Rumoured 300BHP RX8

[Ricco_04]

I\'ve certainly heard the 11K number, but I\'ve also heard that a 13B has a destructive resonance at 13K... so 14K seems unlikley, although what effect the RX8\'s lightened rotors have on this I do not know.

That\'s true - I kinda took everything they said with a pinch of salt really.  I guess it could be done but rotors and the like would be weighted differtently so would probably idle at 5,000 revs - hang on, thats a bloody great idea!!!!  :cool   :rollin

[Spectre26]

Oh a lil thing i forgot to mention... Neil mentioned that it would only run on octane 98 or higher. He also mentioned optimax is fine as well.

Well just a coupple more days and we will soon see how it goes...

[Spectre26]

Well the day or reckoning has come and gone... and no car i am able to reach out and touch yet alone see. But its only a day over the date (02 Dec) they mentioned that the car would be in. To be honest i kinda expected it. Few ventures ever go to schedule. Delay is always 2 be expected.

I called T W Whites about an hour ago. Thats when i was told no car was in or at least none that they knew of. I asked if Neil was around but was told he was in Europe somewhere... or Japan, not too sure. Either way he is uncontactable. So its kinda tough getting info on the cars status. To make things worse... well dunno if its worse but well... i\'m off 2 cyprus for some winter sun for a couple of weeks. As such i cant really do any follow up on the car:(

I know that having said what i just have, conspiracy theroys will be rife. But just remember i\'m just following up as and when i can and will keep u guys updated whenever i get info. Still got my fingers crossed on that test drive. Just try 2 keep an open mind (know what some of u r like ) We can only give him a fair chance.

[Ianmcurtis]

^ Cheers mate. Have a good holiday too ;-).

[Martiny]

SPoke to Bob at TW Whites this morning who confirmed that its on its way. Coming soon!

[zevans]

Do we have a "drumming his fingers impatiently" smiley?

[Fish]

Well I am guessing that TW Whites had been talking rather too loudly at the pub when someone called their bluff.

Best get back down the pub and brag or blag some more. :p

Fish

[Martiny]

Hey just had a great idea!
If they mess around long enough, could we get them to launch it at Brooklands?
If they mess around even longer, at RS?

[Spectre26]

Well Here is the long awaited conclusion to this topic. I went to T W Whites showroom yesterday to check up on things. I was given the following letter from Neil White.

We have now decided  NOT  to proceed with the RX-8 300 Project.


We have tested the ‘finished’ car several times and the DYNO readings have ranged from 282 bhp to 303 bhp  -  this would be acceptable from a sales and marketing point of view, but we do have technical issues with the ‘running’ of the vehicle.


These issues include :-

      Hot start problem we cannot resolve
      Flat spots we cannot iron out
      MPG of 13.0 to 13.8
      Question mark over long term reliability   


We do not want to compromise our position in the market or the RX-8 in general, so therefore please inform any of your customers who were interested in the 300, that we feel it would be  UNWISE  to boost their RX-8 to this level of performance.  The reliability will just not be good enough for a MAZDA.

Everyone at whites who is aware of the forums and the reception the topic has had thus far is bracing themselves for the torrent of "I told you so" that is inevitably gonna come.

To be honest I am a lil gutted that they weren\'t able to pull it off reliably, would have loved to have taken the test drive that Neil offered. Can only give the guy the credit for at least spending the time and money to try and achieve it. Would be nice if maybe he keeps what he has learnt from this project and trys to work it out slowly on the back burner, sort of a part time pet project. Would be a waste to just bin it.

[Ianmcurtis]

Thanks for the update Paul. I\'ll leave it for those with real rotary experience to draw their own conclusions, based on TG Whites err..... reasons above. I\'ll just keep my thoughts to my self for now..............*cough* BS *cough*. :-).

[zevans]

Thanks again for your efforts, Spectre... and no, I\'m not going to say it.

[maximtaylor]

I won\'t say it either then

[Spectre26]

I am intending to conact Neil White personally and maybe salvage something from this episode. As i said b4 it is a total shame to just throw the pervious years efforts into the bin. Just because you dont succeed in your efforts doesn\'t mean what u attempted was totally useless. I\'ll try get my hands on the dyno readings to post up. I emphasise the TRY bit. I\'ll also try to get wat info he can give with regard to was was done to the car. But TBH i don\'t see myself getting much here as he pretty much left that part to the people doing the work, which was an independant company.

TBH i would like to meet up with him in person again and maybe discuss putting out a 260 HP RX8. Reason he wanted to hit the 300 figure was because it was wat he reckoned would be needed to turn heads and get people interested. To that end i think he was more than successful. But i don\'t think 260 is a number 2 b ashamed of? The point on the MPG seemed 2 concern the sales guys quite a bit but in all honesty if u were out to get a 300 BHP would u expect MPG to be anywhere close to 20??? I certainly wouldn\'t.

From what i know the people who did the tune were pistion heads. A good bunch thou, they did the tune on the EVO Fqs. But as i\'m sure every1 here knows, just cos u r hot in tuning pistons doesn\'t mean u r anywhere near hot in tuning rotarys. I would like to point him towards some of the more established rotary tuning houses in the UK. Who knows, they could maybe spot some solutions the previous tuners missed. Dunno if any of u reading are in those established houses i mentioned ( u know who u r ) would ya be interested in applying your skillz to the problems? I could offer him your expertise? Hey maybe it could be a joint venture, a tuning house/dealership joint venture? Opinions?

I\'m not a car tuner by any means but i would like to think that the issues the car has can be sorted out by a bunch of guys with a good background in rotary engine tuning. Ok maybe not hitting that 300 mark he was aiming for but, as just mentioned, the 260 mark. Getting an out of the box NA 260 RX8 from your local dealership and warenty honored by them. That ain\'t half bad is it? I know its an option i would have liked 2 have been offered when i got my 8. Thou if i could have afforded it would have been another point altogether.

[Spectre26]

OH...and cheers guys for not saying it. Just about every1 at Whites knew wat was gonna go thru your heads when they released that statement. But the fact that it wasnt said just adds to the good reputation and friendly atmosphere this forum is well known for  :Thumbs-up

[rxsam]

If any support is required on this project from a turbo standpoint, I am an application engineer for Honeywell turbo technologies (otherwise known as Garrett Turbo) and although my support would be independent of my company I would be more then happy to help.

If you could just supply me with some engine data.....!