Thanks guys. Ordering them this week 10.5 as I tow it to the track and rarely drive it on the road and when I do a quick plug swap is not very hard.

 

I never thought to look on there ….…

 

appear to be in stock here, qty discount if buying a set of 8 ($28.36 ea)

https://www.ngk.com/search/all?q=7420-10

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#GRIDLIFE Autobahn- Autobahn Country Club South Circuit - June 25-27, 2021

Headed out for my second round of Gridlife Track Battle time attack racing, this time out in Illinois at Autobahn CC. We were set to race on the south circuit this weekend, and it wouldn't have mattered if it were north or full as I'd never been to the venue before. First time racing on a track outside of Michigan. I was honestly pretty nervous to DRIVE the car there (and hopefully back) seeing as it was 250 miles one way... but hey, I don't have a tow rig (working on it, baby steps) and worst case I don't mind dropping money to ship the damn thing back if it explodes. Kind of counter productive, but such is life. I left the Detroit area with my Subaru buddies around 4pm in the pouring rain, which was sort of a precursor to the entire weekend. By the Indiana border we were at least out of the rain and I could enjoy the buzzing sounds of a loud exhaust, hear my bluetooth speaker playing music barely loud enough since the radio was useless (it's being pulled out soon), but at least I could feel the breeze on my skin.. because the copious amount of sweat was dissipating the heat from my body since it was 88 degrees and I had no AC.

Yeah. The stupid **** we do to do race car stuff.

Either way, rolled into the paddock around 9PM local time and we could see some crazy anvil clouds in the middle of nowhere Illinois along with a nice sunset. It was going to rain REAL bad all night and all day the next day. At least we got a hotel..



Day 1 of the event left us time attackers with a freshly washed off, and mildy wet track. Conditions were ever changing, and half the track was fully dry, while the entire back straight was a lake and braking zones were completely off line. I ended up running a 1:49.4 after some laps of trying to figure out what to do with my hands at a new track, and battling some fun oversteer and weird braking. This put me in I think 5th place overall at the time. I was gaining some confidence that would soon be squandered when we all started to go faster, but a lot of people have told me I am a decent wet driver.. and I guess me being ahead of MORE of the pack than I am in the dry helps drive that home. Cool.

Track conditions:





We had planned to have 2 more sessions this Saturday.. but due to "the worst flooding the south course has ever seen" they were both scrubbed. Kinda bummed, but it wouldn't have really mattered.. no one would have gone faster on a sopping wet track anyways. It was funny to watch a modern day Sisyphus in the form of two golf carts with water blowers lap the front straight for an hour without making any progress...



Tomorrow looked better... and tomorrow was better! Bright skies and hot, steamy weather made for a nice course dry out, a muddy paddock, and times to start going down like crazy. Every on lap was a bit faster, and even my off laps left me thinking there was more on the table. Smashing curbs, and feeling that perfect slip angle when you get the speed right really made me enjoy the track. It flows PERFECTLY. No weird trips or confusing lines, just turn after turn of proper racing. I stopped thinking so much about the 250 mile trek home. What a time to be alive.

I managed a 1:41.856 in the last session, and I think there was a hell of a lot more on the table. This put me in 12th position in class (out of 15 :\) but I couldn't complain a bit about the Copart RX-8. I did have one weird cutout on the track.. but I am attributing it to fuel cut since I was running the tank low on purpose. Never happened after I filled it back up. Noted.


I still had a bit of understeer, so I was going to dial the rear bar a bit up... but when it came down to the wire my choice was between making the car potentially better, or getting some food in the driver so he could drive better. I chose the hamburger. Funny how you forget to take care of basic human needs during times of extreme mental stimulation.

I also am battling a bit of rear end wiggle under braking, but I am going to swap out all the crusty and seized arms in the rear and see if that helps. They are on order.

All in all, I was able to drive a new track in multiple conditions, and drive the car home. I'm happy with it.

There's a turn on the track called "Patience", and it's a corner you basically completely give up so that you've got the right line for the quick upcoming next. It's an extremely late apex turn, and in order to go fast you've got to have patience. I think it's a cheesy, but accurate metaphor for how this all works for me.

Anyways.

Results:




Photos, I did not unfortunately have my own personal photographer with me this time.. so I guess you get some watermarks from the lovely other people doing a stunning job.











