£1000 RX8 sprint/track-car project
Discussion
Weekend report below. If you CBA to read it all, here’s a short video of me driving backwards into a field 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcsDvL6qCuY
Now I have time to gather my thoughts I can give a bit of a write-up of last weekend. It didn’t start of particularly well, either! The RX8 had been parked up for the previous week outside my garage, blocking in the Westfield that was due to go for its MOT on Saturday morning. I nipped out on Friday evening with the intention of taking the RX8 for some fuel, then parking it out of the way.
It didn’t start.
Bugger.
It almost caught, and then just sat there spinning on the starter motor. Knowing the battery was of a certain age, it appeared that the slower-than-usual turnover after sitting for a week had flooded the engine before it could catch. Cue a frantic rush to Halfords for a new battery (after going to the first store which didn’t have the right one, I made it to another just as they were closing and managed to nip in just in time!). By the time I’d finished buggering about with all of this I was hungry, and it was raining, so I left the RX8 sitting in disgrace overnight.
Saturday saw me up at the crack of dawn reading up on the various de-flooding procedures, and with Pete on whatsapp we managed to wittle it down to the two most likely suspects. We opted to try this one first: http://www.rx8ownersclub.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php...
Step 1: remove passenger front wheel. Erm…..
2017-07-27_08-49-14 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
This photo doesn’t show the slope of my drive. Have you ever tried to push a car uphill on gravel? It’s not fun, I can tell you. I ended up backing the trusty Subaru round the drive and using a ratchet strap attached to the tow bar to edge the RX8 forward. That out of the way, I got cracking:
2017-07-23_06-10-46 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
Bottom plugs to be pulled:
2017-07-27_08-49-29 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
After squirting a little 2-stroke into each rotor chamber and turning by hand, I put everything back together, and tried to start.
Nothing. Just spin-spin-spin-spin-spin-spin-spin-spin-spin-spin of the starter motor.
OK, time to try deflooding procedure number 2: https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-yourself-forum...
I hooked up the spare (now re-charged) battery for a bit of extra juice and followed the rigmarole of fuse out, turn over, wait, turn over, wait, fuse back in, turn over, nothing, etc etc etc. Nothing. Urgh.
Then it started raining, and I lost the key.
2017-07-23_06-11-16 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
Thoroughly pissed off at this point, I went and had a cup of tea.
Pete arrived shortly afterwards and set about pointing out things that I should have worked out several hours before. Useful things such as “can you hear the fuel pump?” and “oh look, the fuel pump isn’t getting any power” and “the fuel pump relay isn’t working.” After taking the relay out and offering some gentle persuasion that it might like to start working again (we hit it against things), it fired right up. Bah!
With that we hit the road, arriving in the lovely S
horpe three hours later:
2017-07-23_06-13-38 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
Next day – race day!
First thing first, we had to make it look like a track car. Naturally this involves stickers, and getting those lovely orange wheels on:
2017-07-24_08-44-52 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
No, they’re not all exactly straight. And no I don’t care
And the sprinting? It was awesome. Such a fun car to drive on track. Yes the brakes cooked, and there’s too much bodyroll, and it still has most of the interior, but I came back from that first run shaking and giggling like a child! Any thoughts of taking it gently soon disappeared and I ended up consistently edging time off each run – starting at 1:15.7 and ending on the fourth (and fastest) run with a 1:14.35. Pete had slightly worse luck in this first round, only managing two clean runs in the morning with a best time of 1:16.92 – he managed to void his third run (cone!) and then, just as I pulled in to change drivers after my fourth, the heavens opened.
Still, we had paid for track time, and track time is what we would get! At the very least it was a chance to get a feel for the car in the wet. So, brave pills swallowed, traction control firmly off, out we went.
Run 5 was pretty cautious and I was actually pretty impressed at how much grip the car had on R888Rs. So much so I endeavoured to get on the power a little earlier the next time out and, well, you know how that ended
2017-07-24_08-45-15 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
Still, I was really impressed with how the car handled and absolutely made up with third in class (out of twelve). Pete I think was a bit disappointed with his place, but he has this strange affliction called ‘mechanical sympathy’ which means it takes him a bit longer to adjust to a new car. That, and he’s been driving a sub-100bhp Fiesta for the last six months. He’ll definitely be something to contend with at Anglesey!
