V8s_are_slow

i'm just curious about this cause i see lots and lots of talk about autocross. and not much talk about drag racing. now if you live near a track where you can go and autocross everyday, sure!!! but i know i don't live close to one. heck, i don't even know where one is that i could drive on. i see people saying,"i don't care if i don't have much horsepower cause my car can handle great." what?!?!?!?

well here's my take on it. autocross- you can ONLY do it on a track if you're racing. otherwise you're putting other people at risk if you fly off the road and run into some people. how many people would auto-x for a 1/4 mile? fact is, the longer you're at high speed, the bigger the risk. and even if you do it on a track with other people, you have to worry a lot more about someone messing up and crashing into you or something. screw that!!! if you live on a deserted road with plenty of turns and no people around, you're good to go. but if not, you're putting others at risk. and even still, there's not as many places around to be able to do this compared to drag racing. about the only time you can enjoy auto-x then is on the track!!! if i had a track only car for this purpose, sure....but not a car that i drive around town. heck no!!!!

drag racing- you have the bragging rights of being the faster car (and the nice adrenaline rush). there's a lot more of these tracks. if you DO race on the road, then usually it's a lot easier to find a small stretch of road to race on, you're only going in a straight line, and you're not racing for all that long. albeit, there are idiots out there who will put others at risk (but i'm talking about overall racing). you can drag just about anywhere!!! and having more horsepower lets you really feel it in your pants.

i just don't get why most people on the RX-7 forum are into auto-x over drag racing. i just don't get it. i mean i'm not saying it's not fun cause i'd like to do it myself from time to time. but if someone came up to me and said,"my car might not be fast but it can handle," i'd just be like,"and? your point is? who cares!!!" maybe it's just me. but anyone wanna tell me what the big deal is? ya'll just can't find a place to drag race or something or what? anyway, i'd sure appreciate your views on this.
scott

i can feel the flames starting to begin......

REDS TTYPE

I'll guess ..

cause its easy to make a rex handle but trying to get power from a rotary is like asking for a miracle..

like auto x'n a ttype would suck makes tons of power but handles like ****..

RarestRX

Yo,


People are into Auto-X vs. Drag racing because RX-7's are more suited to that style of competition.

Bajaman summed it up best in the Lounge thread about the RX-8's poor 1/4 times:

The RX-8 is NOT, repeat NOT intended to be an all-out sports car, plain and simple. I think it is going to be a very respectable sports sedan. Hell, it was NEVER INTENDED TO BE A GODDAMNED DRAG RACER!

No more than the friggin' FD was....Judas ******* Priest people.....how the HELL can anyone expect ANY rotary to EVER be super competitive (in street form) with their piston brethren? The rotary has next to NO torque, and torque is what gets you moving.....**** all that horsepower bullshit whining about how a 247 hp car should do 'better'....the Renesis has a rather paltry 160 foot pound or so of torque. You want a drag car? Go buy a Camaro. Stock LS-1 cars stomp all but the most heavily modded FDs easily, despite the "kills" stories.
And the FD is THE most powerful rotary ever produced for the mass market. Goddamned pick-up trucks will destroy the FD.....you REALLY want to drag race a rotary powered car still? Pistons rule the dragstrip, always will. Accept a sports car for what it is meant to be.

I think that about nails it.

Kevin
1989 GTUs "Yeah, what he said."

V8s_are_slow

heck, the way you make it sound, these cars have no potential except for the auto-x track. no torque? well heck, if it has no torque, how could it ever even make it at an auto-x track?!?!? gotta have some torque to get ya outta the corners!!! well, unless of course you're on nothing but corners and no straight-a-ways. but then the miata would probably beat up on everyone.

when i was stationed in colorado, i saw 2 fd's running the 1/4 at bandimere. it was a battle of the imports and they were pulling 10.0's at a mile elevation. heck, i think it was the rx-7.com cars. but my point being....they were drag cars!!!

another point is that they were set up with aftermarket parts for this kind of racing. you mean to tell me if you take an rx to an auto-x track you're not gonna mod the suspension? heck, i would. and if i were gonna drag race, i'd mod it for that purpose as well!!! buy a slow piece of crap domestic? what?!?!?!? i'd just stick with a dsm that could smoke most camaro's out there with just a few mods. but trying to get in the rx world for one simple reason......the cost of mods is GREATLY reduced from piston engines.

