Mazda Australia’s official RX-8 National Video

 

Thanks to Luke. Thanks for coming and took a video of me, although I did not speak.

Mazda RX-8 Nationals 2010

This year I have the pleasure to join the rest of the RX-8 boys in the Nationals. This is the 6th edition already and I have been only able to go to half of those. For one reason or the other I was not able to make it. A shame I would say since it has always been nice. We even have organized one in 2007.

Wakefield is a good track, especially now it has been resurfaced. The bumpiness of the tarmac has gone. Every good bits associated with Wakefield, ie the trackside accommodation.




Now the track day went smoothly. First we have big breakie that feels us up. I am not going to comment in the masterchef as it was really not that good.

Anyway, I had pretty long time to change to the slicks. Then the worst comes. My slicks was shot! There is no grip whatsoever. Even getting off the line is no good. The first session was still wet with the moisture from defrosting ... Did I mention that we started the day at 0 degree. We had minus 2 the next morning.

Well the theme of the entire day is understeering. And I normally have a lot of methods to deal with that. I lower tyre pressure to get more temp. I soften the damper front then the rear more. No use. I had to modify my driving which is not up to standard anyway to combat that. Shit.

The video will say more

Posted by Taka via the trusted iPad.

Location:Bignell Rd,Moorabbin,Australia

TAKA 8 – WTF. 60.19 sec?!?!??!

The car is at the track again today this month. I was keen to get the car under 60 seconds. The racechrono program has been improved since last time.

The standing start function is important in hillclimb. I don’t want to cross the line and then start the clock. That inevitably will underestimate the time. But if you start the time when the car moves, then it is more accurate.

Well the real hill climb start when the starting gate release you… include your reaction time to start the car.

Racechrono is way ahead on most GPS based timing system, including Performance/Drift box. YAY!

Back to Haunted Hills

Well I eventually have time and effort to come back to the scene of motorsports.. It is important for me. I nearly forgot how to drive that bloody thing. Plus I just spend some money to replace the brake disc, pads, fluids and oil. The plugs are clean. So why not fang it?

Come and join me on November 28! I will go again!

60000km service

Well I put it off for a long while now and I eventually took the RX-8 off charge and brought it to Nelson for a service.

The rotor has worn out nearly completely and I took the Project Mu SCR Pro rotor that I took delivery from Henry about 4 months ago to get it install. The pad I had it for more than a year now. Think they have a good shelf life right????

The rear I had it machined… it looks near brand new!

I also had the spark plugs cleaned and engine oil and filter changed. It brought back the life of the car! It revs and has the 6,500 rpm surge~! Surely it is all the 170kW I need!

  Brought the car for alignment and it is not much need to be done. The camber and rear toe are pretty much right. Only the front toe needed to be adjusted… Sweet.

Car is stripping down

I eventually have time to do something in the car. I started from stripping the boot space lining first.

There are many of these collect. I will buy a box to store those.

There are many surprises when you strip a car. I found some tool stuck in the black and somewhat sticky stuff. I hope I can found some $100 notes later :).

I am not sure what that is for. I was advised that it is for air pressure in the boot while closing and it is seen in many cars. I have not stripped many cars in the past.

You can bring back swirl city black car yourself.

I have to admit in the last 2 years, especially after I put this old baby as a track car. I basically treat the paintwork like shit. I use carwash brush and no polish for more than 2 years.
I decide that I don't use the 8 that much now and I put the RX-8 as a test mule for cut and polish - major time. If I stuff it up - at least I won't cry over it  I don't want to use Zaino either, coz it is on the expansive side and I want something that everyone can do.
I kept using the same products. I have Meguire detail spray with clay bars. Autoglym hard deep gloss wax, the lovely resin polish which I like very very much, the new meguire scratch X 2.0 *(twice as expensive as the original but 2x good - $20), and the bumper care gel which I like becauseI can't be stuffed masking tape all the plastics. It removes extra wax very well.

I have the good old orbitor going at low rev - which is good for applying wax at the end but I need something to cut the scratches so....

I brought this - an rotary buffer from Supercheap auto (I can only find it at Preston shop). It is called Rockwell shopseries (made in China) ... it's a 5" rotary buffer going from 500rpm to 3000rpm (1-6 setting) and has a velcor backing you can attach the wool pad on. However, I replaced it a foam pad instead (I brought a very nice foam pad from autobarn for $26 made by K&H - local and australian made). The rotary from Rockwell is about $72 - on sale at the time.

It looked like a swirl city before I started. I started by using the clay bar to get rid of the big residual first. It should feel like smooth after clay bar.

This is after 1-2 applications of scratch 2.0X with the faster rotary setting at 2000rpm-2500rpm.

I need 3-4 applications to bring back most swirls. Now it just leave the thousands of stone clips I collected on the track days.
Final results: There is still some ripple strip effect under strong sun. I don't know how to get rid of it (EDIT: On retrospect I may have used too much wax for it. I will cut down on them for next time)






The car is still very easy to collect swirls afterwards. There is a product out there to firm the wax up and resist minor swirls. May be I will use it next time.

A new RX-8… office chair

I took the delivery of my new RX-8 office chair. How cool is that? Stephen & Eric from UPanel Ringwood made this for me.

The seat is nearly fully functional. The back rest can move up and down and the seat can go limited forward, backward, up and down. Only the lumber adjustment is not wired. I will be game to hot up the remaining wires to see if the lumber support can be adjusted. But I will be risking an explosion to the air bag. .

 

The power is from a 12V battery from Jaycar. They seems to last forever but they are easily rechargeable.

I am very happy indeed. A seat for GT5 on PlayStation.

