7.47 @ 180 MPH

On a 13BT, he says next week will bring a 7.3!!

 

That's AWESOME!

 

awesome for a illegal NHRA car I guess

FLaco ran a 7.44 with the 13B he had in his NHRA legal
FD chassis

 

whats illegal about it?

 

lol have you seen the car in person?
I have
It looks like a go-gart with a fiber glass shell on it

It weights less then the NHRA weight regulations set for full chassis cars (PRO RWD)

 

Ahem...

Rafaelito's chassis is a +10 years old chassis, don't know what what the NHRA minumu weight is for a PRO RWD. Rafelito's car should be somewhere in the 1900 lbs (I think).

Now give credit where credit is due, Rafaelito is now running a new setup (EFI), he works on his own backyard (Have you seen it?, cause I have), and doesn't have a multimillion sponsor.

One thing is for sure, Rafelito is the king of the 2 rotors!

 

Hey I think its great! tho
he is the king since abel switched to a 20B

It just upsets me when Falito came to the states
to race in the NHRA..HAD to add wieght and could not run the numbers he runs in PR

same thing for Siguel in PR he is the King
but when they try to race with NHRA wieght and rules they can not back up the PR times

 

Abel started on his own too
dont blame him for having a huge *** sponsor K&N
he is still the king of Rotaries
He set the pace for everyone with his (R100)

 

IMHO it is not a weight issue, Siguel was under 10LBS when the whole weight issue started. I have not heard anything about Rafaelito's weight.

 

Yup and when he strated on his R100, he couldn't keep up LOL! King of the rotaries my ***..., and setting up the pace...right!

 

No way! Back in the days before NHRA and major sponsors, Rafaelito and Flaco had the hottest rivarly going on, and Rafaelito was always a step ahead, though just barely. It resembled the Sosa/McGuire homerun race. The amazing thing is that Falito was ahead of everyone with a CARB setup ! Funny how the media never covered this. Guys from Australia and Puerto Rico were quietly running 8's and 9's long before the first ricer ran a 12.99999 sec 1/4 mile in a Honda at a Battle. But you never read or heard anything about it in the media (except maybe in Turbo mag). I simply though that maybe they weren't interested in old rotaries or Toyotas. But then Flaco comes out and runs a high 8-sec pass in his R100 and BAM! his picture is plastered on the cover of every freaking magazine and just about EVERY issue of turbo, SCC, and Super St. after that had a picture of his R100 somewhere inside. Hell, even when SCC covered one of the PanAm Nationals, they didn't even mention anything about the Puerto Rican racers. The Pan Am Nationals!!! Come on! But of course, they had a picture of Flaco (who didn't make the cut), a few US Hondas that broke down and a guy in a Honda with his helmet backwards. Is that great coverage or what . And even today when Falito accomplishes something people still finds all kinds of excuses to take away the glory, like "the car looks like a go-kart with a fiberglass shell". Well DUH! So does every other 7-second import out there!! Does anyone runs 7s in his leather and A/C equipped grocery getter??? Give the guy a break. He has the fastest 2-rotor out there right now, like it or not.

BTW, I'm not taking anything away from Abel. He's as big a badass tuner/builder/racer as anyone else out there, including Falito. I'm just giving credit where credit is due.

OK, rant is over. Back to work

 

Thanks for understanding!

I attended those Pan Americans, the only one that I have seen Hondas, Flaco (R100), and Adam Sarawutari (Rx7); none of these ever came back for a Pan Am...

My only beef with Flaco is that on that same Pan Am, the guy had the R100 covered and surrounded with tape on a perimeter. For some reason you couldn't talk to Abel, or take a look at his car unless you were 10 foot away.

I don't know how it goes on other race events, but on Pam Ams, cars are open for eveybody to see. Hell even Adam Sarawutari had his car accesible to everybody, and you could talk to him, ask him question too (just like any other racer except for Flaco).

 

I dont usually get into squaks like this but.......As a kid growing up in the islands I have seen alot of rotary cars and nonrotary cars with rotary engines do amazing things....1 thing is for sure....Abel is good and has an amazing sponsorship(K&N) but If Rafaelito had that amount of sponsorship im sure there would be no touching him.
The way I see it is like: a underground Rapper going commercial....As far as Flaco setting the pace
He has gotten alot of exposure and now people want to put him on top...I dont thinks so .I have witness the magic other teams have put into there rotary engines

And with that I say: Please dont base your opinion on what you see in Magazines but what you have witness yourself....
Rafaelito has been racing for many years and have proven to be a tough competitor and with that he has been place on the top..
As far as the weight issue!!!!My solution would be for Abel and K&N to go to Salenas P.R on there grounds and battle heads Up....

