Ike

Nicely shot vid, and you're certainly outdriving most of those guys. On the other hand most of them look like they're driving stock (all seasons included) 325s. Would have been nice to at least see a E36 M3 in that group to see how you'd compare

samsong

Thanks much for putting this out...I love watching in-car video during track sessions. I was impressed with how the 8 did out there. While there are differences among drivers, which will account for a lot, I especially liked how the 8 did in the twisties...kept the speed up (as you point out).

Keep those vids coming!

Spin9k

I'm not so good on my BMWs, but here's a short of I think an M5 (or M3?) that played the part better than some others.

http://www.spin9k.com/html/videos.html (new out take vid (5mb) on bottom of page)

Same fate however , you can hear from the engine noise how I'm holding back staying behind him until....

I've another place where a race prep 3-Series and me are playing hopscotch with the slower cars. I can't catch him cause of short passing zones, he doesn't get father away either. :D

RXMAN16

Nice video. Well done.

Cattywampus

Hey Spin thanks for the response. Outstanding vid. I have been watching them all day. Gettin my 8 soon and cant wait. I was watching the vid and was it that easy to catch up on the viper in the corners.I havent driven the 8 before so I dont know the true performance capability it has in the corners over other cars. I will soon find out though.:D

Spin9k

As I said earlier...what is...is.

....So some say, "well, most everyone else out there is no good driving...they have all-season tires...they are nubies...their cars aren't set up right....they aren't really trying" ...yea anyone can make up excuses for peps and vehicles when they have held beliefs and preconceptions that an RX-8 can't be all that...especially (heaven forbid) on the track where looks, specs, and fancy equipment count for, well, nothing compared to results. For example, my car looks just about stock (it isn't totally, of course). I had a Mini-S fellow ask me last track day what I drove and and I said an 8 and his 1st comment was "Ummm...I hear they have a lot of understeer." And that was all he wanted to say. He's broken down on the side of the track in my vid. Other peps hear things, read things, they don't really know... and our car is exotic..weird if you will...not easily pigeon-holed into a type or class with others. It's hard for peps to figure it out.

...so I just show you this is what happened .... which is what I have settled on as the most honest approach...across multiple days and sessions...and I show vids for you all to enjoy ... and see what I experience .

Forget excuses... the truth is in the vids.....I'm not super-driver...I'm just a bloke w/his car doing what I love...IMHO I have one of the most enjoyable, tossable cars (like Miata's) out there...setup pretty decent (OK that's my fault! ) with decent power and then I add my modest 7 track days experience and last winter GT4 training. This is what you get... it's what is.

... I love my little car and don't argue with what peps say...I just ask them to join me out there on a track :D :D So to answer your question, yea it was way easy to catch and pass that Viper...what WAS he DOING??? Who knows! I'm having too much fun to care!

Nemesis8

iTrader: (3)

Very well spoken Spin9k

RenoIV

well said!
I've told many friends this car is an inexpensive exotic :D and descibed it that way on the site. If you like to drive rather than ride, the 8 is addictive. :p

Great videos ... gotta love the wave you give to each driver as you pass them .... wonder what they were thinking?
about 12:30 in there is a bimmer you pass and he appears to try to keep up but can't ... love it.

Thanks for the videos!

JeRKy 8 Owner

I would like to see him against a WRX or EVO on the same track.

Ike

That's an E30 M3, while it was a very nice handling car for its time we're talking about a 20 year old design (first MY was '86). To put things in perspective it would be like him at a track 20 years ago going against cars from the mid to late 60s , For a 20 year old car they're pretty impressive. Keep in mind they don't even top 200hp and will get whooped in a straight line by just about every sporty car on the market today (low 7s to 60 and mid 15s 1/4 mile).

All I'm saying is you should be beating the cars you're going up against and it would have been nice to see you go up against something more on par with your car. Not that it's your fault, you got placed in a group, it's not like you said "I want to go beat up on those guys" :D Anyhow, keep up the good work on the vids.

poolsidenaz

Really great vid. Fun to watch and gets me jazzed up watching you carve those curves.

Thanks for the share and again great job on the vid.

Edit: I loved hearing the two 8's revving it up in unison :D

Cattywampus

I thought it was a excellent vid. I dont take credit away from anything. These vids just show what the 8 is capable and it was shown on a respectable track. I could care less about going fast in a straight line. Anybody can drive a straight line. Well except for the drunk guy I pulled over the other day.

