Worlds Quickest Rotaries

[Dan Norton]

By the way...it would be intresting to see how many rotary powered cars there are here in the uk, compared to usa and aus and of course japan...... its a tiny tiny fraction....therefore, if rotary STREET cars here are hittings 10\'s ,ala geoff\'s, and no doubt some more tuners this year.....i bet ours here are some of the fastest rotary street cars in the world per rotary population...

if you catch my drift

[John Yorke]

My point entirely Dan, well said:D

[Carl]

There are plenty of street cars in the US and  OZ that are quicker than us,and they are full bodied street legal and drive to the track.
For example take the YGO20B FC of Kristian Horsley in OZ,it ran 9.37 \'s 1/4\'s.This car was running a 13b turbo with full body,same weight as an FD RX7.
We have a lot of catching up to do.
Innovation is the key,anyone can just bolt aftermarket parts on a car.And innovation does cost money,as does making the engine last as Kristians did.
By pushing the boundaries that is where you find out what to fix and strengthen,and i am sure that Geff has learned alot about that with his 10 second car.
Still we must not sit on our laurels as it were.There is so much to catch up on.
Dan,I think that you will find that now we have in all likely hood more rotary cars than there are in OZ.
Regards
Carl

[Dan Norton]

Dan,I think that you will find that now we have in all likely hood more rotary cars than there are in OZ.
Regards
Carl [/B]

Really??? ....i\'m quite shocked at that...i thought becuase of all their old skool rotor stuff kicking about, plus the ability to import from japan like us....that they would have loads more :confused:

I suppose what i\'m trying to say is.....really in all fairness....look how many people here in the uk with rotaries are dedicated to them, and race them/club event them......its not very many really is it.

Like when you go to shows, trackdays or whatever......look how many imprezza\'s, evo\'s, supra\'s there are about compared to how many rotaries there are.....then look how many of our rotories have been modified to such an extent to run 10/11\'s all day long.

For such a small community, we have some dam fast rotaries in the world i reckon.

Dan!!

[MikeLMR]

yes but Mazda have sold over 10\'000 Rx8\'s at the last count, thats way more than the number sold in Oz

[Dan Norton]

Ok....exclude the rx8.....thats too new for everyone:D

Work rx7 backwards

[Carl]

Well,
How about 7000 1st gen RX7\'s for a start,and 8000 RX3\'s,just over 400 RX4\'s.
Regards
Carl

[Dan Norton]

Ok i see what carl and mike are saying........but out of those, the ones that are still running and we know of in our community :rolleyes: ....i\'m just trying to defend our cause for how many fast rotaries we have for such a small community here in the uk:confused:

[MikeLMR]

theres no need to defend our cause, the UK builds some of the best motorsport cars in the world, they just aren\'t built to go quickly in a 1/4 mile or powered by a rotary engine.

its all just banter anyway and a little competition should help with rotary tuning in the UK.

[travellinbob]

Like Mike just said, some of the best motorsport cars are built in this country. Always have been and I have no doubt it will stay that way for a long time to come. However when you are a top rotary workshop in oz and have 20 or 30 (or more!!!) customers that are hell bent on going very very fast in their cars that they might just not use evry day, it does wonders for the need to improve. And of course if the buisness is doing well with loads of cashed up customers then you can afford to buy a rolling road, and blow a few dozen engines all in the name of research and development.
 I reckon that whilst the uk doesnt have the fastest rotary powered cars in the world it is in a unique position to take advantage of the benifits of a worldwide thriving rotary scene.
  In other words it is great.
  cheers, self confessed raving aussie who loves mazdas and lives in the uk.

[John Yorke]

Originally posted by Carl
There are plenty of street cars in the US and  OZ that are quicker than us,and they are full bodied street legal and drive to the track.
For example take the YGO20B FC of Kristian Horsley in OZ,it ran 9.37 \'s 1/4\'s.This car was running a 13b turbo with full body,same weight as an FD RX7.

Q - Was this a street car? what gearbox / drive train?

We have a lot of catching up to do.

[A] Dont think so!

