I emailed them about their exhaust, intake and ECU chip and this was their response:

"We hope to have the exhaust available in just a few weeks, the intake will follow later this spring/summer. We are nearing completion on the ECU test bench and should be set-up to start reflashing units in the very near future. We will be supplying more specific information regarding availability, pricing, etc... as things progress. Check checking the site, I will post new info as soon as it becomes available."

 

I've been waiting for the release of the exhaust too. I had my Girlfriend hide my Mazda AMEX card from me so I wouldn't spend the money over the holidays. The card is now back in my wallet and itching to be used. So a few more weeks is like a lifetime for me.

 

I hear ya!!, where in miami are you cause my gir is in miami as well and im in miramar?

 

I called them , they are down the street from my house and I told them I want to come buy parts they said they are in NO rush and what to make sure the parts are perfect before they are relased

 

I've decided to not give them my business due to the shady way they acted at first. Shooting down others products using your "influence" and then backtracking (yet still offering cristisim on others products) while claiming theirs will be better is just the same reason I never bought and never will buy a PS2.

They might have a lot of experience, but I dont deal with that kind of people.

 

Everyone has the right/obligation to be proud of their own products, I agree with your views on 'dissin others' products but don't shut yourself out of the opportunity to have the best products....your car will never know who manufactured it......
my god it's late.

 

Genom, I don't remember them shooting down other products. I just remember them saying they haven't been able to reproduce the gains some have claimed. By the same token, they told us what to expect from thier products.

 

They never specifically said any one product. Instead, when they DIDNT have any products anywhere near ready, stated publicly on their page that they had already done testing and that intakes wouldnt add much to anything at all, and neither would exhausts, etc. I remember them claiming under 5HP for any kind of mod at all.

Next when their exhaust is prototyping, it's suddenly possible to make a few HP. And when they start working on a intake, suddenly the Hp IS there, but other peoples gear is noisy.

That kinda shady crap says to me that they dont want my money. I do not for one minute think they will be the only ones to produce any kind of quality parts, so I will stick with others that earn my money, and dont try to scare it out of me.

 

So the truth is shady?

 

No. It's shady to lambast others efforts and then pretend that you didnt, while STILL putting others efforts down.

If they did so much testing as to determine that you CAN make some HP from the intake (now), how come when they didnt have an intake worked on the intake was a waste?(when R-E came out with theirs)

It's called being a bully when I was in grade school, and I will not do business with them. If you want to, fine. *I* will not.

 

I agree with you, and if you poke around you'll see I said something similar in another thread. That said...Racing Beat IS a pretty reputable company, and they DO make quality products. I didn't care for this particular advertising tactic either though, intentional or not.

jds

 

Well, not sure if I agree or disagree with you. One thing to remember though. Engineering accuracy is 5%. If a dyno shows 2-5 HP from an intake, I'd have to say it's not there. Same goes with exhaust.

I suspect their first comments were made to get the "truth" out there. It was after they stated that when others started to claim 20+HP, I think. They make their money selling parts, so if they see a few HP on the dyno, even knowing it may be measurement error, wouldn't you claim it to sell parts if others are?

Some of the customers who are going to buy this stuff will believe anything. I see some adding up the HP from each mod. - which is just silly.

 

I know what ya mean, and I agree they are a reputable company. I have heard good things about their products. It's just that they flat out stated at first that certain products wouldnt give any gains, then did an about face item by item as they get ready to release THEIRS. If they had said something like "We dont think it will work" it would be OK. They flat out said "It will not work". Thats a huge difference in my book.

Now they say "It will work, but ours will be better" when they dont have anything but sway bars out. So first they either flat out lied, or exagerated the truth a great deal, now they brag about something they dont have ready yet.

Dunno, maybe the wording rubbed me the wrong way, but like I said, I wont buy their stuff. I am pretty sure they wont the only ones with any product out for the car, so it's not like I will miss anything.

 

As I recall, I predicted this might happen...

 

Well the HP has to be there somewhere because didn't the RX-Evolv put out 280 hp?

 

Very true. I was hoping they woudlnt pull a stunt like that, but there it is.

BTW Omicron, your PM box was full a couple days ago. Got any space?

 

It should now. It was only full for a couple of hours till I got it emptied out.

 

Choosing to wait for their products or not , their products
will be as stated because of testing and experience. They
are the most experienced mazda aftermarket company in
the US. Racing Beat has been playing/racing mazda's since the early 70's who else has been doing that? Winning championships and beating the factory teams not to mention Bonneville
records. Who helped mazda develop and provide parts for the
Mazdaspeed Protege? I am not saying that there are not
other companies capable of developing and selling great parts,
just that Racing Beat has consistently provided excellent
products some of which are better and less expensive than
official mazda race parts.