2017-07-24_08-45-25 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
A couple of vids of our best runs. I’ll try and sort out the camera mount a bit better before next round.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u5oSPgRJBU&t=...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVty-2QX3sE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcsDvL6qCuYNow I have time to gather my thoughts I can give a bit of a write-up of last weekend. It didn’t start of particularly well, either! The RX8 had been parked up for the previous week outside my garage, blocking in the Westfield that was due to go for its MOT on Saturday morning. I nipped out on Friday evening with the intention of taking the RX8 for some fuel, then parking it out of the way.
It didn’t start.
Bugger.
It almost caught, and then just sat there spinning on the starter motor. Knowing the battery was of a certain age, it appeared that the slower-than-usual turnover after sitting for a week had flooded the engine before it could catch. Cue a frantic rush to Halfords for a new battery (after going to the first store which didn’t have the right one, I made it to another just as they were closing and managed to nip in just in time!). By the time I’d finished buggering about with all of this I was hungry, and it was raining, so I left the RX8 sitting in disgrace overnight.
Saturday saw me up at the crack of dawn reading up on the various de-flooding procedures, and with Pete on whatsapp we managed to wittle it down to the two most likely suspects. We opted to try this one first: http://www.rx8ownersclub.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php...
Step 1: remove passenger front wheel. Erm…..
2017-07-27_08-49-14 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrThis photo doesn’t show the slope of my drive. Have you ever tried to push a car uphill on gravel? It’s not fun, I can tell you. I ended up backing the trusty Subaru round the drive and using a ratchet strap attached to the tow bar to edge the RX8 forward. That out of the way, I got cracking:
2017-07-23_06-10-46 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrBottom plugs to be pulled:
2017-07-27_08-49-29 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrAfter squirting a little 2-stroke into each rotor chamber and turning by hand, I put everything back together, and tried to start.
Nothing. Just spin-spin-spin-spin-spin-spin-spin-spin-spin-spin of the starter motor.
OK, time to try deflooding procedure number 2: https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-yourself-forum...
I hooked up the spare (now re-charged) battery for a bit of extra juice and followed the rigmarole of fuse out, turn over, wait, turn over, wait, fuse back in, turn over, nothing, etc etc etc. Nothing. Urgh.
Then it started raining, and I lost the key.
2017-07-23_06-11-16 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrThoroughly pissed off at this point, I went and had a cup of tea.
Pete arrived shortly afterwards and set about pointing out things that I should have worked out several hours before. Useful things such as “can you hear the fuel pump?” and “oh look, the fuel pump isn’t getting any power” and “the fuel pump relay isn’t working.” After taking the relay out and offering some gentle persuasion that it might like to start working again (we hit it against things), it fired right up. Bah!
With that we hit the road, arriving in the lovely S
horpe three hours later:2017-07-23_06-13-38 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrNext day – race day!
First thing first, we had to make it look like a track car. Naturally this involves stickers, and getting those lovely orange wheels on:
2017-07-24_08-44-52 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrNo, they’re not all exactly straight. And no I don’t care
And the sprinting? It was awesome. Such a fun car to drive on track. Yes the brakes cooked, and there’s too much bodyroll, and it still has most of the interior, but I came back from that first run shaking and giggling like a child! Any thoughts of taking it gently soon disappeared and I ended up consistently edging time off each run – starting at 1:15.7 and ending on the fourth (and fastest) run with a 1:14.35. Pete had slightly worse luck in this first round, only managing two clean runs in the morning with a best time of 1:16.92 – he managed to void his third run (cone!) and then, just as I pulled in to change drivers after my fourth, the heavens opened.
Still, we had paid for track time, and track time is what we would get! At the very least it was a chance to get a feel for the car in the wet. So, brave pills swallowed, traction control firmly off, out we went.
Run 5 was pretty cautious and I was actually pretty impressed at how much grip the car had on R888Rs. So much so I endeavoured to get on the power a little earlier the next time out and, well, you know how that ended
2017-07-24_08-45-15 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrStill, I was really impressed with how the car handled and absolutely made up with third in class (out of twelve). Pete I think was a bit disappointed with his place, but he has this strange affliction called ‘mechanical sympathy’ which means it takes him a bit longer to adjust to a new car. That, and he’s been driving a sub-100bhp Fiesta for the last six months. He’ll definitely be something to contend with at Anglesey!
2017-07-24_08-45-25 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrA couple of vids of our best runs. I’ll try and sort out the camera mount a bit better before next round.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u5oSPgRJBU&t=...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVty-2QX3sE
Thanks Mark!