Oh and hey, some livestream time:

 

Been enjoying your thread since you started it.
Another great post conveying the experience.
Take care my friend and keep it up, you are doing great!
Sorry for the off topic, back to racing!

 

maybe add some rear toe for braking stability with more bar or spring in the rear to address the understeer assuming it’s steady-state, which may require going a bit further since they’re working against each other some. Or possibly less rear wing angle instead depending on speed during understeer conditions.

 

Toe bolt won't move, it's completely seized in the bushing collar. hence kind of why I am just replacing the whole rear end stuff..

Low speed understeer, so not aero fixed.. though I am working on a splitter that MAY (probably not) help a tad. Easiest thing I can do is set the bar to a higher setting.

I think the car in the neutral position was great for RE71Rs, but not as great for the RT660s.

Autocrossing the car and tag teaming with a friend, so I asked him if he wanted more bar or less bar. We shall see.

 

Awesome thread! I was considering getting out to the Club TR class events in my do-everything car once I finish up with some outstanding aesthetic & performance mods (4.77 S2 + OS Giken diff, rigid collars, poly mounts, MS wing, maybe full Leg Sport kit and wider wheels).

How competitive do you feel the RX-8 can be with some adjustment? Seems like trying to get these cars to the top of the class might be hard against G&G Ben's stripped aero civic given the relative power and weight penalty haha.

 

I think an RX-8 is a bit down on power compared to the rest of the field. Everyone has K swaps and a lot of development into their cars. I'm definitely not the fastest driver, but I think my "bone stock" RX-8 with rusted everything and not much development is doing awesome for what it is. I think the RX-8 can be pretty competitive with more tuning and a better driver, at least on the circuits were power matters less. That's the biggest downside for the chassis in that specific class.

Though, I guess you could K swap an RX-8...

 

Been keeping up on your build and progress, you're progressing nicely! I just had my 8 out at Gingerman Raceway this past weekend for GPS Track Time. Seems getting rid of the Riken Raptors for "THE TRUTH" Falken RT660s has helped me drop some time off the car. Now I haven't taken my RX8 serious, however I was happy to see my times dropping 4 seconds. Managed to click off a few 1:48s, which definitely made the car more fun to drive than when the Rikens could only scrounge up a 1:52. I may make some more changes to the car down the road and hopefully be able to play with you some out on track!

 

It'd probably take a miracle to get the cars down to the 1:41 range to be honest. Bill Marcial only managed to get his street ported 8 down to the 43s or 44s I believe if I remember correctly. Like he stated, maybe on the right day with the right momentum track such as Autobahn CC South could you possibly compete for the top spot. However even then, corners like "Patience" which kill the momentum you build up absolutely murder your times. In my Honda Challenge H2 car with crappy Toyo RRs and 190hp I managed to clock a 1:37.1, I doubt I could get my 8 with just some basic Fortune 500s, an exhaust, and 255 RT550s into the sub 40s at Autobahn. We'll have to see when GPS Track Time hits ABCC South in Sept if I don't race at Daytona for Honda Challenge.

Keep up the builds guys and keep getting faster. Maybe I'll get my other 8 running soon to play with you all!

 

As far as gingerman goes, I think a 1:41, probably even better, on 255 yokos/shocks/stock motor level build is doable with good conditions and someone like Tom driving. I have myself ran 1:42s in an STX/T4 car -- 255 yoks, bc shocks, stock motor.

The conditions at the kickoff were about the worst I've experienced at gingerman ever, fwiw. I was at the kickoff in the RX8 with the turbo out the hood. I'll be at mid-ohio and the festival.

I definitely think an RX8 could be competitive in GLTC if driven by the right driver and built to the limit of the rules. As it usually is, how much skill you have and how much you are willing to spend are the big factors. The platform is very capable.

I haven't read through your build but if you are looking for somewhere to spend money to go faster on track with this car I saw you mentioned and for sure a 4.77 rear end, or even better 5.12. Running and tuning for E85, and an OS giken are all worth substantial time.

I think I saw a youtube video which I believe is yours operating the rx8 power steering without the PCM. If you put together a kit for this I think myself and many people with swapped cars would be all over it.

