Hey all,

For those that don't know what One Lap of America is, in a nutshell you drive your street car overnight from track to track, do time trials at each track, then on to the next track. It is 5200 miles of street driving and 17 track events in 8 days.

So my question is, how would you prepare your car to be both competitive and reliable for this event? Would you feel confident that say an FD with all the regular reliability mods and a small single turbo would be good to go for back to back to back events while driving in between as well? For those that may have run an rx7, I'd love to hear your findings! Thanks!

Ken

 

Bad stuff can (and does) happen to anyone, especially on that event. But I would think a well maintained and modified FD would have no problems.

 

can you rent a truck and trailer to haul the FD from track to track?

 

Nope, gotta use the track car for traveling between and on the tracks.

 

I'd do it if I had the cash, time, and the ballz to subject my baby to those harsh conditions.

But since I don't.....HELL NO.

But kudos to whoever has all of those ingredients and is able to tough it out.

I'm pretty sure that a well-tuned FD should have no problems competing in the One Lap...but you definetly have to monitor your car well.

 

Ask Kevin Wyum. He is on the forum. He's done the One Lap in a third gen RX7 many many moons ago.

 

Funny thing is there are a few guys that have done One Lap every year in FDs. They have done well.

If you follow the cars over the years you'll find that a nearly stock FD will do really well. I'd put in a DP, bigger rad, aluminum AST, track pads (bring extra pads and rotors), install 9s in the leading plugs, and put in some better shocks. Make sure the bushings are in good shape and hit the track. This assumes the car is in generally good shape too.

It is more driver than modded car, as-is most racing (until the pros). The wildly modded cars usually break.

 

Cool! I'm not surprised they would do well. Even though I'm currently a supra guy, I have just lately been drawn to how much an all-around performer this nononsense sports car (the rx7) is, no matter what the venue (autox, roadracing, and even dragging), and how fun it is doing it! (Just recently got to drive a bone-stock R1.)

Anyway thanks for the insight and bump!

 

jimlab's car would be one hell of a one lap contestant, and i think a small single like an rx6 would do really well. I also think reliability wouldn't be a problem if you've ugraded the right components, especially a lot of the suspension parts, bushings, sway bar mounts, shocks/springs, etc. and the cooling system. A good monitoring system like the power FC or other standalone would be key as well to make sure you know what your car is doing

 

No offense to Jim, his car would suck at One Lap, especially the first time out. A car with that many mods will have issues. It is basically a prototype.

Like I said before, people have done really well at One Lap with a nearly stock car, start modding heavily and one thing after another will pop up.

The hard part about One Lap is the schedule. If anything breaks you have very little time to make up the time. It isn't really that track intensive, you only get a few laps per track, then you have to drive your butt to the next track, miss your schedule and your done.

Jeff

 

Aha. Thus the idea of Open Track Challenge. More track time, less filling.

 

It's damned late to be thinking about preparing for OLOA unless you're thinking about May 2004.

I'd recommend reliability mods only, and upgraded brakes or at least trackworthy pads and fluid.

OLOA is a blast, but very taxing.

Kevin's car had some 'popcorn' going on at times in 1996, but otherwise did the best of the 3rd gens entered that year. One of the highlights of my videotape from the Putnam Park stop is his car doing a 360 in Turn 9.

Some Canadian guys around here somewhere have done OLOA several times now in a CYM FD.

 

That would be Rick Potter et al
http://www.maxcooper.com/rx7/gallery/1lapa.html

 

****, i would do this if i had the time or money. all i can say is bring a buddy with a truck and tow hitch. if the worse gets worse you can atleast tow her home. i have to say that the rotary has a great chance of making it all the way through. we are the only japanese company to win the 24hrs of lemans are we not
kris