On a stock FD, I gotta agree w/ Jim here. Like I said earlier, if I'm not mistaken, Peter Farrell was the one behind the wheel in 1992 when the 3rd gen was first brought to the states, and was being tested by the magazines. Mazda personally handed him the keys for the first tests.

Now I know some of you may have certain opinions about Peter's character, but I'd venture to say he's a better driver than 99.99% of everyone on the forum, period. He has what...19+ years experience racing RX7s? And I'm sure it took him quite a few runs to hit that 4.9 0-60.

Now, can someone run better 1/4 mile times on a stock FD, sure...didn't someone on the forum run a 13.5 on a stock FD? But keep in mind that falls under abusing the car (if I'm not mistaken, it was Kevin T. Wiyyum, and he posted himself that he was powershifting...). But there really isn't much room or experience for us to play w/ that 0-60 stock...IMO.

 

Stock FD from factory 2789 lbs. 255 horsepower. 0-60 in 4.9 seconds. And exclusive rights to the label pure sports car.

 

Thanks for clearing that up...

 

With a T-78 making plenty of power, I'm sure you can get the car moving pretty quick and high 3 second times are possible for 0-60. The power is there. It just depends on how and if you can that power to the ground.

 

The power is where? High rpm. How likely are you to be able to get that power to the ground on street tires? Not very.

 

jimlab is correct. There is a tradeoff between H.P. and wheel spin. You can't afford to be spinning your wheels when trying to achieve best 0-60 times. It's inefficient. And dumping the clutch outright is no answer, even with near stock configuration. I try to launch at 3000 but gently. You've got be feeling for the wheels slipping on the paement as you let out that clutch, gradually, but quickly. It's something you learn autocrossing. By the way, I never burned out a clutch doing this on weekends during my autocrossing days, but I don't recommend this sort of sadistic behavior on a daily basis.

 

Now, can someone run better 1/4 mile times on a stock FD, sure...didn't someone on the forum run a 13.5 on a stock FD? But keep in mind that falls under abusing the car (if I'm not mistaken, it was Kevin T. Wiyyum, and he posted himself that he was powershifting...). But there really isn't much room or experience for us to play w/ that 0-60 stock...IMO.[/QUOTE]

WOuldnt this mean that if you could abuse the clutch on a stock rx7 in the qtr mile couldnt you abuse it 0-60

not rewriting but in 10 years , perhaps the stats could change (including abusing the clutch)

 

History doesn't change, including the performance numbers that the magazine test cars generated.

Can you guarantee that all of the phenomenal times being portrayed as "the norm" were achieved with bone-stock cars? Even if they were, production variances alone could account for one car being significantly stronger than another. That doesn't mean they were all that strong.

 

Uh....WHERE are you getting your information? Did you NOT see the MOTORTREND test data? Car&Driver, AUTOWEEK, and Road&Track ALL had very similar results.

Look, I love my FD but like jimlab says, DON'T go and try to rewrite history.

This whole entire endless debate about the performance of the FD comes down to this:
Young kids have some 'dream-o-meter' idea about the performance, more wishful thinking than fact all too often. Those of us that KNOW, that have the real-world experience and are able to admit the truth of things, to recognize reality and deal with it, are ALWAYS having to do this bullshit "defense" of the car, just because someone without a clue has "heard" or worse says something like "yeah, my cousin Jimmy has a friend whose third cousin's sister's boyfriend has one of those 3rd gens, and he does like a 4 second 0 - 60 on his way to a 11.9 quarter mile, and hell man...that car runs like 220 mph! I've SEEN it!"

I guess I just don't understand those that can look at factual data and dismiss it out of hand........

 

what rpm do u guy launch at with a stock rx7?

 

I run a twin plate clutch and a TD06-25G. Never revved beyond 6krpm or dumped the clutch as my car still has some issue to sort out but as a matter of curiosity, where is the next weak point along the transmission when you dump clutch at high rpm with a twin plate assembly? The gearbox, the torsen diff, driveshaft, or the subframe?

 

Here's my guesstimate of why the factor claims managed to get a 4.89 0-60 and 13.5 ET in stock form.