 

Def agree with all of this. I definitely had more time in just driving at ABCC. It was my first time there and basically had 2 session of a clean track. Excuses right? Was stoked on my 1:41.8. Also the greasiest Gingerman I had ever raced on at kickoff this year. I've run faster in my Impreza than in my RX-8 at Gingerman, albeit 100hp up... but I think know the RX-8 can be much quicker. The Falken tire limitation in Club TR is definitely a bit of a holdback too from raw FAST times. IMO they are sooo much slower than RE71Rs, and just basic deduction of how little they wear comparatively to the REs sort of makes me assume the compound isn't as sticky. Obviously all Club TR people are on an even playing field here, so I just suck, but I really haven't done much to really bring the car to the limits of the class.

I'll be at Mid O and Midwest as well.

Gearing and an LSD is definitely required to be more competitive. I was upset with the OEM LSD curb hopping at ABCC, and do have plans for some sort of upgrade. Same with gearing, the S2 rear end seems like the goto cheap way to get a bit more acceleration. Right now recovering from buying a new winter daily (hurray 08 STi!) and saving up for a truck, but I want to spend the money on the chassis as I keep improving myself as a driver. At the end of the day I don't have as much experience driving as a lot of these other guys.

That youtube video was me! I can't really figure out a way to create a kit that is cost effective and broad/useful. A lot of people doing swaps have standalones that have configurable CAN broadcasts, which is basically all that's needed to get the PS rack up and running, so the market for a specific unit sort of isn't there. At least from what I can tell. Maybe you've got more insight into the swap world and can tell me I am wrong.

 

I was referring solely to gingerman times in my post if that wasn't clear.

Seat time is by far the best thing to prioritize of course, but yes the OEM LSD is not good. I have ran it at NCM at an event where it would one wheel peel so bad through 7/8 that corner workers thought the tire smoke was something wrong with the car. The issue I have is if you get one of the rears mostly unloaded, which happens often in tighter elements on the exit it basically stops working and spins the unloaded tire. Also happens coming off curbs if you hang a rear wheel as it sounds like you have found out.

A fresh motor was worth a couple seconds at Putnam also.

I am not terribly familiar with the rule book either way as I pretty much assume I am in unlimited or maybe passable for whatever the "unlimited with 200tw class" is at this point with either of the RX8's I usually run on track lol

I am under the impression most people using standalones as far as LS swaps in the RX8 are using Holley pcms which do not do can broadcasts. Most that aren't using Holley are holding onto the stock RX8 PCM for power steering and to run the stock gauges and using GM pcm's to run the engine. The stock PCM/harness etc is substantial weight and engine bay real estate. A lot of LS swaps ditch the stock PCM and typically run BMW steering racks and I am pretty sure that the price of whatever solution to run the electric power steering on its own could cost less than it does to do the BMW swap, for sure if you are buying the off the shelf stuff and not fabricating everything yourself. I am using a e36 rack in my car and everything that entails and it has been fairly problematic and not cheap to execute in an appropriate way for what I am doing with the car and I would swap back to the RX8 steering rack if it would work on its own. I have looked cursory into swapping something like the saturn vue power steering that goes on the column as I have seen that working in a MIata and it works well but haven't got quite that desperate yet. I probably could DIY the RX8 stuff to work also as you have but I would just as soon not.

Something where you would just tap into power and ground, and minimal wiring to whatever the minimum amount of power steering components that need kept in such a way the main harness and pcm can be thrown in a dumpster and be able to use the RX8 steering rack and control board only would be very nice and I think there are quite a few people that would pay good money for it. Power steering solutions are one of the most commonly discussed topics in the LS swapped RX8 fb group.

 

Looks like a huge event with a large turnout. But I personally don't think I'd ever attend one of theirs' as my impression is that the whole thing is geared towards tube / ig / immature racer boys who're very concerned with building their online 'cred' or 'following' for ??? unknown reasons to me (please don't say it's for the 'scene' either, heard it a million times now, it's not true).

Everything I've seen places an unusually heavy importance on media coverage and again, 'being seen' imo. It's almost comical, all it takes to send the world into a downward spiral of self absorbed chaos was to give humanity a supercomputer with a camera. I also find it funny the term 'to follow' or 'followers' is used, the only person anyone should be following is someone who exudes admirable qualities.