you can mod a car for drag i'm sure. even if it IS an rx. but what i don't get is why not many people seem to wanna do it.
scott

dr0x

I do both. The drag track has a solo 2 course set up (imagine that ). Both are fun.

bingoboy

the rx7 performs mildly at the track in mildly tuned/modified form, but it handles very very well in mildly tuned/modified form. its a matter preference, and there are probably more people out there with rx7's that like handlers better than straight line speed, hence why they like/own the car. i'm one of them.

Juan

iTrader: (28)

RX-7s were not designed to be drag racers. They may be good at it but its not their strong point. Handling is what the RX-7 was designed for and thats why theres more people autocrossing than drag racing. I bet if you go to a mustang or camaro forum most of the people there drag race. Autocrossing teaches you alot about your car and helps you control it better. Several auto crossing events will help you out if you loose the back end in the rain. You will have a much better idea of what to do and what not to do in that situation. Drag racing wont teach you any of that stuff.

fastrotaries

Have you been to an Auto-X. they're usually held in parking lots alot closer to you then you might think, and it's hard for you to actually loose control and smack another vehicle, since there are usually no more than 2 cars on the circuit at one time. at opposite end of the track. **** i DO BOTH. Auto-X is 95% driver. whereas drag is how much money you got to dump into your car. most MONKEYS can go in a straight line. Especially whent it comes to doing it with a street car. Don't get me wrong i still enjoy running low 12's on street tires.

Oh and the 13b has decent torque. With just bolt ons my S5 made 207rwhp/199lbs ft tq. stock motor, turbo and I/C. ran about a 14.00 very consistantly might i add. you want TQ ............... 20B

dr0x

I'd love to see you or your monkey drive a funny car, or even a 8 or 9s car.

FC Drifter

theres no denying the RX-7 was a car meant to handle more than it was meant to drag race. thats not to say that the rotary isnt good for drag racing. hell, last i checked most of the ten fastest imports were rotary powered cars, at least in the import series. u havent checked in a while but i know there are several rotary cars running below the 9s in a 1/4 mile. so i dont see how anyone can say that rotaries are not good for drag. the car and chassis however are much better suited to track racing, auto-x and road course.which is the main reason i bought my car, to go fast around corners. to me its more challenging and more fun to race around corners than it is to straight line race. the 7 is a car meant to turn, meant to take corners as fast as possible, it can make power and accelerate, yes. but drag racing a 7 is only using half of the cars abillity.

btw-V8s_are_slow.....most people here are reffering to solo 2 auto-x, which is not a form of wheel to wheel racing, its single cars on the track at a time. quite a bit of fun and you can really learn how to control your car there. i see you live in panama city...if you want to give it a shot, there is a place in Pensacola to race. i dont know of one any closer but ive been to the track in P'cola, its a lot of fun. if you wanna give it a try PM me and ill give you the details.

T210thAnniv

"well heck, if it has no torque, how could it ever even make it at an auto-x track?!?!? gotta have some torque to get ya outta the corners!!! "

I auto-x in the summer at orginized meets and that is not true at all. You can have a stock block and run really good times, and also have not tq ( crx's ) are awsome auto-x cars. And then dont have tq. you should really go to one before you talk youve done it....Drag is a straight line only. I bought my rx-7 for high speed corners. Its alot more fun, last alot longer then a few seconds, and requires alot more skill then drag racing does. but hey, you never auto-x so you wouldnt know

Blowtus

there are a number of rotary's running in the 7's over here in aus... so I don't really see how anyone can say they're not that good for drag racing, but anyway.

I'd never bother with drags. I bought my rx7 because it's a reasonably fast and lightweight rwd sportscar. Autocross (or similar varietys of driving) are determined with a large part of driver skill playing a role. I find skilled activites far more interesting than unskilled (usually luck based, but in this case money based) activites. drag racing is mainly the ability to pour money into your car, and is little more exciting to me than 'who's got the loudest stereo' or 'who's got the biggest dick' competitions. Whats the point? I didn't buy my car for bragging rights, I bought it to push some cornering limits. And if you just want a rush of acceleration, there are far cheaper ways of doing it. Skydiving or bikes come to mind.