Innovation is the key,anyone can just bolt aftermarket parts on a car.And innovation does cost money,as does making the engine last as Kristians did.
[A] - [ so its not running now?]

By pushing the boundaries that is where you find out what to fix and strengthen,and i am sure that Geff has learned alot about that with his 10 second car.
Still we must not sit on our laurels as it were.There is so much to catch up on.

 [A] The above paragraph does not make sence to me, as a respected expert in the UK rotary scene surely you should be promoting and encouraging people not telling them we are rubbish I would have thought the fact that Geff has made a 10sec car on such a limited budget would open peoples eyes and should be applauded.

Having attended the Jap performance shoot out last year [October] where the last 4 in it were 3 skybusses and a lone FD, the only one to arrive under its own steam and was built for a TENTH OF THE COST was the FD sure there is loads of potential to make a 8 - 9 sec rotary, but please dont suggest it will be a road car!

BTW the winning skybus just snuck under 10secs and had cost the owner over 100K to get there.

The point I am trying to make is there is a limit to how fast a street FD can go and I would say we are pretty much there unless you alter the peramiters.

Rant over hope you see this in a positive light.

[travellinbob]

Hi John, I dont think Carl was rubbishing anything or anyone. After all it would not be in his best interest to do so as he himself is an engine builder and an avid fan of the scene. I DO think that driving to the track ina 10sec car and then driving home is awesome and nothing to be underestimated.
 And yes I  100% agree with you that alot of the fd owners just want a fast streetable car. Wheras alot of guys in oz and the states have their very fast 10sec cars as a weekend play thing.
  cheers, michael.

[John Yorke]

Another point I would like to make is, in Aus and elsewhere they know how to prepare a track, it would be interesting to see one of these sub 10 sec cars perform on a cold miserable strip in the UK and see what times they can make:eek:

[Carl]

Hi John,
I am sure that you will have some suprises for us with your new engine combo,what time are you hoping for?
The car that I mentioned that ran low 9 second 1/4 miles most certainly was a full street legal car.It,just like Geffs car was driven to the strip.It also weighed the same as an FD RX7.
The car was featured in "Fast fours" a year or so back.
it was 1.3 seconds quicker than the current UK time which is a very steep task(The quicker the time the harder it get\'s to beat),don\'t forget that there are many other cars that are totally street legal running a rotary engine and doing even quicker times than Kristians,and they don\'t have to be FD RX7\'s.Kristian has now sold all of the components of that car and is building a 20b spaceframe chassis FC.Kristians engine was fine when he sold everything.
My comments about innovation are that since Geff pushed the boundaries of his car he obviously has learned something along the way with all of the things that break or get damaged,that is how you learn to improve things.I am not quite sure where the limited budget of Geff comes into it,it can\'t have been that limited.Hope you get the sense of the comment now.
There is no way that we are at the limit of a street FD,even 6 or 7 years ago there was an FD in the states that was running mid 10\'s,it eventually ran 9\'s.
I am sure that Geff is going to keep at it and will soon show another leap that only comes by development.His efforts so far have been great for this country.
I never said that we are rubbish,I just said that we have alot of catching up to do.And that is meant to encourage just that,quicker times.
I think if we took your view John then we would stay happily where we are now forever more.
One more thing,don\'t get blinded to the fact that we have some good circuit racers who run quick rotaries in this country too.They also have had alot of development work carried out on them.
Regards
Carl

[Carl]

Originally posted by John Yorke
Another point I would like to make is, in Aus and elsewhere they know how to prepare a track, it would be interesting to see one of these sub 10 sec cars perform on a cold miserable strip in the UK and see what times they can make:eek:

Hi again John,
It maybe of interest for you to know that there is a race series here that runs totally street legal cars that regularly run in the low 8 high 7 second ET\'s.It is called "Street Eliminator".
These cars are so street legal that they have to do around a 20 mile road run and pop into a petrol station,put some pump gas in and then do a hot start test.If they fail at all during this test then they do not race that weekend.I am sure that track prep is up to the best of them during events like that,and I have raced my RX3 on those day\'s,so can anyone.
Regards
Carl