T minus 11 days to Anglesey, and another weekend spent tinkering. Pete and I have also somehow bullied each other into taking many brave pills and have also signed up to the Mazda Sprint Series event on the Sunday – meaning our poor little car is effectively going to be put through four sprint events in two days. That’s 2 sets of sighting laps, 4 practice runs and 24 timed runs. If it lasts that long…
So, what have we been up to?
Priority number one was to sort out the brakes – we were cooking them at Blyton after two hot laps. Pete and I headed down to my local rent-a-ramp place www.thisisyourgarage.com (an awesome place for anyone around Oxfordshire) and quickly found that here was no way the standard hoses were going to come off without a big fight. So we bravely gave up (they’ve been added to the ‘winter’ list!). We did, however, notice that the rear pads were badly in need of attention – one of the rears was down to about 1mm of friction surface
A quick delivery from Euros and a set of Pagid pads went on, and we’ve also put some fresh 5.1 fluid in there. The brakes certainly feel better now, time will tell if they’re good enough for Angelsey.
2017-08-08_01-27-12 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
Back home and we set about changing the steering wheel, fitting a fire extinguisher, re-tapped the crusty thread for the front towing eye and stripped more of the interior. There was a brief panic when we realised changing the steering wheel had dislodged the sensor for the traction control, but some bodgery with a piece of fibreglass panel cut to size seems to have done the trick in holding it in place, and the TC now switches on/off and cuts in as it should. We’ll be taking the standard wheel to Anglesey just in case, though!
Not the most inspiring set of pics, but you get the idea.
2017-08-08_01-27-44 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2017-08-08_01-27-56 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2017-08-08_01-28-13 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
Oh, and a Javelin Sprint Series sunstrip has also gone on…
2017-08-08_03-53-23 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
We’ve also had the aircon re-gassed in an attempt to counteract the now-inevitable heat we’re going to get in the cabin on sunny days. Yes, I know it’s weight, but when we’re driving to and from circuits 200 miles away it’s worth the penalty!
I’ve also got the Westfield back from having its gearbox rebuilt. It’s going up for sale again imminently, but I couldn’t resist a quick pic of the two track toys together…
2017-08-08_01-28-34 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
T minus 11 days to Anglesey, and another weekend spent tinkering. Pete and I have also somehow bullied each other into taking many brave pills and have also signed up to the Mazda Sprint Series event on the Sunday – meaning our poor little car is effectively going to be put through four sprint events in two days. That’s 2 sets of sighting laps, 4 practice runs and 24 timed runs. If it lasts that long…
So, what have we been up to?
Priority number one was to sort out the brakes – we were cooking them at Blyton after two hot laps. Pete and I headed down to my local rent-a-ramp place www.thisisyourgarage.com (an awesome place for anyone around Oxfordshire) and quickly found that here was no way the standard hoses were going to come off without a big fight. So we bravely gave up (they’ve been added to the ‘winter’ list!). We did, however, notice that the rear pads were badly in need of attention – one of the rears was down to about 1mm of friction surface
A quick delivery from Euros and a set of Pagid pads went on, and we’ve also put some fresh 5.1 fluid in there. The brakes certainly feel better now, time will tell if they’re good enough for Angelsey.
2017-08-08_01-27-12 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrBack home and we set about changing the steering wheel, fitting a fire extinguisher, re-tapped the crusty thread for the front towing eye and stripped more of the interior. There was a brief panic when we realised changing the steering wheel had dislodged the sensor for the traction control, but some bodgery with a piece of fibreglass panel cut to size seems to have done the trick in holding it in place, and the TC now switches on/off and cuts in as it should. We’ll be taking the standard wheel to Anglesey just in case, though!
Not the most inspiring set of pics, but you get the idea.
2017-08-08_01-27-44 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2017-08-08_01-27-56 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2017-08-08_01-28-13 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrOh, and a Javelin Sprint Series sunstrip has also gone on…
2017-08-08_03-53-23 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrWe’ve also had the aircon re-gassed in an attempt to counteract the now-inevitable heat we’re going to get in the cabin on sunny days. Yes, I know it’s weight, but when we’re driving to and from circuits 200 miles away it’s worth the penalty!
I’ve also got the Westfield back from having its gearbox rebuilt. It’s going up for sale again imminently, but I couldn’t resist a quick pic of the two track toys together…
2017-08-08_01-28-34 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrWell, we survived Anglesey!
