Ladies and Gents, I just wanted to start a thread to chronicle the upcoming build of my Velocity Red RX-8. I've decided that I want to be a competitor in Sport Compact Car's Ultimate Street Car Challenge and I'm beginning the build as of now!
For starters, I just thought I would share a photo of my stock RX-8. It won't look like this for long...



First up are some fairly major mods:
Esmeril Turbo Kit and supporting modifications
KW Variant 3 Coilovers
Enkei RPF1 and Dunlop Star Specs

Followed by a slew of others.
I'll keep this thread updated regularly and feel free to comment as you see fit!

Here's one more fun photo - note what's painted on the train...

 

the lighting makes the car look draker than a normall VR, awnyways cant wait to see the project

 

subscribing...

 

i'm just curious, and i'm not criticizing...

but why did you choose a turbo over a supercharger for forced induction... if you're planning to compete in the ultimate street car challenge?

i'm no expert, but from what i've read on here the supercharger is more reliable, has better fuel efficiency, and is a much cleaner install than a turbo... and all of those things count A LOT when it comes to the contest.

 

aside from that, it will be nice to see an RX-8 in the challenge. I hope you can pull it off whichever way you decide to go with it.

 

After working with Honeywell Turbo Technologies (aka Garrett) for an internship earlier this year, I've become a full believer of turbochargers. They are a more efficient solution for forced induction, don't require any parasitic belt-driven systems, and they offer greater expandability for future power. Another minus for superchargers is that their efficiency begins to dwindle as engine RPM increases, therefore, a high revving engine like the Renesis doesn't seem to be a strong candidate for supercharging in my opinion. That being said however, I am still very impressed by some of the supercharger kits as they seem to have a good deal of engineering built into their design, namely the Petit Racing setup - it looks to be a very stout system.
Also, turbocharger reliability is almost entirely dependent on how the turbocharger is maintained and used. Reliability is a concern mainly when oil cokes (leaves a nasty oily residue) on the bearings in the Center Housing of the turbocharger. The easiest way to make a turbo reliable is to keep an eye on oil temperature and pressure as its fed to the turbo and to check the oil condition regularly. I'm fairly confident that Esmeril has done their homework and seeing as how most of the tie on the street I drive like a nancy-pants, this turbo should have a fairly easy life.


However, on the track...that's a different story...

 

subscribing too!!!!

 

1st pic is killer

 

I have been looking at that turbo kit for so long. Im glad to finally see it getting installed

 

Hmm waiting for the SC people to weigh in with the research done by Petit showing the long term efficiency of turbo setups due to the newly designed perifial ports...

Good luck though,,, you'' ll definately need to lighten the 8 to help being competitve... or drop a 20B in it....

 

*yawn*

nobody cares.....

I know, lets start crapping in this guys thread about which is better..SC or TC??



anyways...can't wait to see your progress, congrats on the Esmeril kit!

 

subscribed....
any schedule or time table for your mods.....

 

Thanks for all the comments and such!
As for the supercharger fans, I'll see you on the track!




and then I'll pass you...



Just kidding

but seriously, I will pass you.

As for the schedule, it looks like Wednesday I should be receiving the turbo and I'm looking to install it within the week! The rest of the mods should follow shortly thereafter!

 

I m getting the SC in less than a month,
it was just a statement I dont care either way, was just waiting for the crap wars because as much as everyone says they dont care it always ends up that way
My freind Dan has a Greddy TC tuned by MM and he and I get along fine and we both like each others kits, they re different and both exciting,,,,,

Anyway, again good luck there is pobably going to be serious comp like always and I think a high powered 8 has a very good chance with a head start in handling over many other cars.....peace

EDIT- whats your budget, cause most of those cars are shop sponsored cars???

 

cant wait to see the progress on the build...planning any weight loss?

 

Damn just noticed not sure if the OP mentioned in the second pic the cargo bin train car has RX 8 on ,,, ,f****** sweet...
EDIT the OP did mention cool,,,

 

Oh don't worry, no bad blood to any supercharger owners out there!

