£1000 RX8 sprint/track-car project
Discussion
pistolpete12 said:
Ahh i saw that i was sat in the grandstand gawping at your car when you were queuing, i used to have a 1995 wrx sti RA which was amazing
Got to love the classic RA's, awesome cars! I've just sold my V2 STI RA but still have V2 STI RA V limited....I can't bring myself to be without a classic as well. Are you on Type-RA.com by any chance?seiben said:
Legend83 said:
Love this thread! Wish I had the skills, time and money to use my RX8 like this (as should be!), alas I just get to enjoy her on the B roads on the way to work.
You can enter in a stock car as well... Ours was, pretty much, when we started. The class system caters for it pretty well. It's cheaper than a weekend track day too 
Hi ya
To be honest its very simple.
they have the website
http://www.javelinsprintdays.co.uk/sprint/
or
http://www.japanesesprintseries.com/jsprint1/
(we run the jap series)
where they are regs and class explanations,
Only thing you need to do are normal track day check overs, and mark your battery neutral cable in yellow tape
You enter on the website, select the class your car falls in (if not sure there is a face book page for both series)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/JavelinSprintdays/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/JapaneseSprintSeri...
lots of helpful people on there
over the course of the year you get to know everyone and its a great bunch or just ask me or ben
about a week before the event you get a link to a download page with all the times you need for the day and any instructions,
also a car check list which you sign and take on the day, as well as a race license form, more of an insurance thing, its £5 for the day or £15 for the year
then you turn up on the day.. queue up have a the car a quick check over and noise tested if needed then go sign on..
you have 2 sighting laps, then a practice run then your runs through out the day, you are called up on a tonnoy in class order. Its all very light hearted and a great laugh,
I am sure ben will be along soon he is much better at explaining things than me!
Joing the two face book pages, you have the awards pics of cadwell just gone up, you can see how much a a laugh people are having..
You can do 1 event in a year or all its entirely up to you
To be honest its very simple.
they have the website
http://www.javelinsprintdays.co.uk/sprint/
or
http://www.japanesesprintseries.com/jsprint1/
(we run the jap series)
where they are regs and class explanations,
Only thing you need to do are normal track day check overs, and mark your battery neutral cable in yellow tape
You enter on the website, select the class your car falls in (if not sure there is a face book page for both series)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/JavelinSprintdays/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/JapaneseSprintSeri...
lots of helpful people on there
over the course of the year you get to know everyone and its a great bunch or just ask me or ben
about a week before the event you get a link to a download page with all the times you need for the day and any instructions,
also a car check list which you sign and take on the day, as well as a race license form, more of an insurance thing, its £5 for the day or £15 for the year
then you turn up on the day.. queue up have a the car a quick check over and noise tested if needed then go sign on..
you have 2 sighting laps, then a practice run then your runs through out the day, you are called up on a tonnoy in class order. Its all very light hearted and a great laugh,
I am sure ben will be along soon he is much better at explaining things than me!
Joing the two face book pages, you have the awards pics of cadwell just gone up, you can see how much a a laugh people are having..
You can do 1 event in a year or all its entirely up to you
MikeDrop said:
Would love to hear a little more about how to enter these types of events, if you can spare the time?
Absolutely - essentially there are two serieseseses run by Javelin, the Javelin Trackdays Sprint Series (JTSS) and the Japanese Sprint Series (JSS). The former is for all makes and models, and the latter is for (you guessed it) Japanese cars, with a 'class X' for anything else that comes along and fancies a bit of a go.Classes are based on engine size (with multipliers for forced induction, rotary etc) and spec (stock, lightly modified, heavily modified).
EDIT: just seen Pete has beaten me to it
but - if it helps, and assuming you're looking to run the Eunos, you'll be in class J11/12 if it's a naturally aspirated 1.8 or J13/14 if it's a 1.6. Feel free to drop either of us a PM if you'd like any more info. There's also a round of the Jap series at Snetterton the last weekend of October if you fancy a go 
Brilliant thread .........
