The Road to Topeka - Chike's official 2008 Autocross Blog Thread (B-stock Mazda RX-8)

[Chiketkd]

My co-driver and I competed in WDCR event #5 this past weekend. We ran the event on our well worn set of V710's which have 122 runs on them as of this weekend.

The course was quite long but had a flowing design with fast offsets and long sweepers thrown into the mix. My co-driver and I kept swapping back-n-forth for the lead in class. When I came in from my 4th run, I had close to a 1/2 second lead. Shawn went out for his 4th and final run and tipped me by 0.2 seconds to take the win! So another 1-2 for the Dellimore/Roberts RX-8!

This was also my first Top 30 PAX finish with the WDCR.

Summary:
2nd of 6 in class
26th of 208 in PAX

'B Stock'
Pos. # Driver Car Run1 Run2 Run3 Run4 Total Diff
1T 196 Roberts, Shawn 2006 Mazda Rx-8 Grey 61.328+1 61.118 60.635 59.941 59.941 0
2T 96 Dellimore, Chike 2006 Mazda Rx-8 Galaxy Grey 61.072+2 61.841 60.870 60.162 60.162 0.221
3T 99 Weichold, Frank 2005 Mazda Rx8 Grey 62.286+DNF 62.281+1 61.188+DNF 60.804 60.804 0.642
4 98 Barber, Steve 2004 Mazda Rx-8 Green 62.785 61.716 61.205 61.103 61.103 0.299
5 77 Wise, John 2004 Mazda Rx-8 Yellow 64.567+1 63.204+1 62.363 61.546+1 62.363 1.260
6 21 Koethe, Patrick 1989 Porsche 911 Silver 69.699 68.130 67.066 67.382 67.066 4.703

Not too shabby considering I took a break of almost 1 month. I definitely feel Shawn and I are starting to peak at the right time in our driving. This is by far the closest I've ever been to Strano in Raw time & PAX.

No pics have been posted yet, but if any are I will add at a later date.

[TomsSVX]

Cliff Notes to Chike's road to Topeka...

Turn 1: Sells out from the lightning

Turn 2: Sells out from the SVX

Turn 3: Sells out from the WRX TR

Into turn 4... Can we expect the same results next year!!!

Tom

[Chiketkd]

Originally Posted by TomsSVX

Cliff Notes to Chike's road to Topeka...

Turn 1: Sells out from the lightning

Turn 2: Sells out from the SVX

Turn 3: Sells out from the WRX TR

Into turn 4... Can we expect the same results next year!!!

Tom

LOL. I think I'm going to be holding onto this RX-8 for a little while. She's been great as a daily driver, and excellent as an autocrosser.

I've already committed to running B-stock again with my co-driver next season and we plan on attending Solo Nationals once more.

[SSSVX]

Chike, how many miles on your RX-8 now? Are they reliable cars?
What is their warranty - - 4yrs/50K?
How would you lift your rear driver-side wheel in post #89?

[Chiketkd]

Originally Posted by SSSVX

Chike, how many miles on your RX-8 now? Are they reliable cars?
What is their warranty - - 4yrs/50K?
How would you lift your rear driver-side wheel in post #89?

Ken,

To answer your questions:

1) My car now has 33K miles. I've found my car to be reliable to a fault. Only issue I've had was a crack that formed in both sun visors, but they were replaced by Mazda under warranty. Oil consumption is minimal (1 qt every 4K miles) and gas mileage is decent 21-22 mpg in mixed driving, 25-26mpg highway.

2) The warranty on the '06 RX-8 is 4yrs/50K miles. I think it was shortened on later models though. However, Mazda is now offering an 8yr/100K warranty on the engines of all RX-8's ('04+).

3) There was a bump on the surface that caused most cars to catch air briefly. The course designer mentioned it was an oversight when he laid out the course.

[SSSVX]

Thanks, Chike!

You gave me more confidence on these cars.

Maybe I should trade one of my cars to get this...
but my teal one was crashed by someone at the
parking lot today...don't really look good.

[Chiketkd]

My co-driver and I competed at WDCR event #6 held on the Fedex Stadium A Lot. The course was heavy on transitions with several fast on-camber sweepers!



Our well worn set of V710's (now at 130 runs) were starting to give up the ghost, but are still far from cording. After a few more local events, we'll probably toss these as their grip is really falling off.

Another RX-8 competitor, Frank W., got a handle of the course early and completely dominated everyone in the class. He almost straight-timed A-stock and was only a few tenths off of Sam Strano. Shawn was 2nd in class while I took 3rd. Frank finished 6th in PAX, Shawn was 22nd and I was 32nd (out of 202 competitors).

