Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Really ridiculous car.
So I was doing some research the other day on the internet and I found some stats and information about the 1991 Mazda 787B. I have always loved that car. My love was refreshed when I drove the car in GT3 on my PS2. The car was probably the best handling car in the game. It was dead-on money from the get go. Well, the stats I uncovered help explain how/why it was such a great car. You know how important I think power-weight ratios are. Well, the 787B was ridiculous. It had a curb weight of 1,831 pounds. It had a R26B engine (*four* rotor, 2.6 liters) that put out 700 horsepower and 448 ft-lbs of torque. From 2.6 liters mind you. Normally aspirated (no turbos). Unreal. If you do the math you'll find that gives the 787 a power-weight ratio of 2.6. Well on my chart/spreadsheet (which covers nearly 600 cars (and growing), both street and race cars) that puts it fourth on the list. And the three vehicles ahead of it don't (or at least shouldn't) really count. First on my list is Steph Papadakis' drag (AEM) Civic (with a twin-turbo 3.3 liter NSX V-6) at 1.5. Second is the 2005 Lol-Ford Champ car at 2.0. Third is a MV Agusta (1000 cc) race bike at 2.4. Those are the only three vehicles with a better power-weight ratio than a 1991 Mazda Le Mans car. Crazy. Also if you look at power-displacement, the car put out 269 horsepower per liter. Some perspective: Honda S2000 (2002 MY), 120 hp/L; BMW M3 CSL, 113 hp/L; Ferrari Enzo, 108 hp/L; Porsche Carrera GT, 106 hp/L; Porsche 911 GT3 (996), 106 hp/L; BMW M3 (E46), 104 hp/L; BMW M5/M6, 100 hp/L; Audi RS4 (2007 MY), 99 hp/L. Those are all normally aspirated cars. Even if you go to forced induction cars, they still can't touch the R26B: Mitsubishi Evo (IX), 143 hp/L; Porsche 911 GT2 (996), 133 hp/L; Subaru STi, 120 hp/L; Subaru WRX, 114 hp/L; Audi RS6, 107 hp/L; Audi S4 (B5), 93 hp/L. The rotary engine really is quite a technological marvel. The 3rd generation RX-7 (turbocharged) had a power-displacement ratio of 196 hp/L and the (new) RX-8 (normally aspirated) has one of 182 hp/L. Pretty damn impressive. There are some issues with oil consumption as well as sub-par fuel mileage, but I think that doesn't take away from how insane the rotary engines are. The 787B is one of the most ridiculous cars of all time. I love it.
Banged up baby.
So I posted a couple pictures of my beat up baby (see below). It doesn't look too bad. And obviously it could have been a lot worse (imagine if I had been a 1/2 second later). I guessed the damage would be around $2,500. One estimate I got was $2,192 and the other was $2,349, so I guess my estimate was pretty close. I'm still waiting on the (his) insurance to get everything in line so I can take it into the shop and get it taken care of. She'll be out of commission for five days. I'm a little disappointed because the options to repair the quarter panel are (1) bend it out and paint and buff it up to fix it, or (2) since it is a unibody, cut out the quarter panel and weld a new panel back in. I don't particularly like either option, but I guess there is not anything I can really do about it. I'll let you know when after she gets fixed...
Friday, October 28, 2005
My poor baby.