Not often I read a thread from beginning to end. As an ex-RX8 231 owner I started off thinking 'I actually quite like the 19 inch wheels', to see you making great progress by page 5, gutted to see the mess on page 7, delighted to see it back together again and topped of with a trophy... brilliant... even if the car does look like its made up from multiple coloured RX's by the end of it, wheels an all.
My thoughts along the way from all the questions:
1. They are brilliant handling fun cars and brilliant value for money, if you can have one at least once in you life go for it.
2. Leave some money for essentials, a big high power battery, set of jump leads, new coil packs and a tow rope.
3. Learn the essentials, don't turn it off when cold, if it does flood foot to the floor starts without the fuel pump but battery may go flat, towing it is the easiest way to start it.
4. Oil usage doesn't mean its knackered, they are designed to use it, starting and smoking is a better indicator of condition.
5. Also put mine in a field, if it really slippery on the roads put some weight in the boot.
6. Changed the brake pads/discs on mine too, the brakes can be weak if pushed hard.
7. The 231 is the way to go if you can, I think they have an additional valve thingy that opens up to get the additional revs..
8. If you are going to use as a road car, go pre 2006 for the chaeper road tax.
9. Has a fantastic sounding Bose stereo as standard.
Keep up the great work, here's a picture of mine at Snetterton to keep you inspired
Forgot to add - love the M5, another good choice.
Not often I read a thread from beginning to end. As an ex-RX8 231 owner I started off thinking 'I actually quite like the 19 inch wheels', to see you making great progress by page 5, gutted to see the mess on page 7, delighted to see it back together again and topped of with a trophy... brilliant... even if the car does look like its made up from multiple coloured RX's by the end of it, wheels an all.
My thoughts along the way from all the questions:
1. They are brilliant handling fun cars and brilliant value for money, if you can have one at least once in you life go for it.
2. Leave some money for essentials, a big high power battery, set of jump leads, new coil packs and a tow rope.
3. Learn the essentials, don't turn it off when cold, if it does flood foot to the floor starts without the fuel pump but battery may go flat, towing it is the easiest way to start it.
4. Oil usage doesn't mean its knackered, they are designed to use it, starting and smoking is a better indicator of condition.
5. Also put mine in a field, if it really slippery on the roads put some weight in the boot.
6. Changed the brake pads/discs on mine too, the brakes can be weak if pushed hard.
7. The 231 is the way to go if you can, I think they have an additional valve thingy that opens up to get the additional revs..
8. If you are going to use as a road car, go pre 2006 for the chaeper road tax.
9. Has a fantastic sounding Bose stereo as standard.
Keep up the great work, here's a picture of mine at Snetterton to keep you inspired
Forgot to add - love the M5, another good choice.
Edited by V-Rod on Wednesday 17th October 20:53
seiben said:
Absolutely - essentially there are two serieseseses run by Javelin, the Javelin Trackdays Sprint Series (JTSS) and the Japanese Sprint Series (JSS). The former is for all makes and models, and the latter is for (you guessed it) Japanese cars, with a 'class X' for anything else that comes along and fancies a bit of a go.
Classes are based on engine size (with multipliers for forced induction, rotary etc) and spec (stock, lightly modified, heavily modified).
Bah. Might be fun but the MPS is a bit heavy and soft...yet while standard also too big an engine and AWD which fits into the J5 "up to 400hp". Classes are based on engine size (with multipliers for forced induction, rotary etc) and spec (stock, lightly modified, heavily modified).
The Mondeo entering in the X2 would probably have more chance. Fastdruid said:
Bah. Might be fun but the MPS is a bit heavy and soft...yet while standard also too big an engine and AWD which fits into the J5 "up to 400hp". The Mondeo entering in the X2 would probably have more chance.