V8s_are_slow

okay, read above and tell me where i said i've never been to an auto-x. i didn't say anything like that did i? so take that!!!! when i was in colorado i went to one. they set up a track in a parking lot with chalk and some cones. it was an scca meet. it was okay and all but kinda boring overall....that's my personal opinion. it was cars racing one at a time and no competition. just trying to beat someone else's time. screw that!!! i wanna see the reaction on someone's face when i'm beating the crap outta them. like when i use to smoke vette's with my 4 cylinder dsm and you get the mouth drop expression....."priceless".

so yeah i CAN speak from experience!!! whatcha got to say now dang it?!?!? but overall, i thought people were racing on tracks where other people were racing at the same time. heck, all the pics i click on are lots of cars on a track. racing other cars would be fun to me, but not worth taking the risk of having someone slam into me (and my car that i use daily) as i go around a corner or something. drag racing just seems a lot safer to me (so long as you're in a secluded area or on a track) and can be done almost anywhere. that's why i'd just think that most people would be into drag over auto-x. cause you can't just auto-x everyday, or just anywhere....

as for torque, yes you would need it UNLESS you're in nothing but corners. what if you have long straight aways and just a few corners? a miata is great around nothing but corners, but if there's long straight aways, it would get smoked without any kind of power. i had a porsche 928. it wasn't really all that fast (240 horsepower for a 928s) but was great at handling. but i sure as heck wouldn't wanna tell some mustang owner that smokes my butt that it's great at handling. i'd probably have him laugh in my face!!! if anything, i'd want a FAST car but has the ability to handle great around corners too when i need it.

but anyway, just my 2 cents on the issue...

cbrock

iTrader: (1)

Ah, a fellow ex-dsm guy. Why did you get rid of yours? I, personally, was sick of replacing trannies.

FC Drifter

the competition at an auto-x is just as intense, if not more intense, than at a drag race. you spend all day trying to best your own times while all the others in your class are trying to beat yours as well. ive come back from runs and had guys coming up to me congratulating me, or talking smack to me same as anyone would at a drag race. the competition is there, and its pretty fierce IMO. and if you havent actualy been on the track driving the car, then im not surprised you were bored. try driving though. its a whole new story behind the wheel, much more of a rush to me. and who says you cant take corners fast on the street? you just gotta know the right places to go.

V8s_are_slow

well, i had a 2g gsx with a 20g setup and smoked LOTS of people. vettes, mustangs, whatever!!! honda's don't even count. i loved the car but finally broke the tranny after 2 years of racing it every weekend. i ended up stripping the car of all my good parts and was just gonna buy another later (cause i was flat broke poor when the tranny broke) and do a complete build up. i currently have an L3R turbo for a dsm i had planned on using. www.andrewwarren.com/images/l3r
planned on using it for my 600+ horsepower project. my step brother kept trying to tell me i should buy an rx but i told him i loved having awd (and still do). but when i started just looking at the cost of mods compared to a dsm, the cost was cut very dramatically. $7k for a stroker motor alone compared to what, $2k for an rx motor? $600 aftermarket intake manifold, $400 for cam gears, etc. etc. etc. none of that needed for an rx.
looking at the low cost of RX mods is just too much for me to pass by. so now i'm selling my turbo and have already sold lots of my parts.

as for auto-x, yes i've driven in one, yes i've been to one, but it was just too boring to me (no offense to you auto-x lovers). it's like going around a go-kart track alone or something. if anything i'd want lots of other people in go-karts to race or not do it at all.

just ONE of the things i like about drag is the amount of people that would comment on how amazed they were as to how fast i was. one time i had a guy in a mustang ask me if i wanted to get beat real quick. well to make a long story very very short, i smoked his butt 3 times. i was the 1st car he had raced after spending thousands in mods and my 4 cylinder beat him. can you imagine the expression on his face when i told him i only had a 4 cylinder? that's what i like about it...as well as the adrenaline rush of not knowing what the next guy might have. to have a video camera makes it all that much better :-) it may not take any skill to ride in a roller coaster but you still have a fun ride don't ya? :-)

but anyway, if it wasn't for the low cost of mods, i'd be sticking with a dsm. cause the engines are strong, has awd, and the launches will kill most cars on the street out of the hole (try to imagine launching at 7k rpm with no traction loss)......then imagine throwing in some mods.