They must have tested a Japanese version with a factory DP and during the Japanese winter climate where it's stock IC friendly.

Just a conjecture.........

 

so to say that some are stronger than others how is me saying it could run 4.8 so far fetch? its not , you guys need to relax and realize that their are people that can run great times that arent big names. Including young people... I mean they have better reflexes. o well just an opinion , you dont have to rip someone on it

 

also most people out weigh me , I weigh 130 pounds < i suppose this could help!?!?

 

That's about a half second quicker than what the majority of magazine drivers were able to get out of the car, which is a significant difference. Do you think the FD improves with age, or is the air just better these days?

You cannot violate the laws of Physics, no matter how old you are.

Um, OK.

Not likely. These aren't go-karts we're talking about.

 

Jimlab's deffinitely right. You would have to do some serious work on the drivetrain just to support the use of tires that will launch you the way you need to get you into real quick 0-60 times.

 

the remark on reflexes jim is kinda doumb , you dont think reflexes matter when letting your clutch out and your shifting gears?///

Air is no different no days --- but considering car magazines have the cars for maybe a week to do testing versus me having my car for 1 year , i personally believe my 0-60 has changed atleast a second--- why couldnt the stats be better-- mags said qtr mile 13.9 - 14 but the kevin guy did it in 13.5 -- hmmm looks like he did better than the magazine? 4.8 is not at all far fetch im sorry you guys cant figure this out--about the go cart comment- actually these are go carts

 

also about the comment does the FD improve with age-- yes it does its like a big wine bottle , maybe you should drink some and consider yourself not always right about everything, even tho you might be< if you noticed the keyword in my first post was ( I THINK the fd could........) you notice the think instead of me putting i know--

 

i believe weight has alot to do with 0-60...

"Not likely. These aren't go-karts we're talking about."

is a completely false statement. you know that every couple pounds you shave helps out... even tenths of a second.

if some person weighed 130 lbs and another weighed 200... with same "skills" i believe i would put my money on the lighter one. because i know first hand that even a spare tire can knock off a couple hundreths or even a tenth.

"You cannot violate the laws of Physics, no matter how old/FAT you are."

 

So driver weight doesn't make a much bigger difference when you're talking about an 80 lb. kart than when you're talking about a 2,800 lb. car?

It takes a considerable number of "every couple pounds" to make a tenth of a second difference. We're talking about a stock car here, so the only weight you can reduce is the driver.

Do the math.

255 horsepower
2,800 lb. car + 130 lb. driver
power to weight ratio: 11.5:1

255 horsepower
2,800 lb. car + 200 lb. driver
power to weight ratio: 11.8:1

The lighter package will be quicker, but not that much quicker. The rule of thumb is one tenth of a second for every 100 lbs. saved and we're talking about 70 lbs. difference. Now do you understand my comment about go-karts?

I'd like to see the spare tire that would knock a tenth off the 0-60 time.

 

From what? 6.5 to 5.5?

Save the attempts at witty sarcasm... it doesn't work very well coming from someone who can't spell "dumb".

The "Kevin guy" is Kevin Wyum and I don't believe his car was 100% stock. He's on the forum. Ask him.

Maybe you're missing the point. One person does not an average make. We're talking about average stock performance here. Not questionably stock, built-on-a-Wednesday fluke performances.

No, they're not.

 

I have heard that for every 100lbs u gain, u gain 1/10th in the quarter mile time.

It's suppose to work the other way as well.

 

I've got one of the most stock FD's here and its powertrain is in good shape. I have launched this car hundreds of times on race tires and if it can do 0-60 in anything much less than low to mid 5's I'd be very suprised.

...there is a huge difference between 4.9 seconds and 5.5 seconds. Also be very leary of magazines who do not correct their times to standard atmospheric conditions. Motor Trend is historically one of the absolute worst for using "downhill with a 30 mph tailwind" type numbers.

 

I mentioned that at the bottom of page 3...

 

One of the reasons why I posted the results of MOTORTREND's comparison between the Supra and 300ZX and 3000GT was to show that for once MOTORTREND was being realistic and had results in line with Car&Driver and Road&Track.