BUT OVERALL THEY BOTH RUN ROTARY ENGINES AND HAVE KEPT MANY ROTORHEADS LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE.........I dont think there is anything better than that...

 

O.K I will have to agree with all of you guys
I dont know how they do it in the Pan Ams,
But over here in Los Angeles where I get to see Abel run every year in Palmdale,Pomona etc.. He never yellow tapes his mazdas at all. He lets anybody into his pits with no problem. Heck he even races at Irwindale which is for free without his Sponsors.
Anyway in all these years of watching races I have yet to see Falito race. Maybe because he is scared.
I would love to see Abel and Falito go at it (anytime). Trust me Abel will go to P.R and I will be there to back him up.

I dont see Falito being inducted into the Wally Parks Museum in Pomona, just in case you didnt know his R100 made it, and that is a big accomplishment.

Oh Well now we just have to wait for his RX-8 to debut and start breaking records.

by the way NO BEEF ////PUROROTARY///

 

Well said!! Abel is the ****!

 

I personally know Rafael(Falito) Rivera. He is A living legend in this world of rotaries that we live in. I have been to his back yard establishment and currently he is building a shop and has a couple of new car lifts and the place is looking good. I would have to agree that for being a "Jibaro" translation Hillbilly he is truly amazing. I congratulate Falito for this great run.

His 1991 Full chassis Rx7 was built back in 1990 and I was vacationing in the island the first fay he tested the Rx7. That day on a dual webber turbo set up with a factory 5 speed Rx3 gearbox ran 11.4 his goal that day was 9.90 I recall after talking to him.
His Rx7 tips the scale at 1800lbs

 

1800Ibs? with or with out him in the car
usually you measure with the driver in

 

With the driver in the car.

Before NHRA sport compact was around, NOPI had a pro RWD 2 rotor weight limit at 1750 with 1 power added 2 power added like turbo nitrous was 1850lbs
IDRC had the pro rwd class with a 1700lbs on a full chassis with 1 power added and 1800lbs with 2 power added.

Now NHRA came around with some rules that defy all logic. Pro modified's are making well over 2500 horse power and running low 6.1 to 6.0 over 225 mph and they have to tip the scales at 2300lbs.
Now NHRA sport compact has the Pro rwd 3 rotor tiping the scales at 2350lbs with one power added and more power added adds more weight to the already heavy car. If you compare cubic inch to weight in a pro mod. vs a sport compact car it does not make any sense. I talked to Jim Skelly at NHRA about this and he said that they know that the rules in weight requirements are shaddy, but they are still learning and trying to put together a program for rules that will work for the imports and sport compacts. He said nothing is carved in stones as far as rules go.

 

Yet his acomplishments are not recognized, while others take the cake!

 

abel has been invited to PR NUMEROUS times, he never shows up!

We have 3 (at least) rotor vs pistons contest per year, plus one to one matches on all 3 dragways of PR.

Museum?!?

Now you know why I am upset when we get into this subject

Trust me, Flaco haven't acomplish ****, more like a follower

 

whos fault is that? I would say if flaco got some recognition is all due to him and his public relation people. Falito doesn't really care what happends out of Puerto Rico and doesn't really care for exposure here in the USA. But back in PR he is a very well known Legend.

 

One day Abel will go to Puerto Rico?
But when will Falito come to Los Angeles?

 

They actually have rotary vs. piston events? I never knew they were allowed to compete together. Anyone have a link? I'm gonna go do a little google search to supplement.

 

When Falo was running his car here it met NHRA weight minimum. It was only 20lbs under weight at his first event and also was Abel's at the same event at which they both added weight. Falo was running consistent 7.70's at that event. His car should be a lot heavier now with all the added stuf he has done to the car
Just for reference when Abel did his one and only 7.44 run it was not at a NHRA event but rather during a test and tune. Just because a run is not done at a sanctioned NHRA event does not mean it's not legal. Where was the NHRA a couple years back? Imports have been running here for a very long time before they jumped on the band wagon. If one is not going to repect a 1/4 mile time unless it's not done under the NHRA rules then I guess the rest of the world does not count then. I don't think so!
Both of these guys are super great peolpe to know and speak too. You got to give them both credit and respect for their hard work and results. No one is better than the other. Even if one has a big sponsor or the other has a lighter car it takes knowledge and experience to obtain what they both have accomplished.
How can you argue with a consistent 7.47 at 180mph pass out of a 13B 2-rotor.
BTW. Falo is coming to an event here in Florida next month.

 

Falo has been to Cali. before.