RX8 Drag car

In 2007 the RE:Worx 'Stripey' RX7 drag car was retired from racing. The company started building the RX7s successor from an ex-BritCar crash damaged RX8 shell in mid-2007. Having approached the limits of a production IRS rear end and manual transmission with the RX7, the RX8 would feature a tubbed rear end, automatic transmission and a driver safety cell that would be legal for 7.5 second quarter miles.

After the shell was stripped and lightened as far as possible at RE:Worx the chassis made its first journey to see Jeff at Hauser Racing, where the conversion to 3/4 chassis was started. Over the proceeding months the RX8 would come and go between RE:Worx and Hausers.

Early stages of chassis work complete, including tubbing of the rear end and the extensive cage work:

    

Back at RE:Worx for various jobs to be completed before finalisation of the chassis could be undertaken by Hauers:

   

Finally back to RE:Worx with the chassis 99% complete; time to test fit the motor and transmission and get it ready to move under its own power:

    

At last the moment we'd been waiting for; time to start her up - and first time on the button: Click to hear 20B!

The stock RX8 shell is still very apparent; apart from modification to facilitate tubbing and caging, much of the original body remains. This theme was continued with the exterior panelling - all of which is standard Mazda metalwork!

    

Ahead of making her debut at the 2008 JapShow, the car was transformed by Dan from Ghost Graphics with a liberal application of vinyl:

    

Finally, after a lot of hard work the RX8 made it to Santa Pod for a slightly damp debut weekend. How straight it ran out of the hole on its first run was testament to the work undertaken by Jeff at Hausers. The car was immediately on the pace of its predecessor.

    

By the end of 2008, the RX8 had run a company personal best of 9.1 at 150mph. The 150mph terminal from a stock 20B engine block was particularly pleasing and left the car in good shape for winter development. The RX8 will return to the strip in 2009 with a new ported 20B and a higher stall amongst many other small improvements - hoping to dip into the 8s and maintain its history of UK Rotary drag strip firsts...