We took my RX8 to the track- but I broke it, and Mark wrecked it.

0:00 The last time you saw this car on the channel was 9 months ago.

0:03 It's safe to say I have some unfinished business that I need to take care of.

0:07 Dag gummit.

0:08 I bought this RX-8 as a literal barn find after it had been sitting

0:11 for nearly 4 years acting [music] as a home for a family of mice.

0:15 We cleaned up the car and detailed it at Automotive Aesthetic.

0:17 Then we proceeded to swap out the broken engine with a sort of functioning one.

0:21 We road tripped it all the way to Moab, Utah and back.

0:24 And after that, we bridge ported it and rebuilt the engine

0:26 with some help from Eric from Redline Potential, the rotary expert.

0:30 We put a massive wing and splitter on it

0:32 and swapped the tires over to something more track oriented.

0:34 [music] The mods worked amazingly and we crushed Ben and his K-swapped S2000.

0:40 But I still wasn't done.

0:41 We then straight piped it in hopes of making more power

0:43 and then we took it to VIR where we set a blistering 216.1.

0:47 To make it even faster, we stripped out the interior and went back

0:50 to break [music] our personal best yet again.

0:53 But unfortunately, it didn't go quite to plan.

0:55 The ABS failed on me and sent me off

0:57 into the grass with flat spotted tires and a shattered ego.

1:01 Dag gummit.

1:02 But after a certain someone did a certain something,

1:05 I didn't feel quite so bad about what happened to me.

1:07 But as I said, I still have some unfinished business with this car.

1:11 And today, [music] we sort out all of the issues

1:13 and install some mods that help us get some redemption.

1:20 So while Ben Thorne was on the way home,

1:23 Ben Lin, which was traveling behind Thorne at the time,

1:27 noticed that anytime, you know, Ben would come up to a stopping point,

1:32 well, his tail lights wouldn't turn on.

1:34 Anytime he hit the brakes, the brake switch essentially is failing because

1:39 [music] it's not telling the system that, you know, he's applying the brakes.

1:42 So in turn, you know, while Ben was on track, he, you know,

1:46 lay on the brake, essentially the car didn't understand what was going on.

1:50 That brake switch is integrated into the ABS system.

1:54 And if Ben Thorne was, you know, a better driver,

1:57 he still wouldn't have flat spotted the tire and gone off turn one.

2:01 Well, now that I got the new switch in, everything should be working properly,

2:07 which means that the system should be working and Ben doesn't

2:11 have to worry about it and flat spot another set of tires.

2:15 Now before we go back to VIR for redemption,

2:18 there's still a few more things that we need to change.

2:21 5 months ago, Ben ordered [music] this.

2:24 It's a RX-8 seat rail.

2:26 Now, you're like, why did he order a seat rail?

2:29 Well, Ben got rid of his R3 seats out of the RX-8.

2:31 [music] They're pretty expensive and, you know,

2:34 he got a he got a good chunk of change for them.

2:36 He was able to take that money and put it

2:38 into a track [music] seat because he's going to be

2:40 tracking this car a whole lot more and he got

2:43 a track seat kind of like the EK Civic over there.

2:47 Currently, the RX-8 has just a standard RX-8 seat [music] in it.

2:52 So we need to take that seat out so

2:53 that we can get it ready for this new track seat.

3:02 Oh, yeah.

3:03 Look at that.

3:05 That's so much better.

3:07 We got old and busted.

3:09 We got the new hotness.

3:12 We got some nuts.

3:14 And bolts, I mean.

3:23 All right.

3:24 Seat [music] rails are together.

3:26 Now to put this on.

3:30 I don't think these seat rails are wide enough.

3:33 Hmm.

3:35 I know how to fix this.

3:40 So we had this laying around.

3:41 Ben's not going to notice.

3:43 I'll just move this over to this.

3:53 [music] [music] It's not wide enough.

3:59 How to make this work?

