Not sure if anybody has pulled this off, but what would it take to get the 8 to pull 1g? Wider tires, Tein Flex+EDFC, strut braces, and sways would be stardard equip, but at what sizes, stiffness, and settings?

I think an 8 that can do mid to low 13s, skidpad of 1g, and slalom numbers that look like typos would make for an heck of a road/track/touge car.

 

Just R-compound tires would do the trick. Skid pad numbers are about grip.

 

Yeah, but how could it be accomplished with street tires? I wonder what it would take to make the 8 unassuming. Where people say, "I knew the RX-8 could handle, but DAMN!!! That's just freaken sick!!!"

I guess it's kind of a project I thinking of on the drawing board.

 

Falken RT-615's along with the stuff you mentioned above + maybe the Auto Exe chassis under brace.

 

Any number of combinations will get you where you want to go, but how would you wow someone by just taking them for a ride? If you auto x I could see the purpose behind your task, but other than that no one is really ever going to notice.

Aside from that you’re going to make your 8 ride ridiculously rough! I applaud you for working on the right part of the car, as opposed to adding power; you can actually make some signifigant gains. However, be aware that these gains come at the cost of a crappy ride.

 

Well on Racing Beat's site they claim to have hit .89-.90g with stock tires and their swaybars. I have RB sways + MazdaSpeed F/R strut tower brace + AutoExe subframe brace and use Dunlop SuperSport Race tires for the track. That setup might be close to 1 G.

 

I have the springs, swaybars & strut bars, they didn't really make my ride that much rougher (maybe 10%). My switch from 18" to 19" is made it rougher ! If you stick with 18" 245/40/18's I think you will be fine. That is true that unless you autocross or hit the canyons seriously hard what would you need 1.0g's for ?

 

so you can be glued to the road

I've read somewhere JIC rx8 has 1.0X g skidpad. Well with all those things installed the skidpad will improve, but more importantly the slalom would be a lot better too.

 

There's some play in the camber settings, both front and back

 

Yeah, I'm going to be sticking to 18"s most def. As far as needing 1g, it's kind of a future project I'm starting. I'm trying to see if I can get the 8 to be a decent(spell check???) streetable car (i.e. not so harsh ride) and have handles like Allen Iverson. It's my guess that this set up with about 260 - 290whp should turn in some shocking time attack numbers for a car with full interior, street tires, you know ... daily drivable.

 

get some sticky DOT tires (falken 615's) sway bars...should get you pretty close to 1g, then get a good coilover setup, and dial the car in to go for the extra punch. if you spend the money right and do the work yourself you could get his car to pull 1g for ~2k dollars (tires and suspension parts) IMO, thats not bad.

My miata would pull 1g+ with street tires (kumho 205/50/15) ground control coil-overs, racing beat sway bars/end links, front and rear strut braces, foam filled side sills, roll bar, hard top

 

those stupid braces aren't doing squat for you at 1G, the RX-8 has one of the most torsionally rigid chassis ever made

 

Doesn't a stock RX-8 pull 0.88g on the skidpad?

Sticky tires such as the Falkens, or if you're rich, Hoosier R3S04s, will really help in your quest for pulling 32.2 ft/s^2 laterally.

Your project will be difficult, but not impossible. However you will have to give up a lot on the RX-8's soft ride to get there. There are tons of things to consider when modifying the suspension. For me, it's a black art, so I'm stuck using a trial-and-error method. If you're really hardcore about building an auto-X, track monster or drift machine, invest in a book about racecar dynamics. Check Amazon or other websites.

 

Fellow engineer eh?
Where I come from, it's 9.81 m/s^2 :p

 

its all about the tires. kumho V710 is a street legal tire and that would be easy.

skidpad tests are on very tight circles. we recorded 1.2 sustained lateral g's on robin's fancy data recorder at an autox on stock tires (when they were fresh).

soft suspension is fine, but put in lots of negative camber on the outside, 3+ degrees and that will help. street prepared autocross cars register about 1.4 lateral with the older DOT tires, and 1.7 g's with slicks.

james

 

Skidpad numbers say nothing about handling. It just says you have a lot of grip.