600 miles, 2 days of events, 30+ 6,000rpm launches, one spin, one 100mph trip across the grass and two pieces of silverware.
2017-08-21_12-09-56 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2017-08-21_12-10-10 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
I'll spend the next few days sorting out videos and stuff (we did 37 runs between us so there's a lot of footage to sort through!) and write a bit of a report when I have more time. Epic weekend though and really close between Pete and I - 0.21s on Saturday, 0.09s on Sunday!
600 miles, 2 days of events, 30+ 6,000rpm launches, one spin, one 100mph trip across the grass and two pieces of silverware.
2017-08-21_12-09-56 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2017-08-21_12-10-10 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrI'll spend the next few days sorting out videos and stuff (we did 37 runs between us so there's a lot of footage to sort through!) and write a bit of a report when I have more time. Epic weekend though and really close between Pete and I - 0.21s on Saturday, 0.09s on Sunday!
Kendrew this weekend. Things ave been happening...
First up, we have a bucket seat! Sparco Sprint, just out of date and a nice eBay bargain:
2017-09-04_09-17-29 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2017-09-04_09-17-44 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
And... more shiny things!
2017-09-06_09-52-52 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2017-09-06_09-35-52 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2017-09-06_09-36-08 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2017-09-06_09-36-17 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2017-09-06_09-36-38 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2017-09-06_09-36-44 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
2017-09-06_09-37-32 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr
Thanks to Pete for getting these fitted today while the car was in his care. I'm looking forward to having a go!
First up, we have a bucket seat! Sparco Sprint, just out of date and a nice eBay bargain:
2017-09-04_09-17-29 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2017-09-04_09-17-44 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrAnd... more shiny things!
2017-09-06_09-52-52 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2017-09-06_09-35-52 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2017-09-06_09-36-08 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2017-09-06_09-36-17 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2017-09-06_09-36-38 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2017-09-06_09-36-44 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr2017-09-06_09-37-32 by Ben Edwards, on FlickrThanks to Pete for getting these fitted today while the car was in his care. I'm looking forward to having a go!
Oh yeah, and the promised videos from Anglesey:
Mazda sprint on the coastal circuit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0I98J0VSNo&t=...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8jrjbbmXwo
...and the Javelin sprint on the full circuit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69am2i7XuBk&t=...
And me spinning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2WH9A9ynuA
Mazda sprint on the coastal circuit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0I98J0VSNo&t=...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8jrjbbmXwo
...and the Javelin sprint on the full circuit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69am2i7XuBk&t=...
And me spinning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2WH9A9ynuA
Fastdruid said:
seiben said:
There's 2 flavours - 192 and 231.
They're essentially identical, aside from the following:
192 - 192bhp (supposedly), 5 speed box, open diff, Halogen headlights
231 - 231bhp (supposedly), 6 speed box, LSD, Xenons
Ours is a 231. Can confirm the LSD works
192 has a 7.5k redline rather than the 9k of the 231 and is meant to be torquier. Plus the interior spec is a bit higher on the 231.They're essentially identical, aside from the following:
192 - 192bhp (supposedly), 5 speed box, open diff, Halogen headlights
231 - 231bhp (supposedly), 6 speed box, LSD, Xenons
Ours is a 231. Can confirm the LSD works
There is also the R3 which has different gearing and is heavier. Plus there are a few special editions.
Very much enjoyed our time with one and if we had the room to park it and the chance to use it would get another.
Mannginger said:
Great thread this, really enjoying it and love the amount of car that can be had with £1k and a bit of spannering space and knowledge!
Thanks - I'm glad you are enjoying it! I have to say my spannering skills are average at best - Pete is definitely the more knowledgable. I'm good at holding tools though Konan said:
Did the track day there yesterday. Couple of RX8s out.
Not a lot of grip to be had, although it's removed a phenomenal amount of rubber from my tyres! It's ok, I removed a reasonable amount of turf in retribution
Yep, had a chat to one of the guys today. No problem with grip for us, fortunately, although we've chewed through the tyres a bit! Not a lot of grip to be had, although it's removed a phenomenal amount of rubber from my tyres! It's ok, I removed a reasonable amount of turf in retribution
rtz62 said:
Excellent project seiben, well done!
Brave? Possibly
But a great choice, that you seem to be approachinging in a sensible, and logical manner. I'm sure that with the commitment you've shown already that it will be a great success.
As an aside, where did you get the uack (above) that the RX8 is on? Could do with one myself.