4:03 I don't know.

4:03 Look at that.

4:04 This is too narrow.

4:06 It won't reach this bolt back here.

4:09 What?

4:10 So this [music] bolt won't reach because of this.

4:14 Yeah, I'd probably cut that out, to be honest.

4:17 Oh, then [music] yeah, then this you you lose one bolt.

4:20 You'd still have three.

4:35 [music] All right.

4:41 So I feel very close to the steering wheel,

4:44 which is probably about where Ben will be sitting normally.

4:48 I got long legs.

4:50 You'd be surprised.

4:55 I'd like to put the slide back further.

5:02 [music] [music] Oh, yeah.

5:17 I would actually roll the slider just just a hair forward,

5:19 but I like that cuz that gives you room to play with, too, if you need it.

5:22 But yeah.

5:24 All right.

5:24 I finally got the seat adjusted to how Ben wants it.

5:28 Figured, you know, we use this seat instead

5:32 of the other one because it's a little

5:34 bit easier to modify into the car so that when he goes to the track,

5:40 he'll uh he'll be locked in a whole lot better.

5:43 Hmm.

5:44 Am I forgetting something?

5:48 Ah, I know.

5:53 We need to put a roll bar into this RX-8 because,

5:57 well, we got a racing seat in there now.

5:59 We need to put in some harnesses so

6:01 that he stays [music] locked down, stays safe.

6:04 Probably should just mock it up in the car first.

6:08 See where it sits.

6:09 Then I can take everything back out and then prep [music] this thing.

6:13 All right.

6:13 Hopefully this is the last time I have to take this thing out.

6:25 I guess that's it.

6:26 I mean, that actually fits up pretty well.

6:30 And this lines [music] up down here pretty well.

6:34 Yep.

6:35 Yep.

6:35 Lot of room.

6:56 All right.

7:10 Ain't going nowhere.

7:13 This actually really good.

7:14 I just got to take it all back apart, sand it, paint it,

7:18 put it back together, put it back in here, and then put the seat back in.

7:37 [music] All right.

7:38 Time for paint.

7:45 Let me scrub your feet.

7:50 I know I'm a terrible painter.

7:53 Didn't prep it, know nothing.

7:59 [music] So while we're watching and waiting for paint to dry,

8:09 we got some extra parts here.

8:11 Let's start with the big box first.

8:14 We got the Racequip new harnesses.

8:18 This will do nice.

8:20 All right.

8:20 So this other box is probably going to be that so that I can uh

8:27 put these harnesses [snorts] and attach them

8:29 to the actual like structure of the car.

8:34 Yeah.

8:35 Some eyelets.

8:37 Big old washers.

8:39 Okay.

8:41 Install and uninstall.

8:51 So the reason on why we are running

8:54 this 3-in strap is because Ben accidentally ordered the wrong harnesses.

9:00 He saw 2-in, but apparently it was just 2-in for the uh center belt.

9:06 I've gotten one of the belts kind of where I need it to be.

9:12 [music] Now I am going to secure the crotch region of the belt.

9:18 [panting and laughter]

9:19 Also, make sure you're not drilling anything on the other side.

9:25 Good way to put that.

9:28 Now you also maybe wondering why I'm even using eyelet to begin

9:32 with cuz we can't even like [music] use the the functionality of the eyelet.

9:36 We don't have a bolt that uh is the same grade

9:40 and thickness [music] as this one and he already ordered this.

9:44 Eventually down the line, I think we'll take [music] these out and actually,

9:47 you know, put the proper harnesses on this.

9:59 Now, I'm going to [music] extend my arm like the Fantastic Four.

10:08 All right.

10:08 So, before I lock in one of the last uh seat belts that go across the waist,

10:14 I'm going to pull the seat out now, put the roll bar in.

10:17 Once I do that, then I'll put the seat

10:19 back in, and then focus on that last lap belt.

10:23 1 2 4 [music] [music] And there you have it.