Spraintz

iTrader: (1)

i respect that it take skill to drag race well but i do believ that it is more car than driver and autocross is more driver thatn car.

thats the answer right there,
if you like to brag about your car and whats been done to it and get that rush of haulin *** then hooray for drag racing.

if you like to experienc what a car is made of overall and get the rush that you are the one that became one with the car to get it around that course then yea autocross.

its 2 different styles of racing that are hard to be compared with each other. peopl just like different things and sometimes both.

its kinda like sayin:
"....man, i just don't see while people like Pepsi so much. I mean, it tastes sweet and stuff but why not drink lemonade. I just don't get the deal with Pepsi....."

they are both drinks but i personally like Pepsi better

TonyTurboII

My only concern is Drag Racing. Sure, it may handle great, and I may use that every now and then, but I have the most fun between stoplights.

rxse7en

The original question was, "Why autocross and not drag?" Well, my take on it is that if you own a 7 you have some intelligence to be able to realize the benefits of a superior driving machine. Being intelligent, you then realize that more people die—innocent people—because of street drags than from sanctioned autocross races. The 7 is a precision driving machine that is engineered to be driven on the twisties. Just my take.

KiyoKix

My,my,my I don't even know where to begin. I really don't feel like arguing the point, but in my opinion it's all about what you like to do, bottom line. I'm personally not a drag race fan, I like it and it's cool for a little while, but it's just not my thing. I personally think that RX7's were created for the driving experience and not just straight line speed. If they weren't they would've never released the N/A (my favorite) version of the car. Hell, we don't have to have a big debate on it...just do what makes you happy!

fastrotaries

drOX: reading Comprehension: MOST STREET CARS. i have yet to see a funny car drive down my street, or any street for that matter.

IF you like head to head competition, try Pro-Solo. It even has a Christmas tree.

KiyoKix

By the way...what's with this "no torque" thing. Maybe in an N/A motor, but definately not a turbocharged motor. Not to mention it's all up to engine management when it comes to torque anyway. You want more then you'll have to sacrifice some peak power numbers, but then again it's not how much power you have, it's where it's spread across.

787B

if you have never autocrossed, you wont understand. Autocross and you will be hooked. There is so much more to autocrossing, imho it takes more driver skill and is a HELL OF A LOT MORE FUN. Accept that the RX-7 wasn't meant to be driving in a straight line, that is what the domestics are for.

Mark'sMazda

Differnt cars do differnt things, many people don't understand this. We all laugh at the ricers that think that their civic is a street king, because we all know that their econmany cars. The same is true for our cars, they are ment for handling, not drag racing, while they do OK on the strip they really shine on the real race track, or an autoX track. If you want to drag race that's fine, just get a drag car (f-body, mustang). IMO most people in here are into both, streaght line and handling, that's why they bought rx7's, they can do both well.

I have told many people UPFRONT that my car is more for handling than drag racing, and I have never had anyone laugh, or give me any ****. But if you get your butt kicked, drag racing, THAN say "Uh, yeah, well my car will out corner yours" will you look stupid.

I think drag racing is OK, but it just doesn't do it for me. I would rather DRIVE my car pushing it to all of it's limits (acceleartion, braking, and handling) for up to a full minute, than just sit there with my foot on the floor for 14sec. Sure it's not as fast as an modded F-Body, but I think that there is more to cars than having a fast timeslip. If you like to impress people, try taking an on-ramp at over double the posted speed limit, that will get their attention.

differnt stroaks for differnt folks

HWO

you should be SLAPPED

a rotary engine has more torque than a piston engine of the same capacity

comparing the torque of a n/a 13B to that of a 300+ cube v8 is like comparing apples to cabbages.........