Renegade Miata Co-Drive

Red isn't my color, but I will admit this is a gorgeous car...

Brian was kind enough to let me co-drive his 2009 RX-8 R3 for this event, as I wanted to drive something a little different. Even though his alignment was very out of whack due to seized camber bolts, I still had a blast and it was great practice! Thanks Brian!

STX Battle: RX-8 vs. BRZ

Hurst RX-8

I got to catch up with a fellow RX-8 racer from New York, Jeff Hurst. I was checking in with him to see how his racing season has been going. He did a post recently that I wanted to share on the blog, as it's been a hot topic as of late. A Street Touring Xtreme (STX) built RX-8 vs. a STX built BRZ. Jeff and Eric Simmons got to compare their two cars back to back at an event. Jeff had this to say about the test.

STX Fun @ Renegade

Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography

I've been on the fence lately about how my car setup feels, especially in regards to the differential. That being said, I decided to co-drive with Dave for this event and have some fun. This car has come a very long way since the last time I drove it. New Ohlins coilovers, exhaust, wheels and tires, and some other goodies have made this car a serious STX competitor this year. After a few runs in it, I can see why! Sadly however, this will probably be the last time I get to race this car, as Dave has put it up for sale. If you're interested, his for sale post is here.

Lui's Birthday Meet At Wankel Works

Photo by Kristyn Brophy

A lot of rotaries were revolving their way to Wankel Works this past weekend for Lui's birthday party. It was a great turn-out, as the entire RE-Zelse team was able to show up, along with some of my friends from NEPOC, the Mass RX-8 Club, and some personal rotary friends of Lui. Be prepared for a lot of pictures as various cars came by, such as a fully restored Mazda REPU and some first generation RX-7s!

Photo by Kristyn Brophy

Andrey & "Tigri"

Hello everybody! I am Andrey (Dre), and I will be giving you a look at the weekend racer/luxury modifier along with my ride, "Tigri".

I will be going to a lot of road racing events with Francesco, however, whereas Francesco's goal is to compete, mine is to learn the car and learn how to drive. In the meantime, my car is at Speed1 (formerly known as KDR) in Pennsylvania getting the finishing touches done to my GReddy turbo kit.

Francesco & "Blueberry"

Hello world! Francesco here with the Winning Blue RX-8 aka "The Blueberry".

Photo Courtesy of Bazooka Photography

You'll find the Blueberry darting through turns this season as the track build begins in the coming months. Here is a quick and dirty run down on the work at hand. All of this work will be documented here on RE-Zelse throughout the build process.

Switch It Up!

With Serenity currently having some serious issues with the MAF sensor and ignition coils, I was almost unsure if I would be able to race today. Thanks to my friend Jordan, he offered me to co-drive with him for this event. In my pursuit of learning to become a faster driver, (both skill set and mindset), I graciously took his offer to co-drive his RX-8 today. I really do believe you can learn something new when you switch cars from time to time, so this was a great opportunity for me. Jordan's RX-8 is a black 2004 sport model that is mildly setup somewhere in-between STX and BSP, sporting these major modifications:

• CorkSport Resonated Midpipe
• Modified Mazdaspeed Intake
• BHR Ignition Coils
• Tein S-Tech Springs
• Mazdaspeed Front Bumper
• 18x9 +40 Enkei RP03 with 265/35 Toyo R1R Tires (We used my street wheels for the event)

This was Jordan's and his girlfriend Domenique's first ever autocross. Domenique was going to have some fun driving her tastefully done Mazda 2. Be sure to check out Domenique's own blog, with plenty of great pictures. The course was done by Brian Levesque this time around, and was great with an interesting rhythm to it. The course definitely helped me focus on improving my lines (especially on where I should be aiming my car) and working on carrying more speed into some of the elements I have been trying to get better at. Even though I was not used to the car's body roll and handling characteristics, I managed to adapt quickly and learned to turn earlier than I normally would for turns.I managed to get down to a 1'15.1, but that was with 4 cones. After cleaning it up a little, I ended up with a 1'17.1. Jordan and Domenique did amazing for their first autocross, as Jordan finished with a 1'23.4 for the day, and Domenique took home a 1'31.8! The results are posted on the Renegade Miata website, along with the current year standings. Hopefully we will be seeing more of Jordan and Domenique at the local autocross events.

At the moment, I have 4 weeks to figure out the issues with my car before the next race. Hopefully it is nothing too serious, but we will have to wait and see. In the meantime, below are videos of my fastest dirty run, my fastest clean run, Jordan's fastest run and then Domenique's fastest run. Thanks again for the co-drive Jordan! I enjoyed helping you two out, driving the car was great practice for me, and it was a blast to drive! Until the next update, stay tuned.