10:46 The roll cage is bolted in.

11:05 All right, the boss is here.

11:09 Oh, my gosh.

11:11 That's a little short.

11:15 It's It's I mean it's too short, but That's what I thought.

11:20 Yeah.

11:20 You know what's weird?

11:21 We're like zooming in on this like seat belt thing here.

11:24 Uh-huh.

11:24 Um there's like a couple hundred thousand

11:26 people looking [music] at my crotch right now.

11:28 Mhm.

11:29 Blur it out.

11:32 [laughter] Oh, hey.

11:34 Made in Taiwan.

11:37 That's also where Ben is made.

11:38 Actually, I don't think he was made in Taiwan.

11:41 He could be still made in the US, but All right.

11:47 Go ahead.

11:48 That's That's probably good right there.

11:49 The sides need to get tighter,

11:50 but but just like where where the cam lock is, that feels about right.

11:55 3-in belt Feels like I'm in a like a baby

11:59 toddler seat now instead of a proper racing seat.

12:03 Is that all right?

12:04 You can snug it up.

12:05 Cool.

12:08 Let's go race this thing.

12:10 Well, you go race this thing.

12:11 You can race it, too.

12:12 No, I can't fit in there.

12:14 Ah.

12:15 My thigh is too thick.

12:17 Mhm.

12:21 [music] [music] [music] All right.

12:34 Well, we're here at VIR now.

12:35 Got the RX-8 behind me,

12:36 and hopefully it is the very capable ABS-equipped vehicle now.

12:41 The target is a 216.1 because that is

12:43 the fastest this car has ever gone around VIR.

12:46 Hopefully, we can beat that now.

12:47 We've got some nice warm weather, and we got a nice fresh track.

12:51 We've also got some fresh Continental tires on there now.

12:54 We put some Continental Extreme Contact Forces on there,

12:56 which is their track day tire, their 200 treadwear tire.

12:59 Um but these tires, most importantly, are round,

13:03 which my last set I had made polygonal.

13:05 So, you might have noticed by now I'm a little skinnier than I used to be.

13:11 So, my old race suit right here is too big, but I got a new one,

13:16 and this thing, let me tell you, something a little special about this one.

13:20 You ever heard of a Formula 1 driver called Valtteri Bottas?

13:25 Well, this race suit was worn by him

13:28 in a commercial announcing that he was driving for Cadillac.

13:32 Just so it turns out that I am now the exact same dimensions as Valtteri Bottas.

13:40 [music] [music] [music] [music] I think it's slow.

14:14 [music] [music] [music]

14:32 The sad part about all this is we don't know what lap times he's putting down.

14:37 And I mean, he does, we don't.

14:40 And when you find out what lap times he's [music] doing,

14:43 that's when I find out the lap times he's doing.

14:53 How was that?

14:54 I'm I'm 0.1 off.

14:56 Oh, my god.

14:57 I know.

14:59 That might be why.

15:00 What were the pressures?

15:01 35.

15:02 Cool.

15:02 Yeah, that's good.

15:02 There's time there.

15:03 I got to pull it down.

15:04 To 30?

15:05 31?

15:05 30?

15:06 All right.

15:07 Woo, that's hot.

15:08 You're about to lose your bumper.

15:25 With the tire [music] pressures adjusted,

15:27 I was feeling closer than ever to beating that personal best.

15:30 Unfortunately, right as I went back out,

15:32 the checkered flag was waved, meaning the session had ended.

15:35 Not a big deal, though.

15:36 We still have another session to go.

15:38 So, I went back to the pits to debrief with the team.

15:42 Well, we did not go faster, but we got very close.

15:45 Ah.

15:47 0.1 seconds off, which is actually pretty good

15:50 because our tire pressures were at 37 PSI.

15:55 But we got to we got to go faster.

15:57 We got to break that that time.

15:59 I think there's a 215 or 214 in it.

16:02 Uh but with pressures dropped down now, that should be easy.

16:06 That should be easy.

16:07 I want to look at the top speed, which was 124 mph,

16:11 and compare that to before we had the diffuser.

16:14 I think the diffuser might be parachuting the car a little bit because

16:18 I don't have a flat floor to connect the diffuser with everything else.

16:22 Like, yeah, it might be giving me some downforce, but it's also producing drag,

16:25 and it's producing more drag than it is downforce,

16:27 and it's not really helping me any.

16:28 But let's see what the previous time lap time or uh top speed was.

16:32 Oh, man.

16:33 Previous best Oh, sorry.

16:35 It was a It was a 216.1.

16:36 I'm 0.4 off.

16:37 I was wrong.

16:37 But interestingly, I lost a mile an hour on top speed,

16:41 but look at my min speed, I actually picked up 2.3 mph on min speed.

16:46 Is that a trade-off I want?

16:47 I don't know.

16:48 That's interesting.

16:48 It's only 0.4 to shave off.

16:50 We got this.

16:50 We got this.

16:51 All right.

16:52 So, I'm going to fix this bumper.

16:53 I'm going to screw it, and then gaff it.

16:55 Oh, we need to go up on rebound as well.

16:57 Rebound and compression.

16:58 It's soft.

16:59 5 6 So, the rear I had three clicks up.

17:02 I remember setting those at Summit, actually.

17:04 So, I had the front on full soft.

17:07 Whoops.

17:36 [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music]

18:32 Get in, boy.

18:33 Get in.

18:54 I uh I regret to inform you um I blew up the transmission.

19:03 [laughter] No.

19:09 So, yeah, I do have extra work for you.

19:10 Son of a gun.

19:13 Are you serious?

19:14 I am dead serious.

19:15 The transmission's not completely broken.

19:17 I didn't get towed in.

19:19 It what?

19:20 is missing fifth and sixth gear.

19:22 Okay, well, it's not all bad news, okay?

19:24 [clears throat]

19:24 So, without fifth gear, and the car's gutless, keep that in mind.

19:26 So, sixth gear wasn't touching sixth anyway.

19:29 I just checked it to see if it was there,

19:31 and no, fifth and sixth went out at the same time.

19:34 [laughter] I was like, maybe I'll just go from fourth to sixth, but

19:38 You were telling me that third was an issue.

19:40 Yeah, it grinds from second to third.

19:42 So, I mean, the trans transmissions on RX-8s are generally not very good anyway.

19:44 So, I kind of knew that was the case, but I just kept driving.

19:46 What do you think my lap time was?

19:47 215.7 214.9 Okay.

19:54 Okay.

19:55 That's impressive.

19:56 That is it is impressive.

19:59 [laughter] Without fifth gear.

19:59 Without fifth gear.

20:01 It's very impressive.

20:03 1.2 seconds.

20:04 I mean, probably even faster than that if you had fifth.

20:07 I think it was about .4 seconds that I lost.

20:10 I was watching the delta drop down.

20:11 I mean, I I can't say for sure.

20:13 I'd have to actually like sit and examine the data.

20:15 But, like He will.

20:16 About a half a second.

20:16 I lost about a half a second.

20:18 Hey, man.

20:18 I see this as a win.

20:19 Yeah.

20:20 feel proud of yourself.

20:21 Yeah.

20:21 Special shoutout to Tidewater who are running this event right now.

20:25 There was an accident earlier today that was really bad.

20:27 They had to clean up.

20:28 They shuffled around the schedule.

20:29 They made everything work so that we could

20:30 actually get out there and get track time still.

20:32 An amazing organization.

20:33 If you're looking to do any track days,

20:34 check out Tidewater Club, Tidewater Sports Car Club.

20:37 If there's any near you, they're like the best to run with.

20:40 They're so awesome.

20:41 Just come out to VIR.

20:42 And wouldn't you know it, Mark?

