I’ve been running my Evo on track for a couple of years. It started as a daily driver and turned into a track only car. Last year I started doing NASA TT, Real Time Attack, and two of the Global Time Attack races. Those of you that run on the track a lot know that the two biggest expenses are tires and brakes. Tires you can’t do much about unless you buy take-offs. On the other hand, with brakes you have tons of options. I recently started working with RacingBrake on a sponsorship/product testing level. I’d like to share some of my findings with the Evo community.

Let’s start with the brake pads. I’ve tried a couple different companies and they all had their good and bad points. Hawk HP+ pads were awesome for autocross with their intense initial bite and worked pretty well on the street, but chewed up rotors and wore quickly on track. Raysbestos ST43 pads worked well on the track, but squealed like crazy in any other situation and their brake dust was like glue on rims.
Now for the Racing Brake Pads. I started with the XT960 pads on all four corners. They are a street/track pad. They will work well for the guy that occasionally tracks his car and uses street tires. Their modulation is good as is initial bite. Another plus is that the brake dust is easy to clean off your rims. However, these are not for a true track enthusiast. I decided to trade up the front pads to the XT970. This pad puts a serious smile on my face. On the track initial bite was excellent, the torque was awesome, the harder you pressed on them the faster you stopped, no pedal loss, no brake fade at all, the brakes were easy to modulate, and trail braking was a snap. Here is the best part, at NJMP last weekend, I used the car to go out to dinner, drive to and from the hotel, and any other errands that needed doing without any brake squeal at all, and it rained all day Sunday. I highly recommend these pads.

Finally, the rotors. This is where I spent a majority of my money last year. I opted to go with 2 –piece rotors from a reputable company and actually went through three sets of rotor rings in one season. I replaced the rings because of cracking, not wear. I know rotors are supposed to get surface cracks, but these got to the point where I feared for my safety. This is when I turned to RacingBrake for help. Racers that use their rotors assured me this wouldn’t happen, so I called and ordered. They told me they would be happy to help on one condition. I needed to remove my brake cooling ducts, which I so desperately needed in the past! I reluctantly agreed, installed the RB 2-piece open slot rotors front and rear, and started testing. These things are awesome! After three track days with 2 drivers these things still look great (unlike the competitor rotor after three track days). I will see how long these last going into the season and keep you posted. Here are some pictures. First one is of the RB rotors and the other is a competitive brand, both with exactly the same amount of track miles.

 

Good to hear they're working out for you.

Interesting. What was the reason for this?

 

They told me that they didn't want any obstructions behind the rotor. Their vane design is supposed to pump a good amount of air through the rotors. I guess it works, because my brakes never overheated. Something I failed to mention was that my wife runs TT also, so my car does double sessions all day.

 

I see several 2-piece rotor choices on the RB site. Which of these are you using?

 

I'm currently using the RB 2-piece open slot rotors.

 

nice review. sounds like the RB 2piece works really well.

 

I've deal with RB in the past. They said the same thing to me about removing my ducts on my 8 when I was having issues with their ET pads (heavy pad material deposits and uneven pad wear).

I would not (and did not) remove the ducts. I did remove their pads to Hawks at the time and had zero issues with my brakes from there until I sold my 8.

Please explain how cooling ducts (cooling the pad, rotor, hub) is bad? They would not comment to me on what or why (and I stopped using them).

 

Ok. I recently asked the same question about the cooling ducts and I was told that there is nothing wrong with a properly designed cooling duct that lowers the "ambient" inlet air temperature rather than directly blow into part of rotor surface, which can create uneven rotor temperature (between inboard and outboard), and shorten the life of brake rotor. Since RB rotors are made with alloys and heat treated so they can deliver consistent brake torque under high heat, plus the convergent cooling vanes can dissipate (exchange) the heat more efficiently. So they don't think it's necessary and I took their advice and the result has proven itself.
ET was introduced some 4/5 years ago although has gained a good popularity (especially for ET500 compound) for aggressive street driving, but was not quite up to heavy tracking as some serious racers are expecting, so over the last two years RB has done their R&D and came out with their XT series for Motorsports which had been extensively tested since last year on NY/NJ tracks with modifications to the formulations, and I was lucky enough to be able to experiment their XT compound in the final stage with this review.

 

So are the pads good for the track

 

Man I need to start doing more reaserch. I go thru pads like hot cakes. Thanks for the review.

 

^ what pads are you using? street tires or rcomp tires?

 

It depends on your setup. My car is a full track car, so the XT970 pads work well. If you only go to the track 2 or 3 times a year you mat prefer the XT960 pads. The rotors are awesome no matter what you do with the car.

 

My Evo is going to be a track car

 

I would definitely recommend XT970 pads for the front and XT960 pads for the rear With open slot rotors. If you're serious about the track, then you should spend a little more and get the 2-piece rotors front and rear for less rotating mass and less unsprung weight.

 

I'm with Smike. No way a functioning brake duct system is an impediment to brake performance. NASCAR, grand-am and most any serious pro cars use them.