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There is a once a year hill climb at CTMP where you start at Turn 5 and navigate the course backwards, getting to race up Turn 2 and end at the start/finish line. This year I got to go up Turn 2; in Robin's Flatbed! Pic by Richard Wintle.The track was green, the car warmed up, and after that 3/4 run up the back straight I started to accelerate between 1 and 2. And as we came to the crest of 2 the car lost all power. Knowing something was amiss, I went offline and quickly onto the runoff area. We coasted down the long downhill runoff and shut down the car. We sat quietly for a few minutes as the track cleared and all of the thoughts that I had were that this was not good. As the safety truck and tow truck arrived, we hopped out. Popped the hood to see a thick layer of oil everywhere. Got the car back to the paddock and while the engine would start and sounded fine at idle as soon as any gas was applied the engine sounded worse than an introductory grade 9 percussion class. There was rod knock and who knows what else. We swapped wheels and pushed the NX up onto the tow dolly. It is done.
Stock NX2000 wheels go on the rear wheels while being towed behind the RV on the dolly. Sentimental value – these wheels are shod with the first R-compounds I ever owned. Toyo RA-1s that have seen more use and abuse than ever intended – and they keep on rolling.
The NX GTi-R was done for the day, but we weren't. Katie had brought my 2004 Mazda RX-8 as she had to leave early. It has not been affected by the modification bug and is virtually stock. Pic by Richard Wintle.
The RX-8 has not even reached 80 000 kilometres/50 000 miles on the odometer yet. It is well used as my daily driver but has only been on this track once before – for Alligator Lapping at speeds not beyond what you'd typically drive on a freeway. Pic by Richard Wintle.
Toyo 245 45 18 R1Rs are mounted on stock wheels and braking is stock calipers with Carbotech AX6 brake pads. These aren't track pads and should not be used as such, but they performed well in this emergency use of the RX8 on the track.The RX-8 is so smooth on the track. You literally need to add in reference points for shifting because the engine is so smooth and so quiet. Katie was running consistent 1:50.x's with a couple of dips down to 49's. If the NX were running, I was hoping to see 1:38's and maybe even better. The NX will be back. It may take a while but I have a number of parts already. What I do not have, I'm sure that with a quick call to G-Spec Performance or Kitchener Nissan I will be back in business. It may take a while but you will see the NX GTi-R again. At least you can rest easy, knowing that my traction issues have been solved.
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