Driver Dynamics Drift day

I decided this year I may not be doing a lot of track day. A lot of expenses to be paid and there is a new baby on the way, a BMW 135i. I saw there is an exact same one from a forum member from 1addicts. Well I still love white sports car with red leather. I will keep that Honda Type R theme going in my future cars if possible.

Back to about the day. This is a education introduction day for drifting and it is not easy for someone who never drifted though. However, it has a very friendly environment and good teaching. You can do your own pace too. There is no pressure of being the coolest sideways. Some who drifts regularly will get more cheers. But I am please that most people thing that some part of my drift exercise that day looks good. haha. I am totally shit at it.

Feeling HOT HOT HOT! MX-5 Winton track day

I cannot imagine how come there is no fire ball behind my car. I will never think of describing a 35 degree plus track day at Winton. However, more than a week of 40+ degree day at Winton make it a very interesting day indeed (NOT)...

The day did not start well. I started driving at 4am to get to Winton only to know that they did not come and open the gate before 5 minutes to 8am. What the...

Changing tyres at 30 plus degree morning heat is bad enough... but putting the full body suit on because we want something fireproof... it is beyond hell.

The water coolant temperature is going up as quickly as the tachometer itself, and the only relief I get is to short shift the car. Even so the coolant temp is still higher than desired.

So I just packed up before they change it to the short track. I think most people with turbo MX-5s also left after lunch. Not worth breaking your car for...

I don't have much video to show - this is the crappy stuff I put together.

Rear endlink, lower arm bushings, and battery relocations.

I at least check my car 4 times a year at my mechanics. So change of from spring to summer, it is time to do another check. I only did 2000km since last change and 3 short cool spring track days since last oil change. I don't see the difference in terms of colour from the dip stick. So it is topped up to full mark and left for another day. Will change after new year or before the next track day.

 
I eventually get the rear Autoexe endlink installed. This is much adjustable but the require length is much shorter than stock. Stock is very high for the height of the car. I also get the member metal washer installed.

Then the major job to relocate the battery from the front or in front of steering axle to on top and slightly rearward to the axle. And the battery used now, although is much weaker in terms of crank amps (380 vs 750 CCA), is much lighter (7.8kg vs 17kg).

The empty space left after the battery case is removed is interesting. The idea is also to increase airflow though the engine bay. You can see the left side of space created shows the silver bracket of the Defi coolant sensor (that bracket is made from Fujita eng). So it is near radiator and hopefully air will partly go through there. I was told about this from a friend in Japan (thx Tom).

This kit is made by RE Amemiya, Please read my previous post about this. We found out the problem when we cannot match all.... the instructions in the installation menu. Firstly the stock washer is different shape in Australia, thanks to the stupid rule that all the HID lights sold has to have a washer. I wonder this is still current. Anyway we have to remove this motor and the washer tank, with the sensor attached. Lucky the low washer level light did not lid on the dash after removal of it. Otherwise it will drive me mad.

But the wiring of my RX-8 at the battery (+) point is different from the installation menu. Particularly, there is a big big big positive from the radiator side that seems to be missing in the Japanese models. Well we cannot risk a major error since you see that square box is the EPS (electronic power steering) fuse. Loosing power steering is not fun on the road at speed or no no on the track. No power steering is very heavy, you cannot even steer to get out of a car spot. (Addition: Now we have put all the cable back together like stock mode. Instead of the RE Amemiya's suggestion to bring the EPS unit by an extension cord to the new battery location. We feel that the extra wires and stuff deserves a proper connection so we just get a long connecter to connect from the stock location to the new location. Hope that will last long)

  This is the bonus oil catch can. The supplied tube runs from the top of oil inlet to the can before going to the MAF tube.

  The washer is now this tinny wee can size haha. The original motor can be used on the side (not shown in the picture). The odyssey battery sits very prettily in the bracket.

I also change the spark plugs. The old plugs are covered with carbon deposits after a year of track days plus very limited daily drive. But it is not fouled at all. However, even the difference from this good looking covered plugs to clean ones are amazing. I think I will clean those plug quite frequently now. I have asked Nelson to clean the plugs and save them for about autumn/winter time. We have also tested the spark plug cords/leads (after 2 years changing to the Fujita ones). They are ok. Resistance is about 380mOhm on leading, which is longer than the trailing ones at about 270mOhms. We decided if any one is under 200, we will change the whole set before burning the current set of coils.

It is now set for next Saturday's Winton day. Forecast is some rain/shower 3 days leading to Saturday's track day. The chance is low but we will see. Finger crossed .

Beat the falling dollar - a few goodies (parts)

I got these new Japan made OEM Mazda mats with nice emblem on them. My original one is worn badly, at the same area in the the square of this new one. So this one has a more rough and touch fabric inside the square to combat this problem. I intend to use it though for stability, when I have the interior stripped out I will use this mat so that I won't slip in the car haha.

  

Another box of goodies came the other day. I order this a while ago when the Yen is still 88 to a dollar. So these only cost $800AUD. Now they are over $1000AUD. I got the above rear Autoexe endlink to match the front. Also I have a replacement set of the spark plugs that I have now. As you recall from the last video that I have problem getting up the hill. If the plug are full of carbon and cannot be cleaned, I have a new set to replace them.

  These are rear member joints. They are aimed to stabilize the rear, giving more control. Less flex will surely give me more confident to power out quicker.

Should have order more, only if I knew the dollar is so low now. .

I also ordered a battery relocation kit from RE Amemiya. I got to install them and do more picture then. But these are the current pictures.

These are the water washer tank... I think I need this. At least to use to direct the water to the intercooler or radiator LOL.

Oil catch can, with a let off pipe for drainage. The tube besides it show how much oil there is. I don't think they will be reusable. LOL.

Battery stay for relocation. It is smaller than OEM battery so I will have to get a slimline battery. Odyssey is top choice so far, since D-technique is using it.