Ever drive your racer on public roads?
 

I've been considering turning my 7 into a track only car. But my biggest draw back is my love for the open road. Fortunately I live out in the sticks were I can get away with running a barely streetable car. But once you go that extra mile people will look at you funny at the drive through. :)

So my question: Have any of you went out in the racer for a leisurely drive on public roads? I'm not saying driving to work; just a few trips around the block to settle your nerves.

I don't drive the 7 very often as it is; but sometimes after a hard days work and a little bitching from the girlfriend, I feel like wasting some gas. So I fire her up and burn a quarter tank and I'm once again happy.

Ya, it take my pp12a rx3 out on public roads. I live in a pretty rural area so cops arent too bad. people do call the police but by the time they get there, i am long gone. Noise is the onle issue, well that and its been lowered 3 inchs to an "illegal" ride high, cracked window that "blocks my vision", mud on the license plates,etc, what can i say i am 19 and dont care.

CJG

CJG

I drive my track only RX-7 on the roads on occasion. The only thing I do in preparation to do so is to put on some treaded tires.

When I was breaking in the new motor my father drive the car about 150 miles to the first Solo I event. I was right behind him in the tow vehicle with the empty trailer.
At one point we went through a police road block where they were checking for seatbelts. The cop did a double take look but he did not stop us. I guess the did not realize that a simpson 5pt harness is not DOT.

BTW: The car is tagged in the state and I keep the required minimum insurance but the the car is completely stripped on the interior. The only thing left from the stock interior is the steering wheel and part of the dash. The rest of the interior is a rollcage and a Kirkey aluminum seat. And the exhaust is LOUD, RR headers to an Apex N1 Single ehxuast (no pre-silencers or cat). With perminant numbers, class markings and sponsorship stickers on the sides is no passing this car off as just a modified street car.

YES
i don't have trailer yet so i drive my car to and from the track. i've taken it around the block a few times " wink wink" if you get my drift. but really i don't drive it fast or hard because it's loud. the bad thing is once you mod it it's not real comfy on the street or for long drives.
can't wait to get a trailer so i don't have to sit in it more thsn i have to.
robert

Mine gets driven up my neighborhood street and back, and that's about it.. Been thinking about running it to the local gas station instead of using fill cans tho ;)

PaulC

This is good to hear. I really cant afford a truck or a trailer. So driving to the local track is all I need, with a few leisurely drives around the block. Luckily I have a track about an hour away from me. This moves me one step closer to taking the jump. I have also just done a good bit of work to make my daily driver (95' 626) a little more reliable. Because up until this point my 7 was my back up if the 626 let me down.

Does Summit sell rule books and cage requirement info? I have a Summit pretty close to me and have been looking for a reason to visit it again. Maybe take a look at those kirkey seats; assuming that is where you guys got yours.

I've been thinking about how to get my car to the track. Driving it is my only option right now (which is a bummer in California b/c I have to keep all of my smog stuff) and my main concern is that something will happen to the car at the track (crash or mechanical failure) and I won't be able to drive it home. The car is put through a lot more strain at the track and I would think that a failure would be more likely there. Have any of you ever had something go wrong somewhere and not had a tow vehicle to get your car home? What did you do in this situation?

you might as well, the gas is close, and ive seen more radical cars cruising that neck of the woods

mike

never thought about that!

heres my experiance with track break downs.
theres lots of ways to get the car home, but first you need to make friends with as many locale racers as possiable, race people are the greatest in the world and will never leave one of there own stranded in the boonies. in my first ever race i screwed up my steering ( later found it to be just a bushing came loose) but did'nt want to take a chance and drive it home. so i asked around and talked to some guys with trailers who lived near me. what we did was put my car on the trailer and the guy drove me home , later in the week he went back and got his car. i gave him money for the gas and his time but he didn't want to take it.
like i said race people are the greatest.
lucky for me i live only about an hour from the track.
get to know people , help everyone you can you never know when you will need a favor. might be something simple like spark pluks or oil but friends at the track could mean the difference between going home early or having fun all day...........................
later
robert

AAA Premium.. Best 78 bucks you can spend. 3 free 100 mile tows, doesn't matter why.

PaulC

LOL, does everyone know where I live? :D

hehe

PaulC

I drove my E Production car on a local 2 lane highway, but I had permission from the local authorities first. My car was in a local parade, and the cops let me drive it to and from my shop.

At highway speed (60mph) I was still in 1st gear!:D

i worked at almaden mazda from 97 to 00, so i remember your car when it was stock, it took a long time to put 2+2 together though. theres a 70's camaro i used to see, its fully tubbed and caged, he runs on slicks, and it has a super lumpy idle, ive seen him on the street several times.

mike

I would start my trailer fund as soon as possible and in the mean time try U-haul or local truck and trailer rental shop. truck and trailer rental is usually $120 or so for the weekend. I have helped others stranded and I see several broken HPDE or driven race cars towed every race weekend. most tows will cost more than the truck and trailer rental and the truck can haul all the spares with ease and can be converted into a poor man's camper to save on the hotel fees. it sucks waiting two or three hours for a 2 hour tow home on sunday evening that cost $250.

I saw a camaro that was tubbed, runnign on huge slicks, and had wheelie bars at one of the local ricer meets a while ago. That meet got busted by the cops.....I wonder if he got pulled over..

around here he would not have

mike

LOL.. Too funny! Now that it's done I'm getting the itch for a new project though..

PaulC

i know what you mean, how about an imsa replica car?

mike

I'd love to, but I can't imagine driving my ITA RX-7 on the road (read: BUMPS in Michigan suck).

Thats Loud!

I saw you on Speed the other day at the run offs. Pretty cool huh?
What do you think about Jeff Derhnel's run. He's pretty damn fast. He will have a completely new car next season and his son will be running the yellow car. We all think he's crazy for doing it when that car is so fast. He must know something we don't. :D

We drive the ITA car on the street all the time around the shop. It's freaking loud, But there are no houses around the race shop.

Mike

Well, Mazdaspeed does sell the fiberglass parts to build one.. I just don't have the experience to build a tube frame car :)

PaulC

Mike,

Jeff's drive at Ohio was awsome!

He's definitely got all the right stuff on that car. I saw he listed Moton as his brand of shocks. His pockets must be a lot deeper than mine. One of the downsides to being young and having a wife and 4 kids to support is that you end up with Tokico Illuminas on your racecar. :D

Chuck

the early ones were not tube frame....
i dunno i thought about it but its not really, a great idea.
you cant drive it on the street and theres nowhere to race it

mike

If you drive the caged race car on a public road, there are couple safety concerns that you have to be really careful about.

Using the stock seat belt, no helmet with a full roll cage can be dangerous to yourself. You can bang your head on the monkey bars in case of a collision.

If you use the harness, you are strapped in and you can't really turn the shoulders to check blind spots. It could be dangerous to other cars on the road.

Not that it is not doable, just that you have to pay extra attention. Always safety first, then fun. :)