[davidm]

I thought that this may interest a few people here, even thoguh it's not totally 350Z related. ASP had an RX8 there recently for a Unichip fitting, and it looks like it pulled 114kW before the Unichip, and 120.3kW after.

Concidering that a few of us had our Zeds dynoed at ASP, and APS dyno sees pretty consistent, I'd say that we can draw a comparision. We pulled around 160kW with just an exhaust so it looks like we have 40kW advantage over even the Unichip fitted RX8, and more like 45kW advantage over a stock one.

 

[zuffy]

tehehehe... all i can think of is that rx8 forum troll we had a while back!

 

[apsilon]

Yet on a circuit the RX8 is competitive (although still loses) with the 350Z which goes to show how good the handling on the RX8 is and/or how bad it is on the Zed.

BTW I had the opportunity to look at a turbo RX8 recently. Very nice.

 

[davidm]

Yet on a circuit the RX8 is competitive (although still loses) with the 350Z which goes to show how good the handling on the RX8 is and/or how bad it is on the Zed.

That depends on what you mean by 'competitive'. If by 'competitive' you mean about 1- 2 sec per lap slower on most tracks, then I guess it is. At amateur club-sprints 2sec difference is more than absorbed (or made up) by the driver skill. Driver skill usually accounts for good 10sec difference in lap-times on most days, and therefore the 2sec difference is insignificant from that perspective. By the same token a 'good' driver in a Civic will whoop on a 'newbie' driver in an RX8, 350Z,or even 911 or Ferrari. It's a normal sight at track days.

On the other hand if you're talking about competive drivers in all cars, then 1 - 2sec difference is pretty major. Put the same pro driver in the RX8 and 350Z and the difference is significant. Take for example the Cameron McCinville Winton times from the same day:
- 350Z = 1:43.18
- RX8 = 1:44.68

By the same token as RX8 being competive with the 350Z, we could say that the 350Z is competitive with Lotus Elise 111S on R-spec tyres as that was about 2 sec quicker than the 350Z with 1:41.12 time. Or we can look at the RX8, and say that Porsche Cayenne Turbo was competitive with the RX8 as it lapped about 1.5sec slower with 1:46.12.

So, I guess it dependson a point of reference, but to me anything more than 1sec per lap is a significant difference as at an extreme the difference between something like 350Z and Gallardo is only about 6sec. By the same token the difference between 350Z and Renault Clio is only about 4sec ... so, to me, 1/3 way between 350Z and Clio is a significant difference.

 

[zuffy]

Originally posted by apsilon@Nov 20 2004, 11:20 AM
BTW I had the opportunity to look at a turbo RX8 recently. Very nice.

hold that comment until you see a 350z TT... i doubt you'll be comparing the two for long!

 

[ky350]

A well made turbo or TT on an RX8 would turn it into a monster considering the low weight of the standard RX8. Still, given the choise of a TT Z ot TT RX8, I'd take the TT Z even if it lapped slower than the TT RX8.

 

[mchapman]

Generally speaking a 350z turbo would be more of a monster than a RX8 turbo. A 1300cc rotary is the equivalent of a 2.6L reciprocating engine. Also in stock form the RX8 cant handle a significant increase in power with the turbo RX8 kit I read about only brought the RX8 up to '350z level performance'. And when you compare that to the APS TT kit I dont think the weight difference would matter.

 

[ky350]

Murray - I don't consider a turbo RX8 that cuts the 1/4 mile time by only 0.5 - 0.8s to match the 359Z a "good " turbo set up.

I think I read somewhere that Mazda (possible Allan Horsley) had produced an RX8 with approx 300kW at the crank. This would run as well performance wise as the APS TT Z which I estimate is producing about 340kW and the Z is carrying more lard than the 8, making the two cars fairly even in most regards.

 

[mchapman]

Is that a production kit? Is it on stock internals?

I think we should only compare this type of kit as the sky is the limit once you change these factors.

 

[scathing]

As Murray says, once you're talking aftermarket turbo installs its not really fair to compare unless you try setting a dollar limit or some other baseline.

Once you start winding up boost and replacing things, the sky's the limit.

As for a 300kW RX-8 vs a 340kW 350Z being "fairly even", its not that far off the 177kW / 206kW standard difference in terms of the ratios.

2 seconds is a fair amount of difference on any racetrack. Assuming your driver can push both cars just as hard consistently (and you're not comparing the good lap in a favoured car with a bad lap in a car they're not comfortable driving) you're talking a fair amount of gap.