Give it a go anyway - the fun isn't necessarily being competitive in class, just set your first time for the day and see how much you can beat it. We often end up in battles with people in other classes who happen to be of a similar pace to us, whilst being completely outgunned in our own class (such as last year - Lotus Exige, anyone?). The Mondeo entering in the X2 would probably have more chance. The trophies are cheap and nasty anyway
seiben said:
The trophies are cheap and nasty anyway
)
But Ben has got the wankle cup for the winter this time
But very true what ben says.. i can end up in a class of my own sometimes when he doesn't turn up
So i actually end having a good laugh with kev atkins in his time attack gt86, we have had great battles even though we are in different classes we are still battling overall, and know we are competitively close so just aim for each others times
Edited by pistolpete12 on Thursday 18th October 08:30
Edited by pistolpete12 on Thursday 18th October 08:32
seiben said:
MikeDrop said:
Would love to hear a little more about how to enter these types of events, if you can spare the time?
Absolutely - essentially there are two serieseseses run by Javelin, the Javelin Trackdays Sprint Series (JTSS) and the Japanese Sprint Series (JSS). The former is for all makes and models, and the latter is for (you guessed it) Japanese cars, with a 'class X' for anything else that comes along and fancies a bit of a go.Classes are based on engine size (with multipliers for forced induction, rotary etc) and spec (stock, lightly modified, heavily modified).
EDIT: just seen Pete has beaten me to it
but - if it helps, and assuming you're looking to run the Eunos, you'll be in class J11/12 if it's a naturally aspirated 1.8 or J13/14 if it's a 1.6. Feel free to drop either of us a PM if you'd like any more info. There's also a round of the Jap series at Snetterton the last weekend of October if you fancy a go pistolpete12 said:
Hi ya
To be honest its very simple.
they have the website
http://www.javelinsprintdays.co.uk/sprint/
or
http://www.japanesesprintseries.com/jsprint1/
(we run the jap series)
where they are regs and class explanations,
Only thing you need to do are normal track day check overs, and mark your battery neutral cable in yellow tape
You enter on the website, select the class your car falls in (if not sure there is a face book page for both series)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/JavelinSprintdays/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/JapaneseSprintSeri...
lots of helpful people on there
over the course of the year you get to know everyone and its a great bunch or just ask me or ben
about a week before the event you get a link to a download page with all the times you need for the day and any instructions,
also a car check list which you sign and take on the day, as well as a race license form, more of an insurance thing, its £5 for the day or £15 for the year
then you turn up on the day.. queue up have a the car a quick check over and noise tested if needed then go sign on..
you have 2 sighting laps, then a practice run then your runs through out the day, you are called up on a tonnoy in class order. Its all very light hearted and a great laugh,
I am sure ben will be along soon he is much better at explaining things than me!
Joing the two face book pages, you have the awards pics of cadwell just gone up, you can see how much a a laugh people are having..
You can do 1 event in a year or all its entirely up to you
Thanks both - really helpful! To be honest its very simple.
they have the website
http://www.javelinsprintdays.co.uk/sprint/
or
http://www.japanesesprintseries.com/jsprint1/
(we run the jap series)
where they are regs and class explanations,
Only thing you need to do are normal track day check overs, and mark your battery neutral cable in yellow tape
You enter on the website, select the class your car falls in (if not sure there is a face book page for both series)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/JavelinSprintdays/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/JapaneseSprintSeri...
lots of helpful people on there
over the course of the year you get to know everyone and its a great bunch or just ask me or ben
about a week before the event you get a link to a download page with all the times you need for the day and any instructions,
also a car check list which you sign and take on the day, as well as a race license form, more of an insurance thing, its £5 for the day or £15 for the year
then you turn up on the day.. queue up have a the car a quick check over and noise tested if needed then go sign on..
you have 2 sighting laps, then a practice run then your runs through out the day, you are called up on a tonnoy in class order. Its all very light hearted and a great laugh,
I am sure ben will be along soon he is much better at explaining things than me!