And this is one of the few threads that has piqued my interest enough to follow it, so I hope to see much more on the old ricer!
The ramp belongs to Pete, so I don't know exactly what it is, but it was an eBay purchase a couple of years ago. I think this is the closest I can see that's currently available. It's a bit of a god-send, certainly.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Strongman-Tamar-2-8T-Hom...
Kendrew turned out to be rather good today. I'm just home and starting to fiddle with videos etc, so more details when I can...
Right, sorry for the slow update. I’ve been a bit overwhelmed by all the comments, it’s good to know there’s some love out there for the old bus. Not that you’d believe it reading the Facebook comments
Sunday was my first time at Kendrew Barracks (aka RAF Cottesmore) and as such the only true airfield round of the series I’d be able to make. My very first experience of sprinting was at Woodbridge airfield a couple of years back, and it was so much fun I’ve been doing it ever since. It’s a bit less glamorous than some of the circuits we visit, and tales of an abrasive surface seem to have put a few people off so we were left with a mere 36 competitors. This turned out to be a Very Good Thing – not only did it mean we could rattle through all of the timed runs before the rain set in early afternoon, it also meant more championship points available for those who attended
One of the areas we struggled with at Anglesey (over and above the st Tein coilovers) was heavy shoulder wear on the outside front tyre. To combat this (and also because Pete had just fitted the new BC coilovers) Pete sorted a geo setting with a bit more camber…
2017-09-12_04-34-31
We arrived early and got through scrutineering before swapping over to the track wheels and generally setting up for the day. Note the ever trusty Subaru support car in the background
2017-09-12_04-24-23
The layout was very well thought out, with a good mix of technical corners, fast sweeping corners and a nice stretch down the main runway (we were seeing 122mph on the speedo, which I was pretty pleased with!) followed by a heavy braking zone into a tight right-left and some nice sweeping turns to the finish. I drew the short straw and didn’t drive the sighting lap (we’re now sans passenger seat, so I jumped in with a fellow competitor in his Civic Type R), so my first drive was the initial practice run. It was a great track, with varying grip levels as the surfaces changed, but it takes me a while to learn new layouots so I was on the backfoot most of the morning. This was compounded on my third run when I overcooked and spun out, stalling and setting off the EML at the same time! Fortunately we were able to borrow an OBD reader and clear the fault (cam position sensor, I think from the stall) and the car felt OK again afterwards.
Pete was also experiencing his fair share of frustrations, with wo void runs for eating cones and a stoppage to move some additional crumple-zone in front of a concrete platform which by rights shouldn’t have been anywhere the racing line
Still, we were dialling into the new suspension setup and the times were generally creeping down. A few track-side pics show how much flatter the cornering is compared to before – this was still on a fairly soft setting for a bumpy track, and still on stock ARBs:
2017-09-12_04-23-25
2017-09-12_04-23-35
By run four I was 0.3s behind Pete, and unbelievably we were running 1st and 2nd in class. Much to his frustration I managed to edge another .4s off his time on run 5, and come the final run we both agreed not to tell each other our final times. In the end we both pushed too hard – Pete with a void run (cones!) and me with a messy lap that was a second off the pace. Still, we were both absolutely made up to be awarded 1st and 2nd in class, a first win for the bargain bucket RX8.
Cheesy photo time!
2017-09-12_04-24-49
As expected we wore a good mm or two off the R888Rs, but more importantly the wear was even across all four tyres so we’re happy we’ve got the alignment right. The RX8 felt a lot more balanced and playful with the new setup – hopefully it’ll translate well to Cadwell, which (given it’s late October) will probably be wet…
I managed to get a couple of videos edited down as well. This is my fastest run, followed by my void run (with the spin). This was pretty terrible all the way through really – I forgot to turn off the traction control at the start which had me out of sorts for the rest of the lap, and when the back end came around on me later on I completely failed to react properly and ended up tankslapping the other way with my foot jammed on the brakes. Yeah, I have no idea what I was thinking either…!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOtp4u63YtE&t=...
And here’s Pete’s second best run (don't ask - camera issues), with his two cone-eating void runs afterwards. Suffice to say, we had a lot of fun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UvJHCkYlBk&t=...
Next up is Cadwell Park, the last event of the season, followed by a winter of tinkering while we decide where to go next. We already have a roll-cage lined up which is pretty high on the list to be sorted, along with a front splitter of some description to offset the BGW a little. Otherwise, who knows!
