Has anyone seen the December issue of Sport Compact Car. Well I don't want to ruin it for you if you haven't, but all I have to say that it really makes me feel good to own an FD3S.

 

I guess I have to wait a month to get the Dec. issue. mind post some scans?

 

I was surprised to received it so early, its a long article so you may want to wait to see it then. Besides that the car only has 4 mods, and only one real mod to the engine. It is funny they wrote that it has a 2.6 liter engine, nice little typo. The writers are really hard on rotary reliability they are not helping with the public image the engine already has. Needless to say it ran in 108-degree weather and never skipped a beat, while other cars did.
If you really want me to I could tease you with a few scans.:p

 

 

what's so funny about?

 

yeah i just got mine in the mail today.
the fd was pretty ...AHEM.... dominate, and Reliable even though they knocked it for that.

 

Just checked out the article last night... I was thinking it would be the first SCC I bought since the end of the Project RX7 series Shiv was doing. Ended up not buying it since it told me nothing I didn't already know.

Question:

Anybody else wonder how Tri-Point's series of successful RX7 autocross cars control boost with the mods they have?

If I recall correctly, the article said that the owner just had a (Greddy) IC and a Tri-Point intake. Maybe an exhaust too - don't remember. If the Solo II ASP class in the SCCA doesn't allow you to modify your stock boost contol system, how do you control it with these mods? Maybe the answer is they don't. Maybe they just add enough fuel to compensate for the increase in boost and the nasty spike I bet they get. I don't know - I'm kind of talking out of school here.

This very issue is why I thought FDs were more competitive in Super Stock than in ASP. Once you do the common bolt ons most people need to do something to control the boost... then you are in E mod class I think.

In any case, I believe the Tri-Point prepared cars have continually kicked *** in Solo II due to a great suspension setup and superb driving skills or the rotorheads behind the wheel.

Scott

 

correct me if i'm wrong, but the guy driving the rx7 made up the rules and frequents the track that they are on? i love fd's and i own one but ithink somethings wrong here. it seemed to easy for him.

luigi

 

you're wrong.

it says in the article that they made up the rules long before they picked any cars. A group of people made up the rules, not one person. And every car had the same driver for both the skidpad and the slalom.

For the racetrack, each magazine picked it's driver. To be fair, I think it should've all been the same driver again..but whatever. And yes, the RX-7 did have the slight advantage, by having Rhys Millen as the driver. Keep in mind, that each magazine could choose who they wanted to drive the car. Both VWs and the ITR were driven by the cars owners..Probably not the best choice...but whatever.

The Cosworth and the Porsche were driven by Danny Mckeever, who owns Fast Lane Racing School at Willow Springs (The test took place on Willow Springs. Who has the advantage?). The WRX was driven by Steph Papadakis..he's a drag racer, fastest Honda in the world, I believe.. Both the Supras were to be driven by Chris James, some chump who is looking to race trucks in the Busche Series.

So there you have it.

 

End of the Project RX7 series? Think again

Check out the newstands in 4 months.

Cheers,
shiv

 

sweet

 

Shiv - glad to hear the editors have continued the Project RX7 series you were doing. I thought it was very well done... but I also thought it was "done" in May 2000 (the most recent installment) when you added up the costs and gave an overview of the monster you created.

Scott

p.s. No offense that I haven't picked up SCC since then, I'm just not really interested in the modifications of other "sport compacts" that much. I do, however, keep up with these cars at the manufacturer level and read the trade rags almost daily. I represent many of these brands in my job as an international attorney, including what I think is your favorite brand.

p.s.s. No one has any thoughts on my question about the boost control in Tri-Point autocross cars?

 

No offense taken

off to SEMA...

Cheers,
shiv

 

Coulthard Fan,
There are 2 ways to control boost when running ASP, none or cheat. If your not a cheater, you just have to make sure you are adding enough fuel to compensate for the extra boost. Most do this with upgraded fuel pumps, rising rate fuel regulators, remaped ECU's and/or add on fuel computers. Tri point uses a combination of all the above.

 

Actually, that's one of the most insightful observations I've seen on this forum, and *precisely* how Tri-Point got around the rules.

Their downpipe is designed to *encourage* boost spiking with a free-flowing exhaust. Anyone who has one will notice how smooth the radius is out of the turbo exhaust, instead of taking an almost 90 degree turn as some downpipes do. I had one of the first downpipes that Tri-Point made available to the public, and they warned me about this at the time of purchase. Before we got everything dialed in, we had several spikes to 18 psi, which I had maps for, luckily.

It definitely works, and if you have enough fuel to back it up, (preferably 110 octane or better) then what's the harm of a little boost spiking between friends?

 

Just from reading what you all are posting, making me real anxious to get my mag in the mail...as for the continuation of the rx7 project...thank God!! Its about time.

 

You know what? I just remembered that the owner of the H&R Springs Cosworth (Steve Perret, if anyone cares) was going to borrow my trailer to take his car down for this shoot. Because he thought my trailer was lighter, and he would get better milage out of the long trip down to cali..but I gues my trailer wasn't lighter at all. So he didn't borrow it.

It's kinda funny that I never see any pictures of him, or any mention of him. Oh well.

 

OK, I accept what you guys are saying. I just checked the SCCA rules and it does say that the Street Prepared class can use any grade gas they want. If I was seeing 18psi spikes (with my friends) you better believe that I would be using 110 octane. One thing to note: I thought a remapped ECU was impermissible because it usually eliminated the fuel cut in the stock ECU, but after reading the rules again I think this was all in my imagination.

So that could be part of the secret... that boost spiking is good. Judging by my past autocross performances, that kind of spike would surely result in a DNF or the serious munching of cones. Like I said before, those drivers were probably largely responsible for their success.

Scott
(who after 3 years on the big list finally said something Jim thinks is insightful/useful/anything-but-stupid)

 

Well, the odds were good that it had to happen sooner or later, right?

 

My girlfriend would say that you may never hear me say something useful.

Since a lot of the topics we throw around here revolve around drag racing, it is actually likely that you would never hear an insightful comment from me. It's not my bag - I prefer road racing - but I know you are all over it.

Getting back to the article, I did think it was a good display of the handling prowess that many of us bought this car for.

Later,
Scott