Anybody have any? With the potential boost changes next year, could the RX7 be a player there again?

-Greg

You can make 375ish rwhp on stock turbos at about 16psi. More boost than that and you are just generating heat. I'm not sure I'd go to huge tires since in ASP you'd be stuck with the stock 4.1 rear gear. With 285/18's (shortest big tire) and a 8500rpm redline you go 75mph in 2nd. Bigger tires would take you close to 80mph, which wouldn't be the best for off the corner grunt.

Not sure if the new rules would allow the wastegate to be ported. Creep is a problem at elevated boost levels and can make the turbo transition point abrupt.

Expect weight to be in the low-mid 2600's with SP rules. Competitive with a Z06? Probably some of the time, though I wouldn't want the stock gears.

-Andy

I am: they don't. IF they are adopted.

375ish RWHP at 16psi might be a bit optimistic. I'd think 340ish RWHP is a more reliable target for an ASP 3rd gen RX-7, especially running the stock turbos. I'm not saying that you couldn't achieve 375 .... I just think you'd end up consuming high dollar parts at an alarming rate.

I read somewhere that Thomason's ASP C5 was around mid-2600's in weight. With an ASP C5/Z06 making ~400-420RWHP, it would seem that a well-prepped RX-7 with "unlimited" boost could be competitive. But it would have to be on courses that are transition and slalom heavy, IMO.

At any rate, I'd wait until the proposal was approved before I started counting my eggs. ;)

Bump back from the dead.

It has been a few years now. Anyone have any new opinions on the possibiliy of a nationally competitive FD?

Note: FWIW I've seen A6 275/35/15's fit an FD.

You should ask Dan Chadwick what he thinks after running his in ASP for awhile, and now prepping to SM2. Tire is not really the problem, gearing still is. I think a well prepped car could be competitive, but would be an A- car for the class. That's compared to a Z06. Given some of the other cars coming into the class like the S/C Elise, that might shift it down more.

The 275/15's would do good things for the thrust curve, but I think they'd have some trouble putting the power to the ground. Would be interesting to try.

-Andy M.

Now is a great time to buy a 3rd Gen RX-7. Prices in general have dropped quite a bit because 1) it's winter 2) it's a very expensive car wrt upkeep and 3) it's hardly practical. Now insert a serious recession and there are very few buyers.

So shop around. If there is one thing I know about 3rd Gens it's that you DON'T want to buy one that isn't in good condition for the price. Trying to fix up these things is costly and painful. It would be better to take a stockish car and build it up to ASP competition than to buy one that's semi-prepped but overall needs other work.

Dave

Two questions:

1) How much whp/wtq can an FD RX-7 make in ASP trim?

2) What's the approximate weight of the car in SP trim?

By my calculations I see 340 whp /310 wtq as the upper limit. I can see the weight dropping from 2800 lbs to 2650 lbs.

My ASP RX7 = 315 whp / 290 wtq and weighs 2800 lbs.

Am I right to assume that's weight w/o driver? I'm actually surprised your car weighs that much as SS RX-7's were able to get down into the 2,700lb range iirc. FWIW, my '06 RX-8 in BS trim weighed 2,830lbs on the scales at HPT. With race seats, no a/c, full exhaust, low fuel load, etc I would have thought a weight in the very low 2,600lbs range would be attainable???

On paper, the car looks like it *could* be a contender in ASP. While it's wider and heavier than the s/c Elise/Exige, it'll make more power. The vettes/vipers will have an even bigger power advantage but will be much heavier and wider.

Technically my car has shed 200lbs from the official curb weight... [;)]

Fuel load is the biggest weight saver. After that you can reduce/eliminate the catback, floor mats, jack, windshield washer bottle fluid, etc. while runnning lightweight racing wheels & tires.

Fuel slosh is a problem and to prevent fuel starvation an FD with a stock tank should run over 1/2-3/4 of a tank in the RX7 (unless a fuel cell is swapped). The oem wheels weight only 15lbs (16x8) so there is not much to be gained there.

For ASP I use the washer tank for water injection so that needs to stay full. My racing beat cat-back is not the lightest by far but might have saved me a little weight. Downpipe/pre-cat delete netted a little more weight loss. Also, I am running a Deka 9lbs battery and a lightweight flywheel.

To get weight down to a minimum I need to lose the oem catted midpipe, A/C, the cat-back and get lightweight seats, fuel cell, coilovers, steering wheel.

-Jake

PS: I never said my car was fully prepped ;)

True... [;)]