Sunday was my first time at Kendrew Barracks (aka RAF Cottesmore) and as such the only true airfield round of the series I’d be able to make. My very first experience of sprinting was at Woodbridge airfield a couple of years back, and it was so much fun I’ve been doing it ever since. It’s a bit less glamorous than some of the circuits we visit, and tales of an abrasive surface seem to have put a few people off so we were left with a mere 36 competitors. This turned out to be a Very Good Thing – not only did it mean we could rattle through all of the timed runs before the rain set in early afternoon, it also meant more championship points available for those who attended
One of the areas we struggled with at Anglesey (over and above the s
t Tein coilovers) was heavy shoulder wear on the outside front tyre. To combat this (and also because Pete had just fitted the new BC coilovers) Pete sorted a geo setting with a bit more camber…2017-09-12_04-34-31We arrived early and got through scrutineering before swapping over to the track wheels and generally setting up for the day. Note the ever trusty Subaru support car in the background
2017-09-12_04-24-23The layout was very well thought out, with a good mix of technical corners, fast sweeping corners and a nice stretch down the main runway (we were seeing 122mph on the speedo, which I was pretty pleased with!) followed by a heavy braking zone into a tight right-left and some nice sweeping turns to the finish. I drew the short straw and didn’t drive the sighting lap (we’re now sans passenger seat, so I jumped in with a fellow competitor in his Civic Type R), so my first drive was the initial practice run. It was a great track, with varying grip levels as the surfaces changed, but it takes me a while to learn new layouots so I was on the backfoot most of the morning. This was compounded on my third run when I overcooked and spun out, stalling and setting off the EML at the same time! Fortunately we were able to borrow an OBD reader and clear the fault (cam position sensor, I think from the stall) and the car felt OK again afterwards.
Pete was also experiencing his fair share of frustrations, with wo void runs for eating cones and a stoppage to move some additional crumple-zone in front of a concrete platform which by rights shouldn’t have been anywhere the racing line
Still, we were dialling into the new suspension setup and the times were generally creeping down. A few track-side pics show how much flatter the cornering is compared to before – this was still on a fairly soft setting for a bumpy track, and still on stock ARBs:
2017-09-12_04-23-252017-09-12_04-23-35By run four I was 0.3s behind Pete, and unbelievably we were running 1st and 2nd in class. Much to his frustration I managed to edge another .4s off his time on run 5, and come the final run we both agreed not to tell each other our final times. In the end we both pushed too hard – Pete with a void run (cones!) and me with a messy lap that was a second off the pace. Still, we were both absolutely made up to be awarded 1st and 2nd in class, a first win for the bargain bucket RX8.
Cheesy photo time!
2017-09-12_04-24-49As expected we wore a good mm or two off the R888Rs, but more importantly the wear was even across all four tyres so we’re happy we’ve got the alignment right. The RX8 felt a lot more balanced and playful with the new setup – hopefully it’ll translate well to Cadwell, which (given it’s late October) will probably be wet…
I managed to get a couple of videos edited down as well. This is my fastest run, followed by my void run (with the spin). This was pretty terrible all the way through really – I forgot to turn off the traction control at the start which had me out of sorts for the rest of the lap, and when the back end came around on me later on I completely failed to react properly and ended up tankslapping the other way with my foot jammed on the brakes. Yeah, I have no idea what I was thinking either…!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOtp4u63YtE&t=...
And here’s Pete’s second best run (don't ask - camera issues), with his two cone-eating void runs afterwards. Suffice to say, we had a lot of fun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UvJHCkYlBk&t=...
Next up is Cadwell Park, the last event of the season, followed by a winter of tinkering while we decide where to go next. We already have a roll-cage lined up which is pretty high on the list to be sorted, along with a front splitter of some description to offset the BGW a little. Otherwise, who knows!
samoht said:
Great stuff, must feel good to find yourselves fastest! What kind of cars did you beat?
Thanks - yeah, we were a bit pleased with ourselves Our class is forced induction up to 1600cc, and naturally aspirated up to 2000cc (there's a 1.5x multiplier on the rotary engine). We were against a brace of Clios in 172/182 variety, a Punto Evo Abarth, a supercharged MX5, a Puma-swapped Fiesta (who was very, very close to us at the end of the day) and an Escort GTi.
We'll have our work cut out for us at Cadwell - the SC'd MX5, another couple of Clios and a 190 Exige are all attending, and have all beaten us at other rounds, so I'm not expecting any silverware.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff