Rx-8 Grand Am Debut result & pic
 

6th in the ST class, not a shabby 1st showing. I notice Justin Bell son of Derek Bell is driving one of the 4 cars (don't know if that's permanent). It will be interesting to see if full Mazda backing can produce results like their last big rotary campaign in the IMSA GTU and to a lesser degree GTO days.

Lead qualifying in ST was a 2:12.6 by an Acura RSX the Rx-8 was 2:13.9 qualifying 4th. I hope Mazda doesn't let the Acura outshine it for long. There's no way a front wheel drive stock 200hp car should be handing it to a stock 238hp rwd. That doesn't look very good for the company... I can't see Mazda putting up with this for an extended period.

You think a Mazda 626 can normally keep up with BMW 3 series like in SVTC? It's all a balancing act to allow as many cars to play as possible. Any idea the weights for the RSX and RX8? I betcha the RX8 has got a couple hundred pounds on the ole RSX.

oops..

It's a first year program.. need more time to develop. They will learn more with each race and season.

Sylvain (2003 GAC ST Champ and Speedsource owner) was actually leading a few times and generally running third before his radiator broke. The other RX-8s were also running consistently well. One got a stop and go penalty for jumping the start; another got a 10 second pit penalty for a man over the wall early. It also appears they all came in for a splash and go fairly close to the finish, so perhaps they are working out the fuel consuption rates and can make further improvements. For a first race, these were very respectable results. Give them a chance to optimize the setups and see how they do.

I crew for a team racing an E36 M3 in GS-class in Grand Am Cup, so I'll be seeing Sylvain and company in March at Homestead (Miami). If Speedsource does well, my team might get an RX-8 for next year too. :)

Yeah I completely agree, that's the nature of racing. There is very few times a car comes out of the gate a winnner. I was just overzealous to see a win for the ol rotormotor. :D

Rotor owns, if its not noww it will be in the near future.

It turns out that another competitors broken mirror came flying through Sylvain's radiator.... bummer... he was running really well.

-Bern

Can't wait til saturday to watch the race! I couldn't hold out not reading this post though :).