Joing the two face book pages, you have the awards pics of cadwell just gone up, you can see how much a a laugh people are having..
You can do 1 event in a year or all its entirely up to you
Would be doing it in my Eunos, yes. So will keep an eye out for events next year
How do peoples
A little update from me again, although i am sure Ben is going to update with his new purchase and what we got upto at the weekend..
Anyway, here are a couple of pics of the car at Cadwell, taken by Darren of PistonBroke photography, Car looks so happy
IMG_8465 by peteandkel, on Flickr
IMG_6450 by peteandkel, on Flickr
Flames!
IMG_6447 by peteandkel, on Flickr
Just look at it's happy face
IMG_3031 by peteandkel, on Flickr
IMG_2449 by peteandkel, on Flickr
IMG_2442 by peteandkel, on Flickr
IMG_0636 by peteandkel, on Flickr
After looking through the other pics, i can't wait to get the new antiroll bars on
Also ben has purchased a lightened flywheel to go with our clutch, another job over winter
Saturday 27th October, Final round of the Japanese/Mazda Sprint series, and my birthday, Unfortunatly no Ben, but my wife, Daughter and our good friend Jackie came out for the day
We travelled up on the friday, got to the track to offload for scrutineering and the car smoked.. Badly..It cleared as soon as it warmed up. It went straight through scrutineering and tucked away in the garage for the night. but left me on edge all night as to why it was smoking...
So Saturday came.. It was wet, damp and cold.. just the weather the racecat hates. I started the rx up expecting smoke everywhere, and nothing. it started up and ran fine.. Looking back i think it was where it was wet driving up on the trailer and load of water got on the air filter.
So with sighting runs done, out onto practice, car felt good albeit a little slippery still running R888Rs in the wet. but to secure my postition in the class and over for the year was just to get a time on the board.
So Run 1, in the car, car running, all strapped up. go to pull away. the car dies. Balls.. From previous experience managed to fix very quickly (fuel pump relay AGAIN!)
So out for run 1, ran well didn't push at all just got a time in.
Run 2, the track had dried, still damp but enough to go and push it, with my best lap time begnnning of the year in same conditions being a 2.33 i went out and pushed.. putting in a 2.18 I was very pleased, even more so when i found out that i was within half a second on the MX5 turbo and MR2 mk1 turbo that had been beating us all year by many seconds.
Then the rain came.. than was it for fast runs for the day, the rest now although timed, no one was going faster. the rx8 really does not like damp conditions.
But my 2.18 means i picked up 3 places overall for the year in the Jap series meaning i finished 6th overall!!! in our little £999 rx8 (plus some mods) but still stock engine, putting some other much more powerful cars to shame..
Finished jap series, 6th overal and 1st in class J8, Ben coming in Second in J8
Mazda series 2nd overall (i am very proud of this and was my aim this year) and 1st in class, Ben 2nd in class
Its been a brilliant year, cannot wait for 2019.
Me and Ben are out saturday to give Donington a try on a track day, never been before.
Here is my vid from Snetterton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgOi-kOAPeI&t
Some pictures of the day
45331507_1747149592080267_6626496859638595584_n by peteandkel, on Flickr
cheesy winning face
45130418_10217870764742401_2995758865988976640_n by peteandkel, on Flickr
TeamSpeed Minus Ben
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56408324@N06/3080060...
ready for actioon
45057820_10155630846322007_4639294940084436992_n by peteandkel, on Flickr
45008542_10156861866382958_7597159623153418240_n by peteandkel, on Flickr
44897463_10156861863057958_2472677517723435008_n by peteandkel, on Flickr
44881850_10155573907956507_5550608093156474880_n by peteandkel, on Flickr
Big thanks to all the marshalls, everyone at javelin, Kel, Alix, Daisy and Jacks
Family support makes a huge difference and they really push me to make sure we get to each and every event we can
Kel won't even book holidays until race dates are out, She's awesome
A little update from me again, although i am sure Ben is going to update with his new purchase and what we got upto at the weekend..