Stirling Moss Runoff

That's it folks, the last points event of the SCCA New England Region, as well as the Stirling Moss Runoff. Some of you may be wondering why I didn't attend the previous SCCA event and co-drive with someone else? Being overwhelmed and upset with everything that had happened, I was originally thinking of calling the rest of the year off… but what fun is that? Giving up on something I am so passionate about is not exactly who I am. That being said, I kept my chin up and co-drove with Dave in his STX RX-8 for a final dance with SCCA.The course was pretty short I noticed, but it had a few tricky parts that required you to slow down quite a bit. I think my favorite part was all of the beginning section after the first turn around. You'll notice in the videos that we enter what looks like a chicago box almost, and then quickly hop out, just to hop back to the left. I noticed that I'm getting better with transitioning the weight around in the car when flying into a clam shell or hard turn, though I need to work at my braking; ESPECIALLY trail braking. Dave made a good observation about that, though I can't exactly practice that when it's the end of the season.
At the end of the day, I placed 3rd in Street Mod, with a fastest raw time of '55.0 +3 cones(ouch!) and a fastest clean time of '55.4. Dave took second in STX with a '54.4, though his fastest dirty time was '54.1 +2 Cones. Congratulations to Nate Whipple for scoring 1st in pax for the Stirling Moss Runoff, that trophy is gorgeous! Final results are here, with pax located here and then raw times located here. The event was overall a great time, and it was great to see all the familiar faces for the last time until the end of the year banquet where they give off awards.I'll be giving a review sometime in November about my season with the two clubs, going over some things I liked and disliked and my overall experience. Until then, check out the videos below, starting with my fastest dirty time and fastest clean time, followed by Dave's fastest dirty time. His fastest time was unfortunately not recorded. The rest of the videos are located on my youtube page. Thanks to Ed Savage for the awesome on course pictures, check out the rest of his photos here.

Cone-A-Thon

Not even a full week after the Fingerlakes National Tour, I'm back at it again, but on my home turf. SCCA put on a very nice event this weekend, with a great 70 second course. Unfortunately my car is still sleeping over at Small Fortune Racing, so I got to co-drive Keith Scala's C Stock RX-8. Big thanks to Keith for allowing me to take his car for a spin, allowing me to take 1st place in Street Mod for the event. I have to admit that I was nervous at first, considering I'm unfamiliar with the behavior of R-Compound tires, as well as using your car's natural body-roll to plant it into turns. After a couple of runs, I managed to pick up my pace and start to get the hang of running his car. Starting from '69 on my first run, and ending my best run with a '65.2. Keith took 1st in C Stock with a '63.9, so I'm pretty pleased with my results, especially being my first time in his car and only 2nd time on R compounds. The final results are listed here, with pax located here and raw time posted here.
The course was pretty good for the day. Not one of their best ones, as I prefer the more longer and technical courses, but was enjoyable never-the-less. I would have to say my favorite part was the three decreasing radius turns, as that helps people with their lines and looking ahead. You'll see in the footage below the areas I'm talking about.Not too much else, other than a big ups to my friend Chris for driving me to the event, as well as taking some of the awesome pictures while he was out there. Hopefully I can get him to race at the upcoming Renegade Miata event, but one step at a time! Below are the movies, listed in order of run. First 6 are me, followed by Keith's 6 runs. Look forward to updates sometime soon about my car, but until then, stay tuned!

Meyer-Motorsports

Wanted to share this neat video I saw on the Meyer-Motorsports website. They'll be competing in the new World Challenge Series this year. Check them out, I've talked to Eric Meyer a bit and been reading a lot of his posts on the forum. He has a lot of knowledge about many things pertaining to the RX-8 and is always willing to help out a fellow rotor head. In July I'd like to hopefully make it out to his race in Watkins Glenn to talk car with him, but we'll see!

B Stock RX-8 Champ In STX

The December issue of Sportscar Magazine featured a great cover on Jason Isley trying out STX this year. He has won B Stock in his RX8 a few times from my understanding, and wanted to try something different. Due to copyright issues, I can't scan the magazine and host the article, but I'm sure I can at least discuss it! I wanted to post my opinions on his setup that I found to be interesting, as well as what he did run for STX this year. Comments are welcome as I want to hear other people's take on this.2009 Nationals Specifications
2005 Sunlight Silver RX-8 Sport Edition
Wing, No Aero Appearance Package
Grey and Black Cloth Interior
No Navigation
Standard Stereo System2,750 lb Race Weight
ABS / PS / 221WHP and 154WTQ

Front -3.0 Camber 1/8 Toe Out / Rear -2.5 Camber 1/8 Toe In
9k Front / 6.5k Rear Springs with Rebound and Compression 7-Way Adjustable Shocks
18x9 +35 Wheels with 265/35/18 Tires


Engine
SR Motorsports Wide Grip Performance PulleysCobb Tuning RX-8 Access Port Tuned by Church Automotive Testing
Braille B2317R Battery

Intake
RacingBeat REVi Intake Box
Design Engineering Reflect-A-GOLD Heat Wrap and Tunnel Shield (Below Airbox)
Exhaust
RacingBeat Header
RacingBeat Race Pipe with Random Technology 300CPI Catalytic Converter
Custom 3' Single Exhaust with Borla XR-1 Multi-core Racing Muffler

Suspension
Moton Clubsport Monotube Shocks
Hyperco Optimum Body Springs
Mazdaspeed Front Anti-Roll Bar with Poly Urethane Bushings
No Rear Sway Bar Installed
Moton Front Upper Bearing Plate
Small Fortune Racing Rebound Adjuster
Full Alignment and Corner Balance

