New Board Member With Ls1 Swapped Mazda Rx7

[sciff5]

So after all of the crash photos, hostile responses, and predictions of your impending violent death, you went out and had a great time on the track with another club. I'm glad you found a place to run that car.

Lol.. good to hear someone elses view on this thread because I felt like I was being defensive at times.

I will submit for a rule change if I can. Dont know if I'll get anywhere with it though. Hope others out there will back me up and at least we can make a case of it. Shawn642 has already offered up an autopower 6pt roll cage for short money. How bout if I start actually driving fast I promise I'll buy it off him and install it with 1/8" reinforcement plates. But come on guys right now I still cant even Heel/toe so I drove all NHMS in 4th (effectivly limiting my power output other than the straight, but I was pulling out of the tighter corners at about 2k rpm). I'de do the same at lime Rock.

I guess I just feel that If a full tube frame custom chassis kit car, with hand laid fiberglass panels, access to all the best ford racing suspension available, unlimited HP and wide enough fenders to fit 275s all the way around while still being under 2200lbs can compete in SP.. my 1989 stock rx7 with strut suspension and semi trailing arm rear suspension with just a motor/tranny swap should be able to get out there as well.

Hell I drive it to work 3 days a week.

I guess the ls1 really is an amazing engine, hell no one here would think twice of an 89 FC as being dangerously fast but put an ls1 in it and it becomes wicked. Other than the Ls1 swap my car would fit not only the street prepared but the street touring class.

[962porsche]

my vote will be no to that rule change ! sorry !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm not going to say that just becouse your slow you should not need all the safety gear . becouse you need it all the time when your slow and learning to drive fast you can F up even more and then when you learn to drive fast you may F up less but there bigger F up's . why are you so set on not getting gear ??

[brucesallen]

A few years ago a student of mine at Lime Rock who had some prior experience managed to nose into the Armco with his FF Cobra IN THE FIRST HALF LAP OF THE DAY! I did not even have a chance to recite my "in a spin, two feet in" mantra. Now I do it in pit lane.
He had proper roll bar and racing seat belts.

[nateh]

In racing, stuff happens. Driver error (yours or somebody else's), mechanical failure (ditto). Usually small, but a big one will come along sooner or later.

[Yankee_pony]

Is this the car tha destroyed the timing equiptment at a Devens AX a few weeks ago?

[sciff5]

Is this the car tha destroyed the timing equiptment at a Devens AX a few weeks ago?

Yes.. and I already posted the video earlier in the thread... glad I am so well known

[98seblackmax]

So after all of the crash photos, hostile responses, and predictions of your impending violent death, you went out and had a great time on the track with another club. I'm glad you found a place to run that car.

Lol.. good to hear someone elses view on this thread because I felt like I was being defensive at times.

I will submit for a rule change if I can. Dont know if I'll get anywhere with it though. Hope others out there will back me up and at least we can make a case of it. Shawn642 has already offered up an autopower 6pt roll cage for short money. How bout if I start actually driving fast I promise I'll buy it off him and install it with 1/8" reinforcement plates. But come on guys right now I still cant even Heel/toe so I drove all NHMS in 4th (effectivly limiting my power output other than the straight, but I was pulling out of the tighter corners at about 2k rpm). I'de do the same at lime Rock.

I guess I just feel that If a full tube frame custom chassis kit car, with hand laid fiberglass panels, access to all the best ford racing suspension available, unlimited HP and wide enough fenders to fit 275s all the way around while still being under 2200lbs can compete in SP.. my 1989 stock rx7 with strut suspension and semi trailing arm rear suspension with just a motor/tranny swap should be able to get out there as well.

Hell I drive it to work 3 days a week.

I guess the ls1 really is an amazing engine, hell no one here would think twice of an 89 FC as being dangerously fast but put an ls1 in it and it becomes wicked. Other than the Ls1 swap my car would fit not only the street prepared but the street touring class.

Was checking out COM again for this year and stumbled onto this thread this morning. Sciff5 I know I've met you at a couple of Maxima meets in the past, a bit of good advice and use the proper safety gear regardless of what car you drive and what club you drive with. Accidents will happen eventually!

I still do road course stuff in the Maxima and this year I am upgrading to a roll bar, better race seats, and 5/6 point harnesses. Yeah safety gear can be expensive and it looks lame in a FWD four door car but I’ve had enough close calls with track driving. When I first started out I was using similar arguments to justify what I was doing and used the minimum amount of safety equipment to pass tech. I was avoiding COM because of the roll bar requirement for SPB cars at that time (The VQ30DEK swap puts me in SPB). That being said after a few years of HPDEs and seeing some nasty wrecks my opinion has changed a lot. Especially after the August Calabogie event last year, safety became a much greater priority for me. .

Also another plus having a proper racing seat gives the driver better support and being strapped into the car with a good harness allows for better control and improved feed back from the car. I ran faster lap times using a Schroth 4 point ASM harness and a used Corbeau seat than I did struggling with the stock 3 point seatbelt and pleather Maxima seat. This year I am looking to upgrade to an even better setup, then when the time comes I can just transfer these parts to a better car, sans the roll bar.

[breakaway500]

"a proper racing seat gives the driver better support and being strapped into the car with a good harness allows for better control and improved feed back from the car"

^Words of wisdom,Joe!

I don't mind the "lame look" roll bar in my 4dr. FWD car; It gives me a place to mount my harness straps and hang my helmet..

[chaos4NH]

And, last but not least, when a Miata can flip 10-15 in the air, then crush its roof to the dash/roll bar height due to a wheel failure, how can ANYONE not want, at a minimum, a roll bar? Jeff was smart to add the HANs just before this event.
Believe me that top on your RX7 would pancake to seat level in a similar accident.
I wish all of you guys driving modified street cars could see what kind of damage A RELATIVELY LOW SPEED FLIP CAN DO, A LITTLE LIKE THE PRESENTATION WE USED TO GET IN HIGH SCHOOL THAT SHOWED THE RESULTS OF ACCIDENTS (meant to slow us down, but was perhaps 2% effective).
Unfortunately, you will find organizations not as dedicated to safety as COM. You are betting your life if you drive that rig with them.