Anyway, here are a couple of pics of the car at Cadwell, taken by Darren of PistonBroke photography, Car looks so happy
IMG_8465 by peteandkel, on FlickrIMG_6450 by peteandkel, on FlickrFlames!
IMG_6447 by peteandkel, on FlickrJust look at it's happy face
IMG_3031 by peteandkel, on FlickrIMG_2449 by peteandkel, on FlickrIMG_2442 by peteandkel, on FlickrIMG_0636 by peteandkel, on FlickrAfter looking through the other pics, i can't wait to get the new antiroll bars on
Also ben has purchased a lightened flywheel to go with our clutch, another job over winter
Saturday 27th October, Final round of the Japanese/Mazda Sprint series, and my birthday, Unfortunatly no Ben, but my wife, Daughter and our good friend Jackie came out for the day
We travelled up on the friday, got to the track to offload for scrutineering and the car smoked.. Badly..It cleared as soon as it warmed up. It went straight through scrutineering and tucked away in the garage for the night. but left me on edge all night as to why it was smoking...
So Saturday came.. It was wet, damp and cold.. just the weather the racecat hates. I started the rx up expecting smoke everywhere, and nothing. it started up and ran fine.. Looking back i think it was where it was wet driving up on the trailer and load of water got on the air filter.
So with sighting runs done, out onto practice, car felt good albeit a little slippery still running R888Rs in the wet. but to secure my postition in the class and over for the year was just to get a time on the board.
So Run 1, in the car, car running, all strapped up. go to pull away. the car dies. Balls.. From previous experience managed to fix very quickly (fuel pump relay AGAIN!)
So out for run 1, ran well didn't push at all just got a time in.
Run 2, the track had dried, still damp but enough to go and push it, with my best lap time begnnning of the year in same conditions being a 2.33 i went out and pushed.. putting in a 2.18 I was very pleased, even more so when i found out that i was within half a second on the MX5 turbo and MR2 mk1 turbo that had been beating us all year by many seconds.
Then the rain came.. than was it for fast runs for the day, the rest now although timed, no one was going faster. the rx8 really does not like damp conditions.
But my 2.18 means i picked up 3 places overall for the year in the Jap series meaning i finished 6th overall!!! in our little £999 rx8 (plus some mods) but still stock engine, putting some other much more powerful cars to shame..
Finished jap series, 6th overal and 1st in class J8, Ben coming in Second in J8
Mazda series 2nd overall (i am very proud of this and was my aim this year) and 1st in class, Ben 2nd in class
Its been a brilliant year, cannot wait for 2019.
Me and Ben are out saturday to give Donington a try on a track day, never been before.
Here is my vid from Snetterton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgOi-kOAPeI&t
Some pictures of the day
45331507_1747149592080267_6626496859638595584_n by peteandkel, on Flickrcheesy winning face
45130418_10217870764742401_2995758865988976640_n by peteandkel, on FlickrTeamSpeed Minus Ben
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56408324@N06/3080060...
ready for actioon
45057820_10155630846322007_4639294940084436992_n by peteandkel, on Flickr45008542_10156861866382958_7597159623153418240_n by peteandkel, on Flickr44897463_10156861863057958_2472677517723435008_n by peteandkel, on Flickr44881850_10155573907956507_5550608093156474880_n by peteandkel, on FlickrBig thanks to all the marshalls, everyone at javelin, Kel, Alix, Daisy and Jacks
Family support makes a huge difference and they really push me to make sure we get to each and every event we can
Kel won't even book holidays until race dates are out, She's awesome
Edited by pistolpete12 on Tuesday 6th November 00:24
Not a hugely exciting update after Pete’s epic weekend of sprinting success, but we did manage to get up to Donington last weekend for a trackday. It was a good opportunity to test out a few things – firstly, to see if my new (to me!) tow-car could realistically look after us for a weekend away!
