First off, I'm not trying to start some ****, so please refain from making this a flame post. I drive a 1990 Mustang 5.0 Coupe and I also have a '86 Rx7, I'm just trying to get some insight so maybe I can help the dude out with the 3rd gen race a little better.

Last night we raced a thrid gen rx7 in a pretty much stock GT w/ 3.73 gears and exhaust ( its even dyno'd 180rwhp, not fast ). We pulled him by a car pretty easily. First off, I thought they were 3 rotor's, the dude in the car said it was a 2 rotor

1st race:

We both launched pretty good, the rx7 actually launched better to my amazment and pulled up a little bit on us, his rear bumper at the driver side door. I thought those turbo's spooling up would made that rx7 pull right passed us. Well, John ( the ownder of the gt ), slammed his car into second, and we pulled back past the rx7, john throws it into third and we pull past him no problems, getting a car on him. I hear the rx7 miss third, and we of course pulled a lot of cars on him after that, so we just let off.

We get back and the dude claims he would've beat us if this and that and this and that. He kept throwing out excuses which made John wanna race him again to shut him up.

2nd race:

This time I was out of the GT, and flagged them to go, 1, 2, 3, they were gone, the rx7 didnt get as good a jump this time from my prospective. John pulled him pretty easy this time and the rx7 didnt miss a gear. John pulled 2 1/2 cars on him at the top of 4th ( thats pretty much a 1/4 mile ). Well the rx7 dude comes back and pretty much admits defeat and then races and loses to a stock 99GT automatic by just half a car, John has no problems beating that stock 99GT as well.

Now the dude in the rx7 obviously knew how to launch his car, he was barely spinng the tires when I watched him race. He was granny shifting big time to the car, but I figured once he gets it back into gear and gets the rpms and spool up he would easily pull right past, we could here the damn turbos, sounded like a vacummn cleaner. I asked the guy how much he was revving to, he said he was taking it to 7 grand before shifting. He says all the work on the car has been done by rx7.com ( rotary performance in dallas ). I dont know what mods he had besides a big exhaust tip, but I can say I was a little disapointed, and a little annoyied at all the excuses he gave off.

Again please refain from posting PDS crap, whats the power band of these cars with stock turbos etc. . .

I'll most likely see this dude out racing again, so gimme some tips I can give him.

 

A healthy stock 3rd gen will put down 220-230rwhp and weighs 2800lbs. Something was wrong with the 3rd gen or he wasn't driving it right.

 

Damn, thats an awesome weight to power ratio stock, why did they stop bringing those cars over here again I think it was more or less his driving, was he shifting to soon, I thought these cars liked rpm

 

They stopped bringing them here due to lack of sales, increasingly stiff emissions standards and lots of warranty claims, as RX-7s tend to pop when they aren't well taken care of. They also like revving, as you say... maybe you found one of those owners that completely babies their car instead of enjoying it once in a while

 

I think it's recommended on a somewhat stock FD to shift around 7k-7200 rpms. That's always what I used to shift at. Usually on a modded FD with bolton's 1st gear flys by pretty fast, and is easy to redline in 1st in my opinion.

What's the gt with 3:73's run like mid 14's? Faster?

It could have been due to him being a bad driver like someone said or could it be his car isn't running right and he doesn know it?? I mean maybe he isn't seeing a full 10 psi on his turbos?

If his primary or secondary turbo isn't working correctly/healthy and aren't putting out the amount of boost they're are supposed to or if he has a boost leak somewhere the car could be slowed down considerably.

 

Well the dude driving the GT is an awesome driver, it amazes me how he can get his car with so little power and mods to beat most other cars ( n/a of course ). The GT has ran a best of 14.1 with its current mods.

I'll ask him to see how much boost he is putting out if we see him again, he did love his car, maybe he was just being nice to it

 

ive owned 2 seperate, once stock, third gens.
-no, they arent 3 rotor from the factory.
-all properly running stock third gens FINISH the 1/4 mile just slightly after you shift into 4th, the very bottom

there is something obviously wrong with the driver/car if he cant beat a "gran touring" mustang, take our honest word for it.

 

maybe he was being nice to your friend.

 

We were in 4th, he was switching to 4th at the end of the race, the 2v modular engines dont rev as high as rotarys

I'm not saying ALL rx7's are slow just from this encounter, its just I've never seen one race before, at least from a stop, I expected a little more out of it I guess. Again, I'll ask him or hell I'll even ride with the dude the next time I see him, honestly, he changed gears slower then when I daily drive my coupe lol.

Thanks for the input, and not flaming

 

Probably wasn't running right...as far as racing the car, it's one of the more easier cars to race because it doesn't have too much torque and flies off the line effortlessly. He might be setting your buddy up for a hussle

 

my rx7 only has a downpipe,exhaust and an intake and ive beaten mustangs with both blowers and nitrous...that rx wasnt up to par

 

Was it by chance an Automatic FD?

 

Abecx, I thought I was the only person with a stang and a 7. I have a 70 Mach 1 w/351c and top loader

Anyway, It sounds like the guys car is not running right or he doesn't know how to drive it. Or like someone else said, maybe he's hustling you guys.

Stock 3rd gens have hit as low as 13.8 but with typical drivers I've seen them run 14-14.2. With mods that car should be much faster. If he has exhaust like you said, that alone will make a big difference.

I hate when people make excuses for losing. Just admit you lost and try to get them next time.

Mike

 

I was JUST about to ask that.



FD = 3rd generation RX-7 ('93-'95)

 

You took the words right out of my mouth...

Also, does he have a boost gauge? How much boost does he see through the power band?

 

nah it was a manual, I assume 5 spd, you lucky bastards didnt get 6spds did you I dont know how much boost he was running, I dont personally know the guy, but others do. If I can find him again tonight, I'll be sure to pass along the information you guys gave me. Thanks.

 

hah, 6 speed? we shift out of 4th @ 140. who needs two more gears to take us to <200mph?
forget how those HATERS warned you about being hustled. when he wants to put his $ where his mouth is, let him and take his bet.....let us know who wins then.

 

If your buddy can run a 14.1 then he should be able to keep up with most stock 3rd gens, as stock they run 13.8-14.2. This is assuming a decent driver and a healthy car. The record that I know of from a totally stock FD is 13.49 (Nick Reifner) and the worst... well there are some sucky drivers out there, I'm probably one of them. Your friend needs to check his boost pattern, I bet he has 0psi on his secondaries, which would take away, oh, 70hp. Could have dead plugs too, these cars tend to go through them pretty quick and you do lose a lot of power when they start to wear down.

 

Crazy!

Forgot about how rev happy those cars are for second Anyway, I didnt see him out tonight, but i'll be sure to ask him some questions about how its running, it seemed run pretty strong, just it was his shifting, he also had a rim in the trunk ( no tire on it ) and a passengear, but I was sitting in the gt the first run. Thanks for being so cool and not flaming