 

I was thinking about the Tein Flex suspension setup. (that'll cost me) With strut bars and sways. Anyone have this setup? If so how is the ride? I don't want it to be too harsh. I don't want to hear my mom or girlfriend complaining when I give them rides.

 

You guys do realize the strut tower braces are a waste of money. The RX8 much like the Miata does not have a normal "strut suspension", it uses upper and lower A Arms to carry the load.

Because most people here take Racing Beat as the holy grail of Mazda parts take a page from them. In there catalog they state they found no improvement or need for a strut tower brace on the Miata. That is an open top car that was designed over 10 years ago. The RX8 is a much better design and with the same type suspension and stands to gain even less.

If I were racing my car in a class that allowed me to change the brace I would just take it off to save weight.

If you want to hit 1+g just get the best tires you can afford. No reason you can not drive every day on DOT R compound tires. The Kumho Ecsta V700 makes a great dual purpose street/track tire and with that alone you would be over 1g. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....del=ECSTA+V700
Just for reference I have over 400 miles street miles and 75 autox runs on the much softer Kumho V710 and still have 50% tread. You could get 5000+ miles out of a set of Ecsta V700 if you drove the $hit out of them.

While you are tossing money away and adding all those heavy braces to your stock cars dont forget this important item:
http://www.tornado-fuelsaver.tv/?sou...20fuel%20saver

 

We did some tire testing a few years back and had a data acquisition system in our car so I have some good data points. Our past autox car an A Stock 1989 Corvette. The car from GM bone stock on the OE Goodyear tires was rated at .91gs.

With a performance alignment, a set of Koni shocks and a set of Kumho Ecsta MX street tires we were able to pull 1.04gs.

With no other changes but a set of Kumho V700 Victoracers we were at 1.23gs.

All the tires were the same size and the test was done on the same track on the same day.

The biggest problem I see with the RX8 from the factory, well other than lack of power, is the tires they put on it. Not only are they way to narrow for a 2800lb+ car, no doubt done to help with EPA and fuel economy numbers, but they are a tad on the hard side.

Without a better tire there is nothing you can bolt on that will get you the results you want. The best thing you could do is get some 245-40-18 or wider high performance tires. If you don’t want the R compound tires get the Ecsta MX, BFG KD, Falken, Toyo, Yokohama, etc.

 

Just watching Car & Driver TV this morning & the new Miata has a strut bar.

I agree with you the stock tires are crap.

Just a little bit of explanation of the "theoretical" use of strut bar :

http://www.uucmotorwerks.com/STB/wha..._bar_more.html
&
http://www.uucmotorwerks.com/STB/what_is_a_bar.html

 

Nothing but marketing. Look at most any of the Mazda's in Street prepared or Street mod and those bars are gone.

If you look at the doc you attached those are for a "real" strut suspension, the BMW does not have an upper A Arm like the Mazda. A car with a real strut suspension, BMW, Camaro/Firebird, Mustang etc will benifit from a bar.

 

Why is it that all of those people that have purchased the Mazdaspeed strut brace have said it made an improvement? Was it all in their head? Were there any numbers published to show there was an actual improvement? I just fail to see how the stock bar is not doing the same job as the Mazdaspeed version.

My Friend owns an S2000 and his son owns an Impreza. Both have strut bars installed, and when I ask them was there an improvement, they both said there was a big improvement. Would a strut bar help these two cars?

 

There was like a night and day difference after upgrading my strut bar with the Mazdaspeed one. The sensation of the car leaning into the turn was lessened to the point where I could confidently snap around corners much, much harder than I used to do, or go around carousel like curves much faster than I did before. Maybe the car is just as capable of such hard cornering stock, but it sure didn't FEEL like it could without something giving way. And in the case of the Mazdaspeed strut bar, you're also getting the brake brace as well.

 

Wouldn't an anti-roll bar be more effective than a strut bar when it comes to cornering? Or do I know absolutely nothing about suspension? lol

 

It is so funny to hear guys that bolt on some part and via the Butt Dyno come up with some statement like "its a whole new car". BS

That is like saying you did an airfilter and felt the 2hp.