Fortunately the answer is yes – the 1500 quid golden dream machine did rather well for itself. Which was a relief
Second, and third, was for me to drive the car after its recent crash diet, and try out some second-hand R888s we’d bought to use as general track-day tyres.
It’s fair to say the day didn’t start all that smoothly, with our previous fuelling problems rearing their heads early on. I’d not even got the car off the trailer before it cut out, and half an hour fiddling with our ever-growing stash of spare relays finally got us up and running…. Only to find on the sighting laps that the high-pressure fuel pump wasn’t running and we were hitting the proverbial power brick-wall at about 4k rpm. We eventually got out onto a still-wet track for a short while, dodging unbelievable amounts of traffic and some pretty terrible track etiquette, before the inevitable red-flag and the madness started all over again.
Still, it wasn’t all bad. There were a glorious couple of hours late morning when a dry line had appeared, we were mercifully free of red flags and all hundred-odd cars hadn’t been let out of the pits into the same f
king traffic jam. Again. What a track it is! We’ll have some vid coming soon, but heading down Craner Curves flat in 4th is a glorious feeling
Fuelling aside, the RX8 performed admirably and racked up around 80 laps during the day (almost as many as an entire season of sprinting!) without complaint. It rained after lunch which slowed things slightly (and brought out the red flags as more and more corners became decorated with the bumpers of Honda Civics), and after a couple of spins (me), a hard launch over the sausage curbs (Pete) and running out of fuel (both of us) we called it a day.
Plans for winter are still building, but we’ve got a nice list to get started with…
We’ll be aiming to run in the Japanese Sprint Series again next year – with any luck I’ll be able to manage all of the rounds this time – with occasional dips into the Javelin Sprint Series when dates allow. I reckon we’ve got about 4 months to get all of the above sorted, hopefully with a track day or two as a shake down. Best get cracking!
As ever, have some obligatory pics from the latest track outing. Until next time!
Fortunately the answer is yes – the 1500 quid golden dream machine did rather well for itself. Which was a relief
Second, and third, was for me to drive the car after its recent crash diet, and try out some second-hand R888s we’d bought to use as general track-day tyres.
It’s fair to say the day didn’t start all that smoothly, with our previous fuelling problems rearing their heads early on. I’d not even got the car off the trailer before it cut out, and half an hour fiddling with our ever-growing stash of spare relays finally got us up and running…. Only to find on the sighting laps that the high-pressure fuel pump wasn’t running and we were hitting the proverbial power brick-wall at about 4k rpm. We eventually got out onto a still-wet track for a short while, dodging unbelievable amounts of traffic and some pretty terrible track etiquette, before the inevitable red-flag and the madness started all over again.
Still, it wasn’t all bad. There were a glorious couple of hours late morning when a dry line had appeared, we were mercifully free of red flags and all hundred-odd cars hadn’t been let out of the pits into the same f
king traffic jam. Again. What a track it is! We’ll have some vid coming soon, but heading down Craner Curves flat in 4th is a glorious feeling Fuelling aside, the RX8 performed admirably and racked up around 80 laps during the day (almost as many as an entire season of sprinting!) without complaint. It rained after lunch which slowed things slightly (and brought out the red flags as more and more corners became decorated with the bumpers of Honda Civics), and after a couple of spins (me), a hard launch over the sausage curbs (Pete) and running out of fuel (both of us) we called it a day.
Plans for winter are still building, but we’ve got a nice list to get started with…
- Replace clutch with 6-paddle competition clutch (already purchased)
- Lightweight flywheel and counterweight (already purchased)
- Front and rear adjustable anti-roll bars (already purchased)
- More weight saving (there’s a lot of wiring in there doing not a lot!)
- Front splitter and (possibly) flat floor
- Repair the inevitable sill rust
- Fit adjustable rear suspension arms
- Wheel spacers
We’ll be aiming to run in the Japanese Sprint Series again next year – with any luck I’ll be able to manage all of the rounds this time – with occasional dips into the Javelin Sprint Series when dates allow. I reckon we’ve got about 4 months to get all of the above sorted, hopefully with a track day or two as a shake down. Best get cracking!
