You wanna buy a minature 962 ??

[rs911t]

I ran across a fun looking track car. A 7/8 scale 962 with a Mazda rotary engine.

http://www.diasio.com/d962rext.html

As they say "how about a turbo-charged 13B twin-rotary that, with some mild boost, can produce in excess of 350 reliable horsepower". In a 1000lb race car! Sounds like a good time!

[Jgordon]

Sweet. Between this, the noble m12, the lotus elise/exige, there appears to be a revival (or birth) of relatively affordable, purpose-built track cars. there was an article on karting as well in the most recent R&T. seems like performance driving is taking hold in the public at large.

[jbryant]

Can you get those in the USA. How much are they?

[rs911t]

They're in Indiana - someone should check this out http://www.diasio.com/test.html .

The home page says "A 250hp 6-speed rocket! Powered by a twin rotary mated to the newest Hewland FTR 6-speed sequential transaxle, the D962R is sure to meet all expectations! $55K, complete."

[TRE Cup]

There is a guy in Reno that has one. It has a built motorcycle motor and he runs in NASA with it. They are pretty cool and fast, except for no reverse. As with all new ventures/ series, this one has had a hard time getting people to bite. (been there done that with the baby grand road racing mini stock cars myself) The concept may be great on paper and even in execution of the cars, but talk is great and buyers are few. It takes deep pockets (like humpy wheeler at Charlotte with the Legends cars) to get one of these series established. If Diasio has dumped the motorcycle concept on their series and trying with rotaries- the writing is on the wall- few cars sold and not much future. Too bad- they do look nice

[cstreit]

...but what would you DO with it?

Probably not competetice in prototype classes...

[rs911t]

Geez Chris. Thanks for asking a rational question!

[TimT]

NASA has a class they can compete in. Last race at Summit Pt there were a few of these diasos in attendance.

[TRE Cup]

At $37k ,with the stock yamaha 150 hp motor, there are a lot of options out there that can be driven to the track to compete. Still at 1/7th the price of the real thing (and probably 1/100th the running costs), you can pretend you are Al Holbert

[ttweed]

Originally posted by TRE Cup
If Diasio has dumped the motorcycle concept on their series and trying with rotaries- the writing is on the wall- few cars sold and not much future. Too bad- they do look nice

I have been intrigued by these cars for several years and have followed their development and corresponded with Chris Diasio about them. Actually, they have been quite successful, and there are two cars being produced. There is the D962 and the D962R, which is the rotary powered model. No one has one of the D962R's on the track yet because the prototype is still under development and testing and has not been delivered to the first owner, AFAIK. They will be in production soon, but they are not racing yet.

The original D962 is eligible for and has been raced extensively in the DSR class in SCCA. It is too heavy to be competitive nationally, but has won regional championships. It has Yamaha 1000cc MC power and 5-speed sequential box, (no reverse, as Dave said), with a live axle rear end, and costs about $32K.

The D962R is a totally different animal. It is eligible to run CSR in SCCA with the proper venturi restrictions on the 12B rotary. It has a Hewland 6-speed sequential box from the F3000 cars with a reverse gear, driving traditional half shafts on an IRS chassis. At $55K, it will be a competitior with the Radical SR3 as a two-seater track-day car or occasional CSR entrant. It will probably not be competitive nationally against the fully developed single seat CSRs, but could be developed better than the DSR model, as the weight limitation is less severe in CSR.

With a turbo 13B in the D962R, you would have one gnarly track car which could be run with NASA or other groups and likely show it's tail to most anything that shows up. It would not be legal in SCCA racing, however, but performance could be close to an LMP675 car or Daytona prototype, costing in the $200K+ range. Needless to say, I am watching the progression of this model closely. It will be another year before things shake out on it, though.

BTW, it is not a 7/8 scale 962. The front up to the engine firewall is almost identical to the original 962 dimensions.

TT

[rs911t]

you can pretend you are Al Holbert

There you go - Dave's got the right attitude !!

[cstreit]

Sorry Greg... I'm just jealous... Sour Grapes you know?

[rs911t]

Sorry Greg... I'm just jealous... Sour Grapes you know

You're forgiven, Chris. But, I just hate it when someone injects stone-cold realism into my escapist threads.

This car looks like too much fun. Mind you, I'm new to the track driving scene and have yet to be pulled toward the racing thing. My fantasies do progress to instructing, at which point I'll need a car capable of terrorizing the occassional ride-along student.

[Jim Richards]

Greg, you're already terrorizing me!

[VincentVega]

I watched one of those at Summit this fall, might have been the NASA weekend. Very nice looking. I had to double take as I saw it some through turn 5.