Footwork
Forgeline EV1R Wheels
Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec Tires (Shaved)
Goodridge G-Stop Stainless Steel Brake Lines
Racing Brake 4 Piston Front Calipers
Racing Brake Open Slotted Two Piece 13' Front Rotors
Racing Brake Open Slotted Two Piece Stock Size Rear Rotors
Hawk HP+ Brake Pads Front and Rear

Interior
Sparco Fighter Racing Seat in Black (Driver only)


So that is it! 8 weeks to build and test out that car for Nationals. Jason came 2nd place in STX and his wife came 1st in STXL. There are some modifications that had me raise my brow in question to be honest. For starters, what strut bar did he run, as they did not mention anything about a strut bar being upgraded from stock. Secondly, no BHR ignition upgrade from the poorly made stock ignition coils? Even if he was planing to go back to B Stock from the beginning, after spending that much on some of the other mods, I personally would have also bought the best ignition kit out there. I had thought that STX allowed you to change clutch and flywheel, or at least rear diff but I guess not as I was told.

Another one that has me puzzled is his alignment, as well as running without a rear swaybar. That really surprised me. No rear swaybar would cause the rear end to be pretty easy to kick out if I'm not mistaken, unless somehow his spring setup makes up for it? The alignment of running such a high camber, especially in the rear surprised me. I was always told not to go so high on rear camber to ensure all my power is being put down. Granted he is running 265, and I'm currently running 245, but could that width really make up that sort of difference? -3 in the front I suppose I could see. The toe setup is very close, if not identical to mine so that made me feel good.

I guess another is the pulleys. That has been going up and down on the forums as some see it useful, and others see it as useless. I've heard it can cause cooling issues due to under driving the water pump, but I've also heard that people have claimed a 10HP increase. The battery was a good tip as I've been looking for a replacement battery for next year, so I'll have to look into the one they chose and see how good it is compared to another stock battery.

Some people had questioned the cat, and why he didn't go for a 100 CPI cat. I'm not too familiar with catalytic converters, except that we need high quality metal ones. Also, one racing seat as opposed to two?

A lot of little intricacies with the setup, but then again, I'm no RX-8 guru. I've learned whatever I do know through a lot of forum surfing, autocrossing, and breaking things on my own car. I hope this post can enlighten people as it has me, and give people some ideas about various setups. I know I can't wait to try out some setup ideas I've come up with in the past, as well as because of this article.

Pictures taken from the Sportscar Magazine Official Website.

Sold

(Sadly, no pictures from day of purchase, but the above is 2 months after.)

In November of 2007, I unfortunately got into a car accident that costed me the car. Thankfully, the accident wasn't my fault at all, allowing me to go on the market for a new car. Now, when I was looking for my car, I had already a small select list of cars I was highly interested in purchasing. Over time, that list got more and more narrow, until finally it was either a S2000, or a RX-8. It came down to what car I would find first with the options I wanted. As I searched the internet for good priced, decent RX-8's and S2000's, I lucked out at a used car dealership in Framingham.

When I called the salesman and told him out interested I was... He had the car waiting for me for when I arrived. Now that's service! It had everything I wanted. Black with black and brown interior, appearence package, and manual. The previous owner even left some Toyo Proxies all season on it, stock size though. After the test drive around the area, it was love at first drive. If I knew how to explain the sensations that came from that drive, I would.

The sound of the rotary truely is something that only a real enthusiast can appreciate, because they can also understand the work Mazda puts into each one of their 13B MSP engines. It's actually quite adicting, but you can just hang out at 9,000 RPM while driving around now can you? When driving the car stock for the time I did, I can tell you that this car certainly was something great even in stock form. It can perform and deliver, regardless of the low torque that everyone complains about. The Toyo's didn't match very well on the car though, as they squealed easily if turning hard, even just getting an offramp at a decent speed. I didn't feel very confident overall though with the grip of the tires, which always made me a hesitant driver. Again, the tires were the only thing NOT stock on the car from the dealership.

I'd have to say, my favorites about the car is that I have that "fighter jet cockpit" feel when I sit in the car that the RX-7 has..Just not as much as an FD. Close enough for now. The superior handling performance of the car, even just stock, and the unique (and pain in terms of maintenence!) engine that not only sounded so great, but revved and performed. I'm a fan of cars between 250-300HP, so this car just touches the barrier...And not much longer, she'll be within that range. Lastly, the fact that the stereo just sounds beast (in my opionion) stock. No need for upgrade or to get a "BLINGIN'" system, because it's already excellent.

The only thing I can say I openly dislike, besides the lack of torque, is the back seats. I know, sounds silly..And I know, I hear it 80 times a day "Go get a Miata or S2000 then!", but why do that if I love the car, just not the rear seats? At some point I'll pull apart the seats I'm sure, knowing me, but for now they'll stay in. I just have a passion for true two seater sports cars, is that so wrong?

When I purchased this car, I had only one mission in mind, and I still hold true to it, "To build a perfect balance between street car and race car."