As ever, have some obligatory pics from the latest track outing. Until next time!
We managed to pick up a set of Uniroyal Rainsport 3 before Cadwell, and I'm very glad we did.... it was a tad wet!
I've never really got my head around Cadwell Park before - it was always wet on sprint events, and I've never done a trackday before. Fortunately we managed to book onto the quietest trackday I've ever seen - only 25 cars - so we both got plenty of laps in and I feel much more comfortable with the circuit. Car ran beautifully all day, and I have to say I'm absolutely astonished by how much grip the Rainsprouts have!
If anyone fancies watching a few of our laps (well, it's Friday and you're probably all killing time before the weekend!)...
Mine:
https://youtu.be/rqpmEIF6Z9I
Pete's
https://youtu.be/dcLqBqZXdcc
As ever, any critique very welcome
...and in other news, we've booked onto a trackday at Spa in April! Best make sure it's still working then
I've never really got my head around Cadwell Park before - it was always wet on sprint events, and I've never done a trackday before. Fortunately we managed to book onto the quietest trackday I've ever seen - only 25 cars - so we both got plenty of laps in and I feel much more comfortable with the circuit. Car ran beautifully all day, and I have to say I'm absolutely astonished by how much grip the Rainsprouts have!
If anyone fancies watching a few of our laps (well, it's Friday and you're probably all killing time before the weekend!)...
Mine:
https://youtu.be/rqpmEIF6Z9I
Pete's
https://youtu.be/dcLqBqZXdcc
As ever, any critique very welcome
...and in other news, we've booked onto a trackday at Spa in April! Best make sure it's still working then
Nice to see you guys still kicking ass with this.
I think the last time I saw Pete was at a damp cold day at Brands when you still had the MR2. I had a very similar experience in October at Donignton with a load of red flags and terrible track etiquette haha.
Would be cool to meet up with you guys again at a trackday or something, which Spa day are you doing?
I think the last time I saw Pete was at a damp cold day at Brands when you still had the MR2. I had a very similar experience in October at Donignton with a load of red flags and terrible track etiquette haha.
Would be cool to meet up with you guys again at a trackday or something, which Spa day are you doing?
Ok, it’s absolutely about time we had an update here! The RX8 languished on its trailer for several weeks over Christmas before we got our act together and got stuck into the one job we’ve been putting off for some time… changing the clutch. I’d picked up a six-paddle clutch and lightweight flywheel/counterweight several months ago which we’d had sitting around for a while, and after and estimated 250-ish 6,000rpm launches we weren’t getting as much clutch bite as we used to
Suffice to say this was a bd of a job, mostly because every single nut and bolt we came to was rusty and we were constantly fighting the bd thing. I also completely failed to take any photos, apart from this one where we finally had the gearbox split away from the car:
2019-02-22_09-28-43 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
Still, it’s in and back together. Not a job I’d like to repeat!
At the same time we fitted some Whiteline adjustable ARBs to keep the body roll in check. Naturally two of the bolts snapped so also needed drilling out.
A little nervous about our new setup, and nervous about the car in general after we managed to flood it over winter (followed by lots of smoke – we’re still undecided as to whether this is due to the flooding or the small shards of metal we pulled off the sparkplugs when deflooding it…
) we needed a ‘test’ track day before hauling it all the way over to Spa next month. Enter Brands Hatch – Pete’s local circuit, and somewhere I’ve visited often but never driven.
So we got the Jeep loaded up and off we went!