RPIRX-8

Aw shukky shukky now.. I knew it was only a matter of time until the "poop" flinging began :p I had an instructor too at the time he passed me, but that was my first run prepping for the day AND I pitted out dead last that run. I don't think i saw you for the rest of that day, but I was lookin. I think after this one i've finally caught up to your skill level. I've got your candy red number for next time August 29th baby!!!

I've got some vid as well, just have to get up off my lazy **** and edit it.

RPIRX-8

I've come up against lots of WRXs, STIs on track days. Haven't seen an EVO out there yet.

Everytime I've come up against an STI I've gotten beat, barely. WRXs have not been a match for me on the track as of yet. However, I feel some of the STI folks are not as good drivers as the 8 folks. Reason being (and i wish I had vid for this), the STI drivers absolutely abuse their cars in the corners, and just let the AWD save their butts. Put them in a RWD car and its a different story. That said its still no contest in the straights, STI takes 1st on that one.

The VW R32s are also very competitive on the track. I'd said with a similiarily skilled driver its about an even match, the 8 is a little ahead in the twisties.

Spin9k

No problem Ike, it's the luck of the draw who's out there with you on any particular day...harder competition to chase around is fun...I look forward to having it.....sometimes it's there, othertimes not. When it's not, I have fun passing more (good for the ego). When it's there (and it will be soon enough), that's equal fun, and more than likey will be a catalyst for next winters performance mods

I always try and move up in groups up as much as feasible, but so do many others...the organizers have to make the call. Anyways it pretty hard to have 'bad' track time, so I'm happy whatever . I do wish there were a few more Evos and STIs out there when I'm out, they seem relatively few and far between, esp. Evos...no idea why...

spin

RotaryZZ

I agree that our car has the advantage at the turns and twistes, plus an excellent brakes. But I only wish it has a bit more torque down low. I've numerous occasions when I was given a point-bys right after track-out, but the car just don't have enough torque to pull off the passes, or took agonizingly slow pace in completing the pass. And this is even worse when you're caught in a short straight passing zone situation.

Spin9k, how do you find the strut bars from AutoExec do? Worth the money? Did you get the under-chassis braces as well?

foxman

great video and great driving!

Spin9k

You're correct, our car is all about momentum, lose it and we're in <a bit of > a pickle. All the tracks & instructors I've been to emphasize that when you DO give point-by, you LIFT throttle and let it happen, don't hang the point-by out to dry . This only makes sense in the case of high HP cars, naturally, who could run on by in the straight...but I know what you mean in short passing zones, almost anyone can get on the throttle and make it harder for us, then we lose the good setup line for the next corner, etc, etc.

Fortunately most peps are very polite in these situations and I am too. They are all good guy/gals and part of a club. Also if I do give point-bys, they get to be on spinTV! What an honor :D and great stuff to show off later and see the reason they ever got one!

Unfortunately rotary torque is exceedingly hard to come by, HP is a little (not much) easier to add, so I'm doing the canzoomer thing soon, then just keep those revs up to compensate and use the top end to get by faster/cleaner.

I added the Whiteline anti-sways and the Autoexe 4 pt frnt/rear braces at the same time, so hard to quantify what does what, but I know the dif was so HUGE with both that I will never take either off, they really make the handling sparkle IMO.

Cheers, spin

RotaryZZ

>I've been to emphasize that when you DO give point-by,
>you LIFT throttle and let it happen ........

I know, but unfortunately many do have too big an ego to let off the gas. They really want you to work hard for that pass. I ran into situation that I've finally managed to make the pass only after the 3rd point-by by a 911 that I've been all over his *** for two full laps :-)

>I added the Whiteline anti-sways and the Autoexe 4 pt frnt/rear braces .........
Right now I'm still in stock setup, but thinking of swapping to MS suspension pieces later on.

I've also noticed from your web site that you've replaced the RE040 with the new Falken RT-615. How was it at the track? Do you ever think of using some R tires for dedicted track use instead? Heard pretty good words about the Khumo from different drivers.

Spin9k

The Falkens are magic for a mixed use tire. They improve the ride tremendously at 35psi over the RE04s for the street, but on the track at 40 psi :D ... they just don't stop gripping in any lateral situation you come into... at the limit they just move sideways in a nice controlled manner. Only on track can I get to some understeer ... and I'm talking a 90 degree turn at ~55 mph with full throttle

They seem to love to get hot and gluey, and change personalities from a nice street tire...to a great track tire at will .