20:42 This is weird.

20:43 They got you a ticket.

20:45 And you know what?

20:45 This car might not be complete anymore,

20:48 but it still runs 2:14s without fifth gear.

20:50 So, you want to drive it?

20:52 No.

20:53 No.

20:54 I What if Yes, you do.

20:56 No, because I'm going to go out on track.

20:58 I'm going to like flag the session because the transmission blew up.

21:01 Are you kidding me?

21:02 blown up.

21:03 You can't blow it up when it's already blown up.

21:06 No.

21:06 Come on, man.

21:07 make it so much worse.

21:08 Okay.

21:08 Okay.

21:08 You want to drive it?

21:09 You want to drive You're going to make it so much worse.

21:12 Come on.

21:12 Get in.

21:13 Get in.

21:13 Where's your helmet?

21:14 This is ridiculous.

21:14 your helmet.

21:18 [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] How did it go?

21:53 That That is the first time that I've ever been in a car with aero on track.

21:57 Yeah.

21:58 Like actual like How's it feel?

22:00 It feels very different.

22:03 did you beat me by?

22:03 I didn't beat That would be impressive.

22:06 Yeah, it would be great.

22:06 Yeah.

22:07 What did you do?

22:08 Oh, that's good.

22:09 Yeah.

22:10 2:18.6 For my first time first time out, that is fast.

22:17 [music] [music] [music] Well, I ran out of talent.

22:46 Ran out.

22:54 How did it go?

22:54 Uh I mean, everything went great.

22:56 Like not a problem.

22:58 Faster?

22:58 Uh I don't think it went faster because I mean It was a little damp.

23:01 Yeah, we did have rain in that session.

23:03 And but going up the esses I made a go flat?

23:07 a huge mistake.

23:08 I was taking the wrong line, but I was still going flat.

23:11 Ooh.

23:12 Everything was settled.

23:13 I was like, "Good." Come out of turn five.

23:17 I didn't come out of turn five.

23:18 I just You looped it?

23:20 I did not loop it.

23:21 I came in there drifting.

23:23 Oh, nice.

23:24 And went to a wall.

23:25 What?

23:28 I I hit a wall.

23:30 By the way, here.

23:30 Here you go.

23:31 Here's your key.

23:32 What?

23:32 I don't want anything to do with this car anymore.

23:34 It takes some time to actually see it.

23:37 Oh, there.

23:39 [laughter] So, it takes some time to actually see it.

23:41 I see it.

23:41 Yeah.

23:42 Good job, man.

23:43 This my first crash.

23:43 [laughter] I've had a lot of firsts with this car.

23:47 Hey, sorry.

23:47 I was in a meeting.

23:48 Is everything okay?

23:49 You're always in a meeting.

23:50 Get out of here.

23:51 Go back to your meeting.

23:53 Yeah.

23:54 No problem.

23:56 this is fine.

23:57 Yeah.

23:58 All right.

23:58 So, sorry.

24:00 It's all good.

24:00 I I added my mark.

24:01 You have the keys.

24:02 All right, man.

24:03 I'll see you later.

24:04 Uh to order a transmission for me?

24:06 I think I broke the car worse than you did.

24:08 I don't know what you're saying.

24:09 You're too far away.

24:10 I'm I'm sorry.

24:11 Monday, you coming back again on Monday?

24:12 We got a new transmission for it.

24:14 Despite blowing up a transmission and wrecking the car,

24:16 I still consider this weekend a success.

24:18 [music] The car went way faster even without fifth or sixth gear.

24:22 It's genuinely such a good car.

24:25 And it was [music] also nice to let Mark enjoy it for a little bit.

24:27 He worked so hard installing these mods.

24:29 He's such a good mechanic that he was even able

24:32 to test out his work on installing all of the safety equipment.

24:35 The cherry on top is that all the [music] parts are relatively cheap.

24:39 So, we'll have everything fixed back up in no time.