2019-02-22_09-29-08 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2019-02-22_09-29-18 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
The day wasn’t without issue, which is precisely why we wanted to do it. The new clutch feels good and certainly bites well (the chirrup from the rear tyres if you mis-heel-and-toe certainly confirms this!) but the pedal didn’t feel great, and a quick attempt at bleeding any air out ended up with us losing the pedal altogether. After much fiddling, pumping and nipple-playing (sorry) we managed to get it back to how it had been that morning – that is to say, not great, but serviceable. We’ll get a new slave cylinder on there before Spa, certainly.
Brands is a brilliant little track though, and the car was running well otherwise. The New ARBs had made more of a difference than I thought possible, and the car is now really playful on the limit (we’ll ignore my brief trip into the gravel ). We took a few people out for passenger laps, which is always entertaining (for us, at least!). Although Pete managed to make somebody throw up, which I thought was quite impressive. In a helmet. And a balaclava. I’ll just let you think about that….
2019-02-22_09-47-04 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2019-02-22_09-47-17 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
The end of the day had its own drama as well – we suddenly started getting complete cuts in power, and with half an hour left of track-time and no more fuel we were left wondering if it was fuel starvation or something more sinister. Cue some frantic running around the remaining attendees frantically trying to buy some fuel, we managed to get hold of 20 litres and I was ordered to go out and do “as many laps as they’ll let you” to rule out any other issues. Fortunately all was well, and that last 15 minute session at the end of the day, with the whole track to myself, was glorious (apart the ever-lingering whiff of vomit…).
So, home, and we left it for as long as we could doing its best flying-fish impression while we air it out
2019-02-22_09-29-32 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
Suffice to say this was a b
d of a job, mostly because every single nut and bolt we came to was rusty and we were constantly fighting the bd thing. I also completely failed to take any photos, apart from this one where we finally had the gearbox split away from the car:2019-02-22_09-28-43 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrStill, it’s in and back together. Not a job I’d like to repeat!
At the same time we fitted some Whiteline adjustable ARBs to keep the body roll in check. Naturally two of the bolts snapped so also needed drilling out.
A little nervous about our new setup, and nervous about the car in general after we managed to flood it over winter (followed by lots of smoke – we’re still undecided as to whether this is due to the flooding or the small shards of metal we pulled off the sparkplugs when deflooding it…
) we needed a ‘test’ track day before hauling it all the way over to Spa next month. Enter Brands Hatch – Pete’s local circuit, and somewhere I’ve visited often but never driven.So we got the Jeep loaded up and off we went!
2019-02-22_09-29-08 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2019-02-22_09-29-18 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrThe day wasn’t without issue, which is precisely why we wanted to do it. The new clutch feels good and certainly bites well (the chirrup from the rear tyres if you mis-heel-and-toe certainly confirms this!) but the pedal didn’t feel great, and a quick attempt at bleeding any air out ended up with us losing the pedal altogether. After much fiddling, pumping and nipple-playing (sorry) we managed to get it back to how it had been that morning – that is to say, not great, but serviceable. We’ll get a new slave cylinder on there before Spa, certainly.
Brands is a brilliant little track though, and the car was running well otherwise. The New ARBs had made more of a difference than I thought possible, and the car is now really playful on the limit (we’ll ignore my brief trip into the gravel
). We took a few people out for passenger laps, which is always entertaining (for us, at least!). Although Pete managed to make somebody throw up, which I thought was quite impressive. In a helmet. And a balaclava. I’ll just let you think about that….2019-02-22_09-47-04 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2019-02-22_09-47-17 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrThe end of the day had its own drama as well – we suddenly started getting complete cuts in power, and with half an hour left of track-time and no more fuel we were left wondering if it was fuel starvation or something more sinister. Cue some frantic running around the remaining attendees frantically trying to buy some fuel, we managed to get hold of 20 litres and I was ordered to go out and do “as many laps as they’ll let you” to rule out any other issues. Fortunately all was well, and that last 15 minute session at the end of the day, with the whole track to myself, was glorious (apart the ever-lingering whiff of vomit…).
So, home, and we left it for as long as we could doing its best flying-fish impression while we air it out
2019-02-22_09-29-32 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
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