this car rocks! i didnt expect it to be fast, but it handles really well, and all the funniness i felt on the street was not a problem. there is a little lift throttle oversteer, but it is manageable and not more than i like. you can set up a tail out drift really easily and modulate it with throttle.

id like to see what the car would be like with a little more rear shock rebound and compression.

a nationals-competing DS IS300 was there and i was 3 seconds faster than both the (usually decent) drivers of that car, so i doubt there is any chance we will ever get moved to DS.

my fastest run was after the car got to sit for a little while so the tires cooled down- those street tires dont like heat. the difference between hot tires and cool tires was over 1 second. so bring your sprayers.

i dont see any place where it has an advantage over the S2000 though in BS. but regionally a well driven rx8 could beat lots of S2000's.

PUR NRG and i got to ride with each other... great fun!

james

 

glad you are enjoying it

 

We had our autocross shakedown run(s) Saturday and Sunday. We took a guess at the alignment settings, mounted the Hoosiers (roadrace compound), and went to see what she has....

The car slaloms REALLY well (way better than we thought it would), but sets up a push in a steady state corner. It turns in initially, then goes "pushy", so we think its "sitting down" on the bump stop, spring rate goes to infinity, and the push starts. We think this can be overcome by a significant front bar (higher spring rate), and a tad more tweaking on the alignment.

Overall, we think this is going to be a nationally competitive car in BS with a little more development.

By the way, two BS trophy winners from Nationals are in our region, so we feel like we have a good yardstick.

Saturdays Results: Houston Region SCCA Results Page

 

 

Maybe I'm misinterpreting the results, but it looks like you nailed the fastest times out of ALL classes. Nice!

 

I'm just waiting for a few familiar people to start commenting about conspiracy theories: tpryor must work for Mazda, he has a jspec ECU, the competitors didn't know how to drive, a friend of a friend claims to have seen a LeCar at the same track making faster lap times... Need I go on?!?

Oh before I forget, congrats on the awesome times!

 

Thanks, guys. The car has more potential, plus we need to learn how to drive it (corners come up a little quicker than in the Miata!).

The "conspiracy" theorists are the exact reason I posted the URL for the results page, so they could browse the complete results (that was as much as I could post without exceeding the size limit). We were surprised, but we went faster than several Street Prepared classes, and even a Prepared class or two.

There was a former champ (Russ Wiles) in attendance in his BMW (running in BSP). He eventually ran approx. 2 seconds faster than us, but his car is sorted AND fast while we are still learning the car.

We felt that we left at least a second "out there" as neither of us got a run that was error free. We should get another second from car "dialing in" as we go, and we were on road race compound Hoosiers (all of the competition was on autocross compound Hoosiers) which is another .8 or so. Of course, ALL of this will be dependent on course design, weather, etc.

BUT, this car can be competitive in BS - we are convinced. I'll post the video as soon as I can figure out how to edit it down (new camera).

 

Congrats, Tim! See, I told you this car was competitive. :D

 

Sweet! :D

 

Congrats! If I'm reading it right, those results are pretty impressive. I guess I'm not the only one here that is surprised at the results posted here.

 

Bested the S2000?
Bested the M3?
Heck, even bested an Evo?
And to top it all off, you bested the Vettes ?

TPryor, you are da man. Can't wait to see what you run once you do have your RX-8 figured out.

Great job !

 

What type of race is the auto-x? How far, etc?

 

fabulous!

we were VERY surprised at my times for a completely untested/tuned car. and i was very pleased with how the car was balanced and how eager it was throughout the course even on street tires.

that it still works well on r-tires is great news indeed.

rotaries rule!

james

 

oh, for your amusement, i designed the course, heres the map:



james

 

wow
congrats

 

This is great, but I have a question. Why, with the same PAX factor, did the PAX results show the '01 Boxster as fastest. The BS PAX (.825) was the same for both????

Whatever, it was great. I haven't had a chance to run mine yet (we lost our usual track to a new owner), but a friend of mine who is an excellent ES Miata competitor ran his on stock tires and had a hard time keeping the rear in line...lost too much time sliding! We concluded that Hoosiers will be required!

 

Yes, the Boxster was faster because he ran in the morning. he runs our "X" class (PAX only) which is allowed to run morning AND afternoon. His morning times (and Russ's BMW times) were significantly faster in the morning, but when he ran his runs in the afternoon he was right with us. We'll be fine......

 

That explains it. As I said before, these results are great to see. I passed them along to my ES Miata friend who now has an RX-8. He's a very good driver in the SE region autox and was familar with you and your skills. Get the sticky Hoosiers and let us know how you do. Personally I think this thread should get a "sticky" just to ensure that all those concerned about the 8's performance can see what experience and good tires can produce in a venue where this car will be competitive, not at drag strips. It's been said so much elsewhere it is becoming trite, but "if you can't go fast with 90hp, 300 ain't gonna help you." And it might put a few of the trolls in place, too...but not likely since they would have to return to thumb-sucking for entertainment.:D

 

"was familar with you and your skills" - that is an interesting comment. I'm not sure how to take that, but I'm glad someone outside my geographical area knows who I am (I think).

After you passed them on, did he have any comments???

 

I am impressed by the results, but I still think the S2K has a bit of an advantage, it's still the king of BS. Who knows, maybe you guys will be able to knock it off it's thrown, but if the RX-8 isn't up to the task I'm sure you'll have fun trying.

Ike

 

Is that video almost ready?

 

I am having trouble cutting it down. It's a minute of the run, followed by a minute of it swinging from my arm (silly me, I thought releasing the button would cause it to stop recording). It's in 640x480, 30 frames per second, so it's around 50MB.

If anyone is willing to allow me to ftp it to them for hosting, I'll send it immediately (eccles?). As for the editing, I give up.......

Figured it out! The smaller, edited version is now on the eccles site and available for viewing. Please note that this was shot with a digital still camera, not a movie camera...........

Link Here

THANKS, ECCLES!

 

Thanks! It's just too bad that it was so windy & you couldn't really hear the car. That looked like so much fun...

 

eccles
sweet video thank you

 

On the track that was at today, there were a few post E30 M3's. Forget the chassis... E42 maybe?

Full race setup, roll cages, coils, slicks, etc etc......

I was just in my stock RX-8 with ONLY 245/40/18's in Falken GR Beta.

They started behind me.

After about a full lap, I could not see them in my rear view mirror.

This car DOMINATES in the corners! Faster than a lot of other cars, it's just simply amazing.

Now a little more power would be nice, but out of the box..... this car can compete!!!!