AWESOME MAN!!! glad to see you are still enjoying your FD!! You built a beast so, I'm glad to see you use it.

 

Nice work What is your setup? (details, please!) Do you have better close up pics of your car?

 

looks like REAL fun

 

pretty damn cool

 

Lookin' great Dave. Who sold you those sweet wheels with those un-trackworthy tires anyway ?

I am moving along a serious upgrade path now to make my car a roadrace monster to be reckoned with....this post gets my juices flowin'

 

Congrats and welcome to small group of people who I think are only the small group who really get to see just how great the FD is. The track is the most fun you can have in any car.

Some advice - feel free to disregard if you want.
Tires - Unless you have deep pockets, try to stay away from track tires. The victoracers are very nice, and I can get about 20-25 days from them. About 10-15 days from the hoosiers. But I still think that going to track tires to soon only makes you go faster then you're ready for. Street tires are a lot of fun to go sliding around in and have a lot more grip then most people think. I'm running the Sumotomo HTR Z. They do heat up and get a little slick, but have great stiff sidewalls. And they're cheap so I replace them twice a season.

Cooling - Remove the AC if you can. Helps with airflow. If you go with more water mix, use water wetter. It will help a lot and is $8/bottle.

Brakes - get some real race pads before you go crazy with aftermarket stuff. Stay with stock rotors. Don't go cross drilled. I've seen many of the 3rd party ones fail under the heat of the track and shear apart. Cars don't tend to stay on the track when they loose one front brake rotor.... Also, see below for a reminder about upgrading your fluid

Oils - Repalce the oils every day or two at the track. Don't forget the trans/dif oils! Do those once a season now. Brake fluids - upgrade to the super blue race fluid. And bleed the brakes after every day or two.

Other then that, looks great! You'll figure it out!

 

No worries on spending oodles on crap I may not need. I will upgrade the pads before anything and try that first...

The cooling system may just need to be flushed and add a bit more water to it...

As for the tires...I am moving back home (jamaica) and the car is going into storage while I am away. I will be back for business about 4-5 times a year and can track it those time...So it will be a 4-5 time a year track / fun car...Would be surprised if I put 2k miles on it a year from now on.

Rich, yes, you sold me those tires 8K miles ago....and I have to thank you for that...It's a great newbie tire...If I didn't get those I would have gone through 2 sets already and as you can remember at the end of the build I didn't have that much expendable income...I will run these on the track a couple more times and at least rub them down to 1/4 thread before buying the victoracers....

I will do whatever I can to direct the airflow better...That should help. I kinda want a new bumper now to flow more air...the stock bumper covers about 1/4 the surface area of the FMIC

for those wanting to see my setup you can go to
www.ApneaBlue.com/rx7

pincusa....thanks for the scheduled maintenance on the fluids....I just drove it to grab a bite and (first since getting back from the track) and noticed that the tranny is a bit whiney now...sounds like gears...Not a bad sound...Just sounds like the oil is worn out...Can just imagine the diff is the same.

 

Look like you had a great day at the track. How I wish I could do the same one day. We have not track here just a drag one and I am not a great fan of drag.

However I am planning to go off to Sicily and try my first track day there. Glad I have found some very good tips in this post for preparing my FD.

 

Always nice to hear when somebody hits the track. Be prepared, it is an addiction. I drove my brother's BMW M roadster on a track day and was worried the whole time. I decided to get my own car, enter the Rx-7. Then we both decided that we loved our cars so much, and that they were actually TOO nice for the track (you never know what can happen out there). So we finally decided to go in halves together for a Miata to turn into our track bitch. I swear, it never stops.

Anyway, the miata has the victoracer tires, and I can tell you firsthand that tires are the most overlooked aspect of a vehicle. Your car will drive sooooo much better with some good rubber, it truly is amazing. Night and day difference. You will find yourself flying around corners at unthinkable speeds and never hear a chirp out of the tires. Tires and wheels are one of the single most important upgrades. Thats the only thing that keeps you on the road. I think better tires makes the track safer at the same speeds, but allows for faster speeds, so you decide which is better. The victoracers are some of the most economical as well.

Be sure and research the largest matching tire size you can run with your suspension, because you will want all the contact patch you can get. If the car isn't lowered, I know at least 245s will fit with no rubbing on stock rims.

My reccommendation is to find an extra set of stock rims, and mount the victoracers to the new set of rims. (just make sure you get the non brittle kind) This way you can change them out for track days, and you don't have to worry about messing up your nice rims on the track.(which can happen easily if a tire goes off the track and you hit the pavement wrong getting back on track, happened in an evo I was riding in) It will also save the wear on the victoracers since they have a short treadlife. You will also save your street tire for when you want to drive on the street, and get better gas mileage assuming your street tires are smaller.

Stock rims are almost the lightest rims you can buy. The mass that is already in motion is the hardest mass to stop, so the lighter the rims, the faster you will brake, and less wear on the pads, and less heat too. In addition, less mass is easier to get moving, so your car will accelerate out of turns faster as well. I have heard many stories about people shaving almost a half second off their 1/4 mi time simply by changing their rims.

Personally, I would just make sure and keep an eye on oil or water temps and pull off when the car gets hot. If it only takes a couple of minutes for it to cool down, then it is no big deal to wait. I would also try running 93 octane to lower the engine temps. The race gas burns hotter so it makes for a hotter engine. I am pretty sure that you also run water injection, so that will help protect against pre-ignition and detonation, which is part of the reason people run the race gas.

I say go for the tires and see if you can lower the engine temps by changing fuels. You will notice a HUGE difference if you change tires.

FWIW I run 70/30 + water wetter, but have no gauge to measure what kind of difference it makes.

Sorry for the long post, I just get all excited talking about the track.

How did the WI fare on the track? I am looking into getting it too. Thanks,

Dave

 

I always thought it was the other way round?

 

I could be wrong, let me research it. I'll get back as soon as I find out.

 

It is the other way around.

 

Apnea blue,

I have done some research, and am no expert on the topic, but I am pretty sure you are correct. I apologize for the misinformation. I don't have much experience running 110 octane, so I shouldn't have said anything. Here is what I've discovered but it is kind of lengthy.

For everything you ever wanted to know about gasoline:
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/autos/gasoline-faq/part1/

You will need a couple of letters after your name to understand all of it, I know I don't grasp all of it.

I will try to summarize my understanding of it.


Octane rating is simply a measure of anti-knock capabilities.

Oxygenation in fuel reduces knock, thus increasing octane but increases combustion temps. This is how the over the counter octane boosters work.

Gasoline uses hydro carbons for its energy, not oxygen, even though some fuels have some amount of oxygenation.

76 competition 110 racing gasoline is not oxygenated:

http://www.leesracing.com/fuelspec/g3.html

Since it is not oxygenated, it won't increase combustion temps. If you raise your fuel's octane rating by a different method, it will most likely increase the amount of oxygen and therefore increase your combustion temps.

On a side note, oxygenated fuels can reduce latent heat in the combustion chamber, but since they combust hotter, it negates some of affect on the latent heat.

In conclusion, I was wrong in my previous assumption about 110 octane increasing heat, but I still stand by my reccommendation to get new tires.

I hope that helps, and sorry for the misinformation.

I still would like to hear about your water injection's performance on the track. Thanks,

Dave

 

Racing gas does NOT burn hotter. It has a higher combustion temp but but burns at the same rate and heat once ignited.

 

^^ I agree. The higher combustion temp is what also helps racing fuel dissapate some of the latent heat. Again I apologize for my incorrect statement earlier.

Dave