My friend and I autocross his 2nd-gen Eclipse GST in STX. At the last event we did, in mid-July, we had a rod bearing fail. We caught it pretty quickly and trailered the car home. It probably drove for a half a mile, if that, after the failure.
When the oil pan was removed, large hunks of bearing were in the oil pan. I assumed they must not have come out gently.
With the cap removed from the rod, the big surprise is that there isn't any serious damage to the crank journal. There's a thin (3-4mm) scuffed band around the journal, but nothing you can feel. It's the only imperfection in the polished surface of that journal.
Now, I'm no expert, but I'm tempted to get a new set of rod bearings, ensure the correct tolerance with plastigage and reassemble. If the engine eats another set of bearings or really tears itself apart,
then we'll rebuild it.
But I'm certainly open to your opinions.
Maybe that's a terrible idea.