so i'm going out for a sunday cruise up and down a local mountain that is known to be a great cruise spot for motorcycles so i decide to take my 1988 gtu out... thought maybe i can catch a couple runs.

i'm hanging out 1/4 of the way up the mountain letting my car cool down after doing a couple runs, and i hear tires screeching at the bottom of the moutain. i look off the cliff and i see two cars coming up the mountain pass. I get in my car and turn it around pulled off to the side of the road, just waiting. all of a sudden, A Toyota supra mk3 n/a whizzes by with a rx8 chasing it. I started zooming after them. On every corner, I start pushing up on them, and have to back off because of the lack of room to pass. The whole way i push up on them on every corner and get next to their car on the other lane just to prove that i'm faster than them with my exit speed and cornering capabilities. The two passengers, one in the rx8 and one in the mk3 keep looking back at me, suprised i was pushing up on them. when we got to the top, it was pretty evident i was the victor, and they gave me props and i headed back down.

My car has almost no power, being a s4 n/a. only mods for power are straight pipe exhaust, hks mushroom intake filter.

but it has full suspension. powered by max coilovers, racing beat sway bars, racing beat DTSS eliminators, brand new stretched tires grippy tires and some other goodies.



from what i could see from racing them, the only mods to the both of them were some strut/spring combination and cat-back exhausts.


Just goes to show.... a car might not have power, but suspension and handling capabilities are sometimes enough

 

They were looking back at you while taking corners at full speed? lol...

Cool story though. On the mountain power doesn't mean ****, especially if its a low speed course with lots of hairpins. I'm probably slower now with a boosted car than I was running my car NA. Theres a certain point you reach (which I did with the Falken Azenis) after which it is simply too risky and the speeds you end up reaching will have serious consequences in the event of a mechanical failure, mistake, road surface irregularity or deer/wildlife collision.

 

Guy in the the 8 must not have been pushing the car as hard as it could be. Not to say you're not a good driver or anything but it has superior handling and power, your FC on the other hand sounds like it had a superior driver. Can't comment on the supra since I've never driven one but given it's weight disadvantage I'd venture to say the FC outclasses it to begin with. Good job, be careful out there.

 

FCs are beasts on the touge.
8's don't handle better on the touge.

I have beaten dozens of cars on the touge with my POS S4. Everything about them just makes you feel like you, your body, your soul, YOUR ENTITY is racing on the mountain... car? what car?

I like my pos S4 better than my nice fast TII S5. The S4 is like an extension of my *****.

Anyways keep hitting the touge.... its the only true way to race.

 

superior handling? strut/spring combination at anything with regular tires compared to full coil-over setup with brand new sticky tires? . . . can't really see how the rx8 would still have superior handling. and by taking a different line i was able to begin accelerating through the turn allowing for my car to seem faster than it was

good book to read is Speed Secrets... i forgot the author but i'll get back to you on this one.

and the drivers weren't looking back... their passengers were

yeah safety is a must... there's that limit where drivers must learn as i've seen a few of my friends wreck their cars pushing their cars/skills over the limit.

well... doing my turboswap so let's see how they'll compare after that

 

 

great story !
i wish we had passes here in detroit. unfortunatly a majority of folks up here are all about straights
keep repin fcs!

 

I was speaking generally no need to get so defensive, the 8 has newer/better suspension geometry as compared to the FC. Hell the 1st gen Miata has superior suspension geometry compared to the FC. Of course a good set of sticky tires and a full coil over setup would put you a step above a stock 8 but provided it had something similar it would again be a step or three ahead. 8's are no slouch when it comes to the twisties either, in capable hands it would mop the floor with 95% of N/A FCs if not more. I'm not insulting your car so don't get me wrong, I love FCs. If anything I'm reaffirming your skills so chill.

Taking a different line so you get maximum accel out of the turn isn't making your car seem faster than it is, it means your driving it faster. Don't sell yourself short.

Oh and Speed Secrets was written by Ross Bentley.

 

so you've read my bible too haha. sorry for getting offensive there. as of right now i'm just waiting a week and a half for all my parts to come in and then im planning on doing my turboswap that will hopefully be finished within a month and a half.

 

Good luck with that

 

Good story....BUT....

I used to have a 1989 red GTUs, Koni yellows on RS*R race springs, DTSS eliminators, full delrin bushings all around.

It doesn't hold a candle to the stock RX8, in any aspect of the handling department.

The only advantage was Toyo Proxes on the RX7 versus the stock potenzas on the rx8.

 

 

you forget alot of points about driving.... a race car driver in a van can smoke a 10 year old driving a ferrari....


i really beg to differ....

even when i had KYB AGX struts with racing beat springs and i'd run full negative camber... it does not compare to my current suspension setup.... and i'd bet that it'd outhandle a rx8 with some minor suspension mods.

and maybe the fact that i always go out with the buds and race the touge up mountains? to the point where i'd take on datsuns, 240's, vw r32's. . . . and other cars on. i know it's not safe.... but doesn't seat time provide experience and an accumulation of skill and know-how. . . . ?

or maybe the fact that i drove up and down that mountain 5 times that day earlier and knew the mountain pass... and maybe he didn't....

i can really go on and on...... i have alot of friends with modded cars... but they can't keep up with people who've driven their cars to their limit and know how to push it without going over the limit....

 

plus... you really have to dial in your suspension and get to know it to fully utilize your car..... and like funkjaw... like your *****

then again, i don't know your level of driving experience.. maybe you're a professional race car driver, maybe you're some kid who just buys parts and puts them on their car... but im sure we must all agree on the fact that

1. knowing's half the battle... if you know the course, you know what to look out for and you will know how far you can push it around each blind corner

2. skill plays a pretty big role.

3. you never know until you race..... so i'm telling you guys what happened... as it happened. it's just like drag racing.... maybe they have a 700 hp car... but they might mis-shift or something and bam you'll get lucky and win.

and 4........ i'm always down for a challenge haha... my car probably can't hang with alot of you guys though haha. s4 n/a's just not pushing it

 

^^ Amen!

Touge racing is the only true way to race. I am thinking about getting an Rx8 (instead of an FD) myself. I just don't like the feeling of potentially not being as fast as my FC. For some reason FCs can put it down... almost as well as FDs...

 

How so? Slow? Out of date? underpowered? Rarely seen by anyone else?




I kid... i kid.

 

You know for a second you weren't kidding .

 

It's quite obvious the 8 couldn't go faster because it had a Poopra in its way.