I'm thinking the Kumhos V710s would be pretty sick for a track only tire, but I haven't made the leap to carrying that much stuff to the track yet. I chased a friend on track for a 20 min session with his G35 w/Yoko R compounds and he could certainly keep up, but not exceed my capabilities and vise-versa when we swapped positions. I like to hear other comments from brave souls who have the V710s - before laying down some $2500 for SSRs and R tires though.

RotaryZZ

>The Falkens are magic for a mixed use tire ...........

So you've inflated it to 40psi for track use? On Falken's web site, they've listed the suggested psi for road race spec which are 32 front and 27 rear, although they use 265-35-18 for the rear. And I'm not sure if that assumed the use of beefed up suspension? (Btw, have you played with the cambers or other adjustments on your suspension?)

So, how soon will the Falkens get overheated and start getting greasy? For the stock 040, I find they usually will last for about 4 laps. And after that you feel like you're riding on soap bar! Like the last weekend when I was at Shenandoah in WV, I was practically skating around every corners after 3-4 laps!

>I chased a friend on track for a 20 min session with his G35
>w/Yoko R compounds and he could certainly keep up ......

I have also managed to pass 911 on RA-1s too. But I'm afraid the credits has to go to our cars as I found it extremely well-balanced, very tossable and basically very easy to drive fast on track condition :D

The only hold back I have at getting R-tires at this point is I'm a little wary about the behaviour of them at the track. I was told some are rather unpredictable and give no warning , or barely, when it is about to break lose under you. Granted that some are closer in characteristics to the street tires than others, like the Toyo which is rather well-behaved.

Which SSR do you have in mind? Are they forged and light-weight? Btw, do you happened to know the offset for the OEM rims? I believe the OEM tire-wheel combo weights in at more than 40lbs each.

Spin9k

Understand I have 235/40/18s so higher load rating 95 vs 91 and it says 'reinforced sidewall' whatever that means. I was aware of the web site recommendations and as you note, they may not consider suspension mods in there, but anyway so I 1st tried 32/30..it was ok, but way way to flabby feeling & I noticed sidewall scuffing <my precious new tires..they were 1 wk old then>, I then went 37/34 which was better and OK, sidewall scuffing gone, but is that all there is? Being one never to leave a good thing alone <for long > then I read about opinions that you had to jack up the pressure to get the most out of Azenis...so OK 40/40 psi last track day. This seemed to suit the car w/mods and my hell-bent driving style (translation: if it's <still> on the track, I must be able to go faster yet :D somehow). I have no idea where they (Falken) came up w/their weird psi ideas.

No absolutely stock. I can see that there is about 3/4" of front inside edges (rounded part) are NOT USED at all - still those little rubber tit thingies there which leads me to believe a bit of neg camber would be quite helpful. Just lazy I guess.

I haven't seen that in any 20-25 min sessions yet at Loudon. It's a fairly demanding technical track w/little cooldown space....basically WOT, brake, turn, WOT, brake...you get the idea....so I try not braking mostly..just going faster instead hee hee:D Tire temp after cooldown and in the garage on track is about 165-170...so track tire temp is obviously higher.. I have no idea how hot they need to be to get greasy.

Read Grass Root Motorsports Sept Tire Test issue -RT-615s are inc in the street test and won easily; V710 won in the R-compound test. Lots of discussion about just what your worried about w/good suggestions.

17x8.5 SSR Comps ~15lbs forged and 255/40/17 or something like that that gives a small gear-down advantage and of course more rubber. I'd love to know if 9 in wheels would fit on front, then I'd have those all around:D

BTW stock offset is 50mm tire/wheel weight is ~48lbs, above would get it down to ~ 40lbs a nice 32lb sprung weight reduction.

RotaryZZ

>Read Grass Root Motorsports Sept Tire Test issue .......

Do they have any link on the internet? If not, will sure to try to pick one up at the store :D


>17x8.5 SSR Comps

Will 17" clears the calipers??


>gives a small gear-down advantage

What exactly do you mean by that?


Anyway, do you have any more DEs for the year? And which clubs do you usually go with?
I would love to go down to VIR with the www.mazdadrivers.com but its a bit too far away from me. Plus I find they're tad more expensive too :D

Spin9k

http://www.grmotorsports.com/

17s fit no problem says Tirerack on larger brakes

225/45/18 vs 255/40/17 = 26" diam vs 25" diam = 3.6% slower in any gear at same RPM = 3.6% better torque, acceleration, etc = like changing out the differential

above also lowers you 1/2" similar to having lowering springs

We have tons here abouts, Loudon, Pocono, Watkins Glen, Limerock, etc....limited by time & $$ & your conscience :D