Summary:
3rd of 6 in class
32nd of 202 in PAX

'B Stock'
Pos. # Driver Car Run1 Run2 Run3 Run4 Total Diff
1T 99 Weichold, Frank 2005 Mazda Rx8 Grey 46.800 45.886+1 45.699 45.859 45.699 0
2T 170 Roberts, Shawn 2006 Mazda Rx-8 Grey 47.535 47.170 47.177 46.591 46.591 0.892
3T 70 Dellimore, Chike 2006 Mazda Rx-8 Galaxy Grey 48.529 47.614 47.471 46.924 46.924 0.333
4 88 Wade, Dave 2004 Mazda Rx-8 Gray 47.418 47.328 47.229 53.230 47.229 0.305
5 11 Correa, Aaron 2003 Nissan 350Z Silver 52.521 51.622 50.743 51.414+DNF 50.743 3.514
6 111 Correa, Mike 2003 Nissan 350Z Silver 53.788 53.555 53.038 52.574+1 53.038 2.295

I still feel like I had a good day at the office, despite the third place finish. On my final run I had two major mistakes (one that caused the front end to slide for ~10ft) and still ended up with a 46.9 -- that run could easily have been 0.5-1 second faster.

P.S. Shawn and I leave for the Pro Finale and Solo Nationals in just over 1 week! I won't be updating this thread until we get back. My current goals are as follows:

Pro Finale -- Run faster in each round and finish within 1-1.5 seconds back from the winner of my class.
Solo Nationals -- Run fast & clean each day. Hopefully, when the dust settles, my consistency will pay off with a Top 20 finish in class.

Wish me luck folks!

[Mr. Pockets]

Originally Posted by SSSVX

Chike, how many miles on your RX-8 now? Are they reliable cars?
What is their warranty - - 4yrs/50K?
How would you lift your rear driver-side wheel in post #89?

I have an '05 RX-8 GT, so I'll chime in as well.

My RX-8 has been reliable so far, but I've only put 5k miles on it. Right now it's at 29k, and I expect I'll put well under 10k on it per year. This year has been a little atypical, since I had to get it home from FL.

My fuel consumption is abysmal, but I don't have a very typical commuting situation. I only have to drive 1mi to work, so the car isn't even warmed up when I get here. Anyway, I get about 10mpg in town and I've only seen as high as 23-24 on the freeway. Typically I get less than that.

I forgive the car its bad mileage because I still only need gas every two weeks. Could I be buying less gas with another car? Of course, but that other car wouldn't make whiny screamy noises.

I don't think that the RX-8 is built to Toyota, Honda or Subaru standards. It's less consistent than that. For example, the suspension is very nicely made, but then they don't secure or protect wires as well as I'm used to. The doors rattle some when I close them.

But the thing is fantastic fun to drive.

They're great value used. Mine was less than three years old when I bought it, with 25k miles on it, and it had lost half its value.

I don't love the stock 18" wheels. They look just fine, I just wish they weren't so big. 18" tires cost so much more.

[Chiketkd]

B-stock action

Correa


Wade


Roberts


Dellimore



Other classes

Conners (SS)


Kraus (DS)


Garfield (F125)


Vitamvas (AS)


Olsen (BSP)

[Chiketkd]

Well, I head out tomorrow evening for Topeka. I'll update everything when I get back.

[benebob]

Originally Posted by Chiketkd

Well, I head out tomorrow evening for Topeka. I'll update everything when I get back.

Best of luck.

[SVXRide]

Good luck, Chike!
-Bill

[svxfiles]

Originally Posted by Chiketkd

Well, I head out tomorrow evening for Topeka. I'll update everything when I get back.

Good Luck, Chi ke! Bob!

[Chiketkd]

Thanks guys. Much appreciated!!!

[SSSVX]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pockets

I don't think that the RX-8 is built to Toyota, Honda or Subaru standards. It's less consistent than that. For example, the suspension is very nicely made, but then they don't secure or protect wires as well as I'm used to. The doors rattle some when I close them.

But the thing is fantastic fun to drive.

They're great value used. Mine was less than three years old when I bought it, with 25k miles on it, and it had lost half its value.

I don't love the stock 18" wheels. They look just fine, I just wish they weren't so big. 18" tires cost so much more.

Thanks for your more in-depth sharing, Mr. Pockets.

I agree they're great value used.
I have my SVXi, a mazda and a nissan and they're all more than 10yrs.
I don't really drive them a lot - - occasionally I started them and drove around the lot. The nissan starts up like normal and idles smooth and AC blows ice cold still even I don't touch it for 3 or 4 months. My SVXi are almost the same. But I feel the mazda struggles a bit or getting down if you don't drive it very often.