So I was on my way to meet some friends for dinner. Some guy pulled out on a red light, and ran into my brand new (for me) car--my baby. For some of you the details will be meaningless, for others they might help. So I'm going south on Silas Creek Parkway from North Point. I am almost to the Fairlawn intersection. I am actually (believe it or not) going the speed limit. I am in the slow (right) lane. From the time that I can see the traffic light until I get to the intersection the light is green (it didn't just change)--probably 10-15 seconds or so. As I am almost to the intersection some dipshit in a truck starts pulling out from Fairlawn (trying to turn left to head North on Silas Creek Parkway). Idiot. He wasn't trying to make it through a dark yellow/red light late. No, it was red, and had been for sometime. Either he was screwing around or trying to show off to his friend in the passenger seat or was tired of waiting for the red light or something, but it was a red light and had been for quite some time. So I pull (in my humble opinion) a stellar driving maneuver, stomping on the gas and swerving into the fast (left) lane to try and get around ahead of him. My other options were (1) continue on my original trajectory and T-bone him (likely totalling my car), or (2) try and swerve around him on the left without speeding up and get T-boned by him. Not good choices. So I almost pull of this incredible move, but he tags my right rear, right behind the rear passenger's door. My ass end comes out, but I correct and get it straightened out no problem. I'm already yelling and cursing and swearing like a damn sailor. So I immediately slow down, pull onto the shoulder and put on my emergency flashers. I'm automatically watching in the rear view mirror to see what he's doing. I figure he'll turn right, pull in behind me and we'll get it straightened out. He sits in the middle of the intersection for a few seconds (the light is still green in my favor/red against him) and then proceeds to continue pulling out and turning left IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION FROM WHERE I AM SITTING. Now I'm all kinds of fired up. So I turn off the emergency flashers, signal, and pull a U-turn through the grass median on Silas Creek, so I am now going North. I get on it (about 80 in a 45 now) because I'm pissed and he is obviously bailing. I catch him right past the BP on North Point as he's getting ready to turn right (South onto University Parkway). I'm already connecting to 911 on my cell phone. There is the red truck, then a white Lincoln behind him and then I'm behind the Lincoln. So he turns right onto University and I'm following him. I can see that the guy in the Lincoln is also going the same way as him, right behind him and he also is on his phone. So the guy in the truck accelerates up University, then turns right onto Fairlawn. He continues across Polo into Wake's campus. By this time I've explained to the 911 operator that I got hit by some guy and that he bailed and I'm following him. It is also pretty clear by now that the guy in the Lincoln is also following him. So we go through campus, take the right to take us past the Divinity School. Finally in front of the Art Museum (at least I think that is what it is, the guy in the Lincoln pulls out beside the guy in the truck and starts blowing his horn and pointing over to the side of the road. The guy pulls into a parking area, with a curb in front of him (so he'd have to hop a curb to get away going forward), the Lincoln pulls right beside him so he can't get back out into the road, and I pull in behind him so he can't back up either. Some little teenager hops out of the truck. And another rolls out of the passenger side. The cops are on their way. A couple minutes later the cops show up and fill out an accident report and everything. Supposedly they got him (17 year old little punk) for running the red light and leaving the scene of an accident. So I'm sitting on the curb in the middle of Wake's campus with all the undergrad kids rolling by staring. The whole time I'm steaming. It's building up and building up. I'm furious. My car is my baby. I love her. It is my first (pretty) new car that I've ever gotten and I absolutely adore it. Also, as you may or may not have been able to tell yet, I have a bit of a thing for automobiles. The guy not only ran a completely, unequivocally red light, but then hit me, then bailed, then tried to ditch me. I'm furious. So I get an accident report from the cop. He says he's going to get the kid for the two things I mentioned above. Obviously I am not going to be making it to dinner at this point. Then I called Laura to see if I could go over to her house, because I'm absolutely furious and if I get anywhere near that kid I'm going to beat the living crap out of him and it's good the cop is there because otherwise he might not be living anymore and can I come over to her house to relax and calm down a little bit. So she said yes, so I headed that way. I called my (poor) mom and bitched to her. I cursed a lot. I felt badly. But she handed the phone off to my brother-in-law, so I hope I didn't offend her too much. So long story short, I got hit, had to run after the guy to catch him, and my baby got jacked up. Obviously, the glass-is-half-full side of it is that (1) I didn't get hurt, and (2) my baby didn't get hurt more badly than it did. I guess. I'm still pretty pissed at that kid. He *never* apologized to me the whole time I was sitting there behind his car while the cop was filling out the paperwork. I wanted to beat his bitch-ass. I called my insurance after I got to Laura's and they got a claim going for me and stuff and said that most likely the kid's insurance should cover all my stuff AND pay for my deductible, so that would be really nice. Laura made me dinner, and helped calm me down so that was nice of her. She takes good care of me. I'm going into the body shop tomorrow after school and I'll let you know what the damage actually is...My prediction is: right rear quarter panel and rear bumper need replacing (plus the sundry trim and lighting)--parts + labor = $2,500. We'll see. I'll post some pictures later of the damage (it doesn't look very bad)...
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Autocrossing.
I went down to an autocross they had in Winston-Salem this morning. It was quite interesting. There were some really cool cars there, and some that were not as cool. An STi put up the best time (1 minute, 41 seconds), but what was really impressive was a 3rd gen RX-7 (possibly my favorite car of all time) putting up a 1 minute, 43 second lap. We talked with the guy between laps and he said it was stock except for a cat-back exhaust, front anti-roll bar, tires, rotors and pads. Pretty impressive that a 255 horsepower (stock) car that is over 10 years old is able to (almost) keep up with a brand new rally-based 300 horsepower, all-wheel-drive monster. I love RX-7s...
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