I have been to a few of these open track events and rarely see a third gen. RX-7. There were two at Laguna Seca but one guy totaled his in the first run group. There was one at Button Willow but it was not really a road car. There were no turbos and it was loud as hell. There were none at this last one at Willow Springs. All I see are lots of BMWs Mustangs and some Miatas. Anybody here take your car to the track?

I just realized this might be a better thread for Race Car Tech. Is there any way to move it there?

 

I do open track events, but I haven't been at all this year. I am getting my car in shape again and expect to be back at it by the end of the year on the SoCal tracks.

Post in the West forum if you are thinking about doing some event and see if you can get some other folks to come and run with you. It is nice to have some folks come check out what it is like or just lend some support, too, but it is most fun when everyone gets a chance to run.

-Max

 

I used to go 3 to 5 times per year, but work & family & car mods seem to eat up a lot of my free time. When I first got my FD (way back in early 96), I would go to Todd Serota's TracQuest events (it was the MIT Club back then), and there would be a dozen or more FDs and maybe another dozen FCs and 1st gens. The last couple of years, I might see one or two other RX-7s total. This is in SoCal-- maybe it's different elsewhere, but due to the age of our cars, I doubt it.

My guess is that we'll start seeing a lot of the new Zs at the track...

 

Yeah I posted in the West forum for the Willow Springs event last weekend and met a guy with a 1st gen that he is getting ready for Pro7 in NASA. This Forum has some pretty good numbers so maybe we can get more people to go.

 

Talk to fluxen on the Forum. He runs speedventures.net with another guy. Fluxen's got a nice FD. The speedventures events are fun, and they have transponder based timing. Good prices too.

 

I would, but during my first autocross I discovered I don't fit in my car with a helmet. No more autocrosses, no open track events. I can drag race though, that doesn't require being able to turn your head at all.

 

I had the same problem and holy crap did it take long to work out. I actually had my car for sale twice because of it. I have a sun roof and am 6’2”.

I have a Sparco seat. First what we did is take the Sparco brackets and weld them to some floor braces. The problem is the brackets flare out at the botom. So on the inside we had to make a whole new bracket. It helps to know a guy with a welder. This worked ok but to fit I still had to remove the seat cushion and slouch a little bit.

I realized that that was putting the belts above my waist and over my guts. That is bad. That is when I put the car for sale again. Then I figured if they can make a seat in the Spec Miata that my 6’4” friend could fit in, they could make one for me to fit in.

I took my car to a guy that does such things and he made some aluminum brackets that basically put the seat on the floor. They work great though. Now I have as much head room with the helmet as I have in the stock seat without a helmet. It is worth the time and effort for the fun factor. Plus I would highly recommend having a racing seat for open trracking anyway.

 

I don't do any track events yet, but I plan to start next spring. I recently went out and watched some of the local FD's owners run on the track and it looked like a blast:
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...hreadid=112928

 

How much boost do you third-gen guys run on the track? What is your experience with keeping intake and coolant temps safe?

 

The car that has the entire freaking engine bay polished in that link I posted didn't have any problems with temps. He was running around 15lbs for boost with a FMIC. He has the SCOOT hood, so I'm sure that helps out quite a bit. It was around 100 degrees that day at the track, not sure what the temp was on the asphault of the track.

 

Stock boost, competiton radiator, Crooked Willow oil cooler kit. Water temp never goes higher than normal driving. No oil temp gauge.

 

I have been oncs (Streets of Willow Springs) with the SPEEDVENTURES group and am planning on doing a couple more soon - I run stock (10psi) boost and all the mods in my sig.

 

Here are some photos from Sebring..........have run there twice so far and what a friggin blast........

David

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...5&pagenumber=3

 

Try to get to the track 3-4 times a year .. find it slows me down on the road which is a good thing for the license! .. and it's awesome to use more of the car's capability that I get to use on a day to day basis.

 

Water temp as measured with the standard guage or aftermarket?

 

Standard gauge. It stays just below hoizontal all the time.

 

You TRULY can't believe that guage

I put an Autometer guage in before taking my car to the track last weekend...

The standard guage never moved a FRACTION, but the autometer varied from the normal 170 degrees right up to 210 at the end of each session.

Either do the Linear Mod to your guage, or bolt in an after-market one.

Seeing that 210 degrees is 99 degrees Celsius, it is pretty plain that the standard guage isn't going to do much intil it is too late

 

Last time at the track, my stock gauge DID creep up to about 20 degrees (angle wise) above horizontal......I IMMEDIATELY slowed it down and cranked on the heat inside the vehicle to take it away from the engine.....the gauge came right back down but GOD only knows what the temp was.............It did that everytime I wound the engine to higher revs..........it was about 95 degrees outside that day btw...........I ran the rest of the day with the heater on inside the car needless to say.......

.I'm definitely getting an aftermarket bolt on to have two working at the same time...............I'm going digital with the SPA gauges........figure the "numbers" might be more precise than a needle.............anyone know anything of the SPA brand?

dp

 

I have the SPA gauge.

Pro: Programmable thresholds for external relay trip. I have a LOUD sonalert for over boost and a quieter one on a different freq for over temp.

Con: When in warm weather and it gets real hot in the car (parked windows up) the display turns black until it cools down. Also, the water temp sender has failed for more than one person on the forum. Cheap to replace though.

 

I would OT the FD, except one of my friends wrecked it last weekend. I've had nothing but bad luck with it. I open tracked Tuesday, so I brought the cobra.

Here's a pic of me being hunted by a civic.

 

I haven't had any really bad luck with my car. It's just that it is a very complicated set up and I worry about it. If it ever leaves me I will probably replace it with a 91-93 Mustang. Simple and powerful.

 

Ralgh:

Offer us some insight on how the RX7 "tracks" compared to the WRX. I see them out at Sebring and they get around the track pretty dang fast.........

Any thoughts.....??

David

 

I must admit I haven't taken the WRX to the track. I got it to be my daily driver. What I can say is that it would need some good suspension tweeking before it could get close the the RX-7. I took it on one of the local canyon roads and it was respectable. First I would need some better tires. The stock ones are for mud and snow. It tends to pitch and roll more than I am used to.

From many of the articles I have read it is set up much better for what I have heard called a rally cross. I guess an auto cross on dirt roads. I can agree with that. I went to go fly my R/C airplane today which requires driving on a dirt road. That WRX just begs to be driven fast. It feels stable and rides the bumps well. It is a fun car.

Sport Compact Car magazine is doing a project car on a WRX and I can agree with what they say. Good for rallying could use some work for on road. I guess just going to the 17" wheels and some good tires helps a lot. I would like to see what I could make the WRX do on the track but all my spare cash goes into the RX-7.

 

They are evidently pretty fast on our local track, which is quite tight and twisty, but I don;t think I'd be too scared of one Even the STI with Twin Turbo is only rated at 129KW