Imo, what we need are more visible role models who produce positive works and provide inspiration to society. Anyone who uses the internet for validation or looks into a camera either to record or take pictures of themselves or their 'experience' is lost, point blank. We need less talk about meaningless things like they matters, especially online. The world has become so complacent to the things which actually matter that we now celebrate our demise. These types of accepted group behaviors (which are tech addictions, let's get real) is what has separated society so much in recent years. There's more than a few journals who've published material about the negative psychological effects that social media has on society and the individual and our expectations we hold in regard to that representation of us. I've found that the unfortunate truth is that time is constant and we are not, regardless of our efforts to extend our 'youth' into the later stages of life and that we as a species are very insecure with our mortality and is still a very taboo subject.

Anyways, since everyone who owns an Rx8 is now a 'track car' we should define what that is. I'll start, track cars are not street legal (and their owners actually abide by the law), get towed to their respective events and are not operated on a shoe string budget.

Who's next?

 

Great insight.

What I can say is that I can easily create (I already have hardware design that can do the task) a solution that is power, ground, CAN that will allow an OEM RX-8 power steering rack to operate as OEM. This is actually cheap and easy, and not something that takes up any space or weight. Software gets a little tricky, but it's not a technical challenge. Just time.

Is there some sort of analog/CAN based way a GM PCM broadcasts out engine RPM or other desired cluster metrics? That hardware software would be a bit more complicated, but easy to do, and would also accomplish the same task as allowing OEM PS to work. There's definitely no reason for an OEM PCM to remain in the car during a swap.

If you want, let's chat and I can send you some prototype-ish type stuff if you want to play around?

 

The caliber of equipment and talent at the pointy end that runs gridlife events is certainly as good as anything I have seen and I am sure that their event coverage helps with that. Every gridlife event I have been to has been enjoyable and not terribly different than any other time attack event as far as the driver experience goes as any put on by any other club I have been to. Clearly they are doing something right if they are able to put on large events, and have been around for something like a decade. If they can bring more people into motorsports then more power to them.

 

supposedly the RX8 steering rack can be made reasonable to steer manually; as opposed to trying to operate it manually as-is, but I haven’t gotten my hands one yet to to try and implement that. Spoke to a few people about sending me one and they never came through.
.

 

I have messed around with making an rx8 steering rack usable manually and I can tell you with 315s in the front on a road course it ain't happening unless your other hobby is being a bodybuilder.

 

I think you're thinking way too hard about this, but I'll respond since I do enjoy well documented discussion, even if the conclusion is that there is no right answer.

Sorry if I am taking this personally if I shouldn't be, but I'm assuming a lot of those statement are directed at me as well as the collective Gridlife community. I care very little about personal notoriety and have stated many times before that anything I post in this journal is exactly that: A journal. I like to document things in an honest and frank manner when I am doing them as a activity to reflect on what I have done, and be able to continue to be constantly improving the way I go about things. There have been things I've taken photos of, or bolts I've turned when I was 19 that I absolutely cringe at, and know that I don't want to continue to do things that way. It's a fantastic way to make forward progress. There are definitely some characters in the Gridlife community, and it's really up to you if you wish to follow their antics, or participate in whatever they are doing. I typically don't.

So yeah. Weird way to come in swinging, but that's 100% your choice and I can respect that.

Last words: I think it's a bit immature and unrealistic to create that kind of definition of a race car. But like I said, I really couldn't care less about personal notoriety, so rest assured I will be able to sleep at night knowing you don't think I have a race car.

 

All it needs is to be fed some proper CAN data to the controller to enable assist, and the rest of the assist control is based on the steering shaft torque sensor (read: internal to the rack controller).

You can also read a PID from the controller to get input shaft torque, though it doesn't seem to be super accurate as an absolute torque value.

 

What specifically did you do?
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Yeah, my car has been a mixed-use, do-everything car (given the GT base), so I haven't been too focused on stripping it too much for pure track work / speed. Glad to hear that the 4.77 rear end and OS giken diff are good additions, I'm also sourcing a Mazdaspeed rear wing to get some downforce while keeping a balanced aesthetic.