Budget... haha that's the funny thing... I may or may not be balling this car build into my student loans for my tuition at Purdue...So I guess you can say I'm sponsored by Chase Private Student Loans. That's going to be one of the few vinyls I put on my car! As far as real sponsors go, I'm currently talking with a vendor on RX8club.com regarding this and hopefully we'll have a deal worked out shortly!


I thought you guys would like that second picture, it's kind of like an "Eye Spy" game.

 

interesting......needs more meat to the story

 

^^^ Indeed just slapping a turbo and coilovers on the car isnt going to get you anywhere, the top cars in that competition have been worked on for years and built up from the ground up, so please share what you are planning custom wise or the theories behind your build...

 

finally a rx8 in the challenge, wat ive always wanted to see

 

good luck to you sir..

 

Rotr8 said it quite well. A challenge like that is going to require ALOT more than a mere turbo and basic suspension mods. Most of the cars in that challenge are sponsored rides, track built cars with alot of money and shop reputation behind them. To compete with them, you'll need alot of money, alot of time, and the help of the best minds on this forum. mystql (poor spelling on his forum name, but we all know him) seems to be the best source of info on the car, as well as a few others.

 

I couldn't agree more with all of you! I completely realize that you can't just bolt on some parts and expect to go anywhere in the competition. What I'm trying to do at this point in the game is address the most basic criticisms I have with the car. I wanted to get some of the easier and more major "problems' out of the way early and then work my way around the entire car, crossing over every square inch of the car. This is why I said at the outset of this project that I expect to be involved with it for years, not months. Also, don't worry that this is going to be a straight bolt-on affair, I intend on putting this engineering education to work and building a good deal of custom pieces for the competition.

On a side note, I just returned from a two-day track event held by NASA (http://www.nasaproracing.com/) and I must say it's been one of the most important weekends in my car-enthusiast career! Aside from moving up the classes (HPDE1/2 to HPDE3) I met with a number of people who have shared a good deal of wisdom, along with just being great people. Primarily, Eric Meyer, the owner of Meyer Motorsports (http://meyer-motorsports.com/Home/Home.html) who invited my friends and I to his shop in Indianapolis to see what all is required to field a Koni Grand-Am car. We discussed suspension tuning, how to cure more serious ailments of the RX-8 in a racing situation, ECU calibration, etc. Also, we got to witness an RX-8 completely beat the competition during the group-A race on Saturday (nice!) Another benefit to meeting Eric (and his lead technician, Eric (confusing, no?)) is that I was given an open door into professional motorsports. I will be working as part of the pit crew for several of Eric's events this coming season, an opportunity that I didn't think I would ever have! I think that working with an actual motorsports group is going to be an Ace up my sleeve not only for the USCC competition, but also a fantastic way to start in a career in Motorsports!
Now, onto some photos:


This was the line up to get into Putnam Park Road Course at 7.30A. Quite the long line of cars and trailers... Thankfully NASA is a very efficient group and they moved us all along very quickly!


This was the group that came from Purdue. The Evolution 7 (yes, a real 7 with the Ralliart RS2 package for any Lancer fans out there) belongs to my friend Dan, the Red RX-8 is yours truly, the blue R32 belongs to Anthony, the TiGray RX-8 (my first RX-8!) belongs to John (also known as DotHackRave on these boards) and the white STi belongs to Kevin.


Here's a shot of one of the Factory Five Racing Cobras that ran this weekend. FFR is a spec class run by NASA where competitors build a Factory Five Cobra and are limited to a set tire and engine (among other parameters). Some very exciting racing happened between these cars!

More photos to come later today, I need to get all unpacked from the weekend!

 

Just noticed in the second picture, yes I am in my pajamas haha

 

good thread, look forward to the build.

Question though, will you be driving the car? Alot of compitition bring pro drivers