 

My feelings on the issue mirror Omicron and Genom. I read their initial statement to mean..."Well you can get SOME gains from standard mods, but it really it is so small it's hardly worth buying." And now they have just about done an about face...

One point NO ONE has brought up, which occured to me is this. Racing Beat is supposed to have such a close relationship with Mazda and they supposedly got a pre-production and a production engine. So that means over EVERYONE else they had a lead in development time of how many months??? We have some seriously reputable brands available on both sides of the ocean already, but Racing Beat with their "connection" and ability to start development prior to release of the RX-8, still hasn't release any engine mods??! Come on...

Like Genom, I don't really care what their quality etc. is like. The only way companies listen is when you complain with your wallet. So I won't be buying from Racing Beat if I can help it...

 

As in the movie : FEW GOOD MEN .

Some people just cant handle the truth .

michael

 

I don't quite agree with the negativity towards RB here. I bought one of their intakes for my Miata and it was a great product; installed easily and worked as advertised. I actually met and talked with one of the owners at RB when I went down there and nothing I saw there was disreputable or "shady" in any way.

When they say the standard mods produce "few hp" and then claim theirs is producing a "few hp," to me that is consistency. My guess is the reason why they are taking so long is they are trying to get something worthwhile in performance out of these mods to justify charging customers for it. As always when you add several mods together correctly you can get some hp gain but will it be worth the cost? Is 12 hp gain worth $2,000 and will customers buy all that for such little gain?

I think they were early on trying to help people's expectations to be realistic about the gains the standard mods would bring. I don't see them claiming 20 hp from an intake, or exhaust, etc. Probably won't even get that with all of the mods combined (ECU mod excepted). If Canzoomer's Stage 1 mod only offered 5 hp I wouldn't have ordered it for $500, and absolutely wouldn't pay $750 for it. RB has to ask themselves that question if that's what they charge for an exhaust system....the answer is probably no, people won't pay hundreds of dollars for 5 hp gain. They will if it "sounds great" so they made a big point of talking about sound quality.

I think some of you are being unnecessarily harsh and unfair to RB; their products (in my experience) are high quality and deliver as advertised. I plan on giving their exhaust system a serious look and listen.

 

No one has denied that they make good products (I will say, I'm not convinced that they always put performance first and foremost ....see the emphasis on quietness in their exhaust and intake products, not that that's necessarily bad).
It is that perception that they were badmouthing the competiton to give themselves time to develop their own similar products. Now, they may not have intended it to look that way...but it did, at least to a number of people. I noticed it, and I have been very, very far from being anti-RB. I won't go so far as to say I wouldn't buy from them either, however I did feel their comments to be a bit irritating.

jds

 

RB is a business and they develop products to make money. They could have put together an exhaust months ago and claimed a 15+hp performance gain. They could have beat other manufactures to the market and made a ton of cash. But they didn't because they are making sure everything is perfect before the release. Most other tuners have based their numbers off chassis dynos. RB used an engine dyno for their numbers. It ever occur to you guys that the chassis dynos could be off due to the RX-8's TCS/DCS. Remember a while back when "Dont_Be_A_Rikki" reported a 10+hp gain with the Tornado. We can sit here and argue RB business practices all day long but who ever has the best product is the one that is going to get my business.

 

I can understand RB wanting to "inform" the community of their early finds, but... your first sentence says it all..."RB is a business and they develop products to make money." Given that... casting whatever kind of light (bad or even good) on competing prodcuts that are already available when your team is still developing them just looks plain old bad. They shouldn't have made any comments other than "we are working on X, Y, and Z) until prodcuts were ready to release or were released.

And again... if RB is in so good with Mazda and had their pre-production and production engines so early, what's the hold up? Your claim to wokring on perfection is beyond reasonable. I'm not even saying they should have beaten everyone else to the market... I'm saying that almost a year after the car was released is just a bit long for someone whom had access to an engine at least months before. If they released the cat-back 2 or 3 months after Borla first released theirs I'd say nothing about this.

As was said... I have little to no doubts about the fit and finish, quality of their prodcuts. With their experience and relationship to Mazda, they'll be good. BUT...

1. They are unreasonably late
- Hello!! people have developed ECU mods in this time and they can't even put out a freakin' muffler?!

2. Those PR comments... it was just unethical business. Even if it wasn't intentional, that doesn't excuse them from responsibility for their comments. Leaders of nations get called out on them all the time...what excuses RB?

Perhaps what they need is someone to handle their PR??

As far as the dyno goes... we'd like to think that everyone knows about "limp mode" and has taken steps to circumvent this during their testing.

 

Well put. My sentiments exactly.