Pete and Ben's Rotary Racer

[Ben]

Thanks Pete! I won't cover off the race again, but I can give you some idea of my weekend of failure leading up to it

The RX8 had been parked up for the previous week outside my garage, blocking in the Westfield that was due to go for its MOT on Saturday morning. I nipped out on Friday evening with the intention of taking the RX8 for some fuel, then parking it out of the way.

It didn’t start.

bu88er.

It almost caught, and then just sat there spinning on the starter motor. Knowing the battery was of a certain age, it appeared that the slower-than-usual turnover after sitting for a week had flooded the engine before it could catch. Cue a frantic rush to Halfords for a new battery (after going to the first store which didn’t have the right one, I made it to another just as they were closing and managed to nip in just in time!). By the time I’d finished buggering about with all of this I was hungry, and it was raining, so I left the RX8 sitting in disgrace overnight.

Saturday saw me up at the crack of dawn reading up on the various de-flooding procedures, and with Pete on whatsapp we managed to wittle it down to the two most likely suspects. We opted to try this one first: http://www.rx8ownersclub.co.uk/forum/vi ... hp?t=39192

Step 1: remove passenger front wheel. Erm…..

2017-07-27_08-49-14 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

This photo doesn’t show the slope of my drive. Have you ever tried to push a car uphill on gravel? It’s not fun, I can tell you. I ended up backing the trusty Subaru round the drive and using a ratchet strap attached to the tow bar to edge the RX8 forward. That out of the way, I got cracking:

2017-07-23_06-10-46 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

Bottom plugs to be pulled:

2017-07-27_08-49-29 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

After squirting a little 2-stroke into each rotor chamber and turning by hand, I put everything back together, and tried to start.

Nothing. Just spin-spin-spin-spin-spin-spin-spin-spin-spin-spin of the starter motor.

OK, time to try deflooding procedure number 2: https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-you ... er-182410/

I hooked up the spare (now re-charged) battery for a bit of extra juice and followed the rigmarole of fuse out, turn over, wait, turn over, wait, fuse back in, turn over, nothing, etc etc etc. Nothing. Urgh.

Then it started raining, and I lost the key.

2017-07-23_06-11-16 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

Thoroughly pi$$ed off at this point, I went and had a cup of tea.

Pete arrived shortly afterwards and set about pointing out things that I should have worked out several hours before. Useful things such as “can you hear the fuel pump?” and “oh look, the fuel pump isn’t getting any power” and “the fuel pump relay isn’t working.” After taking the relay out and offering some gentle persuasion that it might like to start working again (we hit it against things), it fired right up. Bah!

The rest, as they say, is history, but it was a fantastic weekend in the end and I'm really looking forward to Anglesey. We've got a few bits and pieces to sort between now and then but overall the car totally surpassed our expectations

[pistol pete]

As Ben said couple of things we think we need to do before next round..
i have a little bundle of stuff arrived.. i know Ben has too

new battery terminals
IMAG1752 by Pete Mason, on Flickr

a front tow eye (now have a Tap on order to re tap the tow eye hole)
steering boss, and as above new fuel pump relays as spares in case it happens again

IMAG1754 by Pete Mason, on Flickr

also got some braided lines and 5.1 to go in hopefully weekend of the 5th

[Draven]

You guys, this is brilliant.

I wish I had a mate who was interested in doing something like this.

[Ben]

Car friend!

[Ben]

Oh, worth mentioning that it'll be on the IMOC stand at JAE if anyone wants to see it. Hopefully not parked too near the back

[Chr15py]

Oh, worth mentioning that it'll be on the IMOC stand at JAE if anyone wants to see it. Hopefully not parked too near the back

hmmmmmm.....I wonder what suitably inappropriate wankel sticker I can make up for then?

[pistol pete]

Oh, worth mentioning that it'll be on the IMOC stand at JAE if anyone wants to see it. Hopefully not parked too near the back

hmmmmmm.....I wonder what suitably inappropriate wankel sticker I can make up for then?

Yepp i'll be driving up to JAE in it, as i have no other Jap car..
Chris, Its doesn't have a Gears sticker yet.......

[chasmundo]

keep the updates coming...loving the good as well as the funny moments

[qwakers]

i have a vinyl cutter and ever since i started this thread ive been tempted to print out "YOU F*****G WANKEL" for you to put on the boot

ive resisted though

[craig]

Good read so far lads!

I'll just leave this here...

Priceless

[Ben]

[Ben]

T minus 11 days to Anglesey, and another weekend spent tinkering. Pete and I have also somehow bullied each other into taking many brave pills and have also signed up to the Mazda Sprint Series event on the Sunday – meaning our poor little car is effectively going to be put through four sprint events in two days. That’s 2 sets of sighting laps, 4 practice runs and 24 timed runs. If it lasts that long…

So, what have we been up to?

Priority number one was to sort out the brakes – we were cooking them at Blyton after two hot laps. Pete and I headed down to my local rent-a-ramp place www.thisisyourgarage.com (an awesome place for anyone around Oxfordshire) and quickly found that here was no way the standard hoses were going to come off without a big fight. So we bravely gave up (they’ve been added to the ‘winter’ list!). We did, however, notice that the rear pads were badly in need of attention – one of the rears was down to about 1mm of friction surface

A quick delivery from Euros and a set of Pagid pads went on, and we’ve also put some fresh 5.1 fluid in there. The brakes certainly feel better now, time will tell if they’re good enough for Angelsey.

2017-08-08_01-27-12 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

Back home and we set about changing the steering wheel, fitting a fire extinguisher, re-tapped the crusty thread for the front towing eye and stripped more of the interior. There was a brief panic when we realised changing the steering wheel had dislodged the sensor for the traction control, but some bodgery with a piece of fibreglass panel cut to size seems to have done the trick in holding it in place, and the TC now switches on/off and cuts in as it should. We’ll be taking the standard wheel to Angelsey just in case, though!

Not the most inspiring set of pics, but you get the idea.

2017-08-08_01-27-44 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

2017-08-08_01-27-56 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

2017-08-08_01-28-13 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

Oh, and a Javelin Sprint Series sunstrip has also gone on…

2017-08-08_03-53-23 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

We’ve also had the aircon re-gassed in an attempt to counteract the now-inevitable heat we’re going to get in the cabin on sunny days. Yes, I know it’s weight, but when we’re driving to and from circuits 200 miles away it’s worth the penalty!

I’ve also got the Westfield back from having its gearbox rebuilt. It’s going up for sale again imminently, but I couldn’t resist a quick pic of the two track toys together…

2017-08-08_01-28-34 by Ben Edwards, on Flickr

[pistol pete]

Race car

[Magic Beans]

I see you've upgraded to red electrical tape too

[craig]

Nice write up, looks like you're having fun with the little wankel

[Ben]

Well everyone knows red's faster

[Magic Beans]

Well everyone knows red's faster

[monkeymax]

You guys, this is brilliant.

I wish I had a mate who was interested in doing something like this.

Me too! Also wish I had a garage I could rent out a bay in like that one in Oxfordshire!!

[markstevieandmads]

How does the rx8 compare to say a na and turbo mr2?
Ive always been interested in them but was told they are not torquey at all.

[pistol pete]

Get them up in the revs and they sing!!!
as for torque, its got more than i expected, i haven't driven it a lot yet, Ben has more so will give a better verdict.
i have got it after this weekend so then ill get to grips with it properly

I must admit though every time you drive it it is an event, in a good way. the gears are very long.. but you can be cruising around town at 4-5k rpm and its fine.. that is a weird feeling



Anglesey this weekend.,.. cannot wait!!