Heading west towards the Sawgrass expressway I noted a blue Mazda RX8 weaving through lanes behind me in very heavy traffic. He passed me and I knew there was a stretch coming up a mile or so before the toll booths where the lanes would clear where I would get a chance to return the favor.

I was 3 or 4 car lengths behind him when the lanes cleared. I switched to the center lane and we both nailed it at about 30mph. As my vtec engaged through both cycles I pulled on him and by the time I hit close to 100 I was right beside him ready to pass. As we were approaching the toll booths I shut down but he kept on going right by a FHP unit that was asleep at the switch.

I thought the RX8's were supposed to be very quick although this one might have been an automatic which I understand are slower. I noted that his front end did not surge on the upshift as other sticks have that I have taken on. None the less it was a rewarding encounter and given more space up ahead he would have doubtless seen my tailights in short order.

 

do you have any mods?

 

The RX8 is a fun car to drive on a tight track kinda like a Miata, but in a race forget about it. If you had more road you would have walked all over it.

 

Gutted intake resonator, K&N air filter and UR crank pulley

 

 

Nice kill! Yeah, big difference between the manual and auto, but still always fun taking out a sports car regardless. I've been waiting to line up next to an RX8 or the new Civic Si. Still waiting.

 

So I went searching for 0-60 and 1/4 mile times for an automatic RX8 and a manual. I found the manual right off the bat, anywhere from high 5's to low 6's 0-60 and 14.4 to 15.1 for 1/4 mile times. The auto was way harder to find any solid times on. It seems that the manual RX8 owners are just as harsh on the auto RX8 owners and the CL-S6 owners are to us CL-S AT owners, but at least we're closer to manuals than the RX8s are. I read that the autos are anywhere between 7.5 seconds to 8.3 seconds 0-60 and right around 16's in the 1/4 mile. So if it was an auto then you should've caught up a lot quicker, but if it was a manual then you'd be very slowly gaining, which it kind of sounds like you did. Maybe a 6-speed and you caught him in a bad part of his powerband? Not sure.

 

It must have been a stick then because I pull on my wifes G35 coupe from 20 or 30mph on at about the same rate as I did on the RX8. Down low is where some of these cars have the advantage. The G35 is much stronger out of the hole than a basically stock CL.

 

Definitely. My one and only G35 encounter was just before I got my headers installed and had a crappy SRI on and he jumped a half a car on me from a dig but I held strong with him once we were moving, just couldn't pass him. I so want to line up with one now that I have the headers and AEM CAI on. Shoot, I'll line up against anything as long as it gives me a good run. I'm so tired of the usual compacts messing with me lately. I want a comparable car to go against to see if my I/H really helps me like it feels like it does.

 

I am going to look into headers. What kind did you get? Have you had any fitment or noise or vibration issues?

 

I have the XS Power headers. They gave a nice increase in HP and are very inexpensive compared to the other choices but I do have a weird metal on metal sound that people have talked about on here before. Just check out the info thread on the main page or do a search for XS headers and you'll see a lot of people have them on here and most don't have any fitment or sound issues. I'm actually just waiting until it's a little nicer out and I'm going to jack the car up and see if it's just the catlytic converter heat shield that might be loose since that seems to be a common source for the metal rattle sound. Dollar for doller though you can't beat it.