It's currently pretty comprehensive in terms of bolt-ons (RB intake, exhaust, midpipe, tune -- bilstein PSS coils + progress front sway -- Pettit BBK (more bling than anything) and braided lines -- Vios III seat), tires and wheels are probably the biggest limiting factor as its on 8.5s and 245 PS4S. Might switch over to more grippy rubber once my skill, track exp. and comfort level catches up a bit more to the car's capabilities. I placed second in my timed novice run group next to a stock-ish ND1 on RT660s so can definitely work on improving driver skill.

 

 

DSCCA Summer Heat Autocross - Schoolcraft College, Livonia MI - July 3rd, 2021

Decided on a bit of a whim to go have some fun with a bunch of friends and some of their family at a Detroit region SCCA AutoX. AutoX is always fun as a half day event, and with the long weekend and all my buddies wanting to race it made so much sense to go have fun on a Saturday. Plus I was giving the keys to a good friend of mine to rip the RX-8. He's got small amounts of RWD experience, at least compared to the AWD and rally experience he has. We've always been pretty back to back in karting as far as quickness goes too, so it's always good to see how you stack up against your friends with limited variables.

Queue Friday night: Doing a once over on the car and adjusting the swaybar to be a bit stiffer. As I am looking the car over, I noticed this:





Driver's rear caliper seal looks like it blew out and was dripped fluid. Not too sure how long this has been happening, but it looked like a fairly recent bust. Master cylinder reservoir was definitely low, and even though it wasn't a big leak I wasn't going to hand over the car knowingly with brake issues, no was I going to knowingly run it in competition. I could have taken any one of my other cars, including a new to me STi I brought home literally hours before...but the point of me going racing was really to let my friend drive the RX-8, so I knew this was the car that needed to be ready.

Now I needed a new caliper by 7:30AM the next day, and it was already 9:30PM. I called up all the typical parts stores I could within a 30 minute drive, they all close at 10. OReilly's was the only one who said they could get one in, but not until tomorrow morning when they open. At 7:30AM. I told them it was for a race car and bleh blah bleh, which they took some interest too. I figured if you have a bit more interest in something, you're better off wanting to see the job done. Working in an auto parts store can suck, but working on car parts for a race car can suck just a bit less. It should only take about 10 minutes to swap and bleed the caliper, and I am no stranger to showing up 10 minutes late the places so it was a good a plan as any. Tossed in the order, and prepped the car to be an F1 pitstop of a brake change. Boy if there was ever a time to have quick release brake lines...

Woke up and waited outside the OReilly's door for them to open it, and once they did I was told they messed up the order since it went in late last night, and that the part wouldn't be there until 11:30am. Damn it. Gave my buddies a call and told them to see if we can just change classes and run in the afternoon sessions. Luckily, it was allowed.

So I sat and waited, and got a bunch of other stuff done calling the store every 30 minutes or so just to see if it was in. Ran down there at 11:30 and right as I pulled in they had the part ready. Zoomed on home, tried to get as much fluid in the new caliper as possible before hooking it into the system, popped it in, tried to bleed the brakes a bit myself for about 5 minutes and 15 minutes later I was on the road with the car to the event. Checked in, through tech, and even had some spare time to smash down some pizza my awesome friends had gotten.

Driving was the standard AutoX experience. Run for 50 seconds, then breathe for the first time since and wonder where the hell you're even supposed to go. The car being driven by two drivers actually helped get some heat in it faster, and we kept each other as passengers so we could learn from each run even if we weren't driving.

Last run was the fastest of the bunch (it usually is if you don't mess up) and I ran a 47.575, even though the timing says it was a 47.755... grrrrrrr SCCA...

My buddy ended up running a 47.406 which when I saw the time on his last run I just laughed my *** off. Typical of him to figure out what the fastest way around is by watching someone else...

We placed 27th and 31st (would have been 29th without my botched time) overall out of 168 cars, and 1st and 2nd in SM out of... well us. Stupid SCCA classing is stupid. The fastest time of the day was some awesome local guys in their DSP RX-8 with a 43.646. Not too upset with the performance given a bit of a squishy pedal, and a weight balance of of a friend. PAX is stupid, so I don't even care to dive into thinking about that.



I did get some video of I think my second run??? Finally got it into a new position to be more viewer friendly. The camera did overheat and shutdown so I didn't get all the runs, but it's AutoX so it's not even that interesting.


All in all 10/10 day with some unexpected struggles, and 10/10 would recommend driving race cars with your friends.