciding factor in handling but it doesn't hurt if you can hold a long u bend on a road course without sliding out of control.

and i also am quite aware of the tire advantage between the rx8 and the corvette but the tires on our car are pretty wide, i think actually the same size as a corvette.

and our car scraped a 1000 times becuz its too low to the ground.... but it sure looks good that way :D

let me know if you can think of a legitimate way to test the 2 cars

Jon

 

Lap times do not tell you if a car handles better either. Lap times involve turning, accelerating, and braking last I checked. Also consider different courses favour different cars!

No one ever said the C6 does not handle well, but my personal opinion from a test drive is I prefer the way my 8 FEELS.

 

I like the way the rx8 drives over a corvette anyday, especially a turbo one.... thats how it should have come from mazda, but there has to be a way to test which one handles better than the other.

 

I think it is difficult to compare period. The best you will probably do is to use a track test as you recommend, but NOT using the total time. You would have to record the entire run and then do an analysis on corner to corner. A perfect example where final time would be misleading is between a viper and an exige on a high speed course. The exige would most likely have higher corner speeds but a lower total lap time.

The true feat of engineering I believe Mazda pulled off with the RX-8 is how it feels, how easy it is to drive and how predictable it is. No funny stuff. It does what you tell it to, and it does it well.

 

Is it just me or do that set up look like SR or SX Engineering? what ever its called.

 

You're right. There's not real way to compare. It's CERTAINLY not Skid pad numbers. I'd suspect Slalom numbers are more indicative - but that's not the whole story either. Lap times aren't the whole story because different laps favour different powered vehicles.

My point is trying to stop ppl from saying "X car handles 'better'" without giving a point of reference.

 

yeah, nothing wrong with a corvette, c5 or c6, but track wise they're not the top guns of the fleet. just go to video.google.com and search trackaddict, he was able to keep up with a c5 just fine, hell HE caught up to HIM. mostly depends on the driver, but you cannot fully count the car out.

in other news, the C6R is a bad *** vette :

 

I've got a video of a mildly modded Evo whooping a Radical SR3 around a track, which just shouldn't happen. When it comes to trackdays who turns better laps is VERY dependant on driver.