Did my first track day in the car today. Everything went really well. Glad to finally be able to drive the car like its meant to be driven. My one major concern were the brakes which were putting out a lot of heat in the pits. I didn't notice any fading until the drive home (car only cooled for 10 minutes after last run before I left).

What are you guys doing to keep the brake performance consistent through track days? Would changing the fluid have an effect? And if I do change to a higher temp fluid is it ok to keep it in the lines for the daily drive?

 

Different fluid will definitely help.

The last time I talked to Girodisc, they were making a brake duct cooling kit for the Evo X. Might want to check with them for an update to see if its being released soon or not.

 

has a brake cooling air guide kit. it's probably effective to at least some extent. someone else may want to chime in though as although i have it, i never took it to the track before.

 

The brake air guides that came with the Aero kit utilize air traveling below the undertray through some plastic channels. I had my drivers side scoop snap off at the break away point due to running over some ice chunks on the road at some point. Rather than just buying new ones I attached some larger scoops with zip ties made of aluminum that are larger than stock, so far they are holding up great.

Under heavy braking at Watkins Glen they did fine until I overdrove the car. My calipers are dark red instead of bright red so they never got hot enough to turn brown or black which is a good thing. I'll have to see how the larger scoops perform in late May, it's possible I'll still need to supliment with ductwork directly to the rotors.

As for brake fluid, you definitely want to bleed your brakes with high temp rated fluid before a track event to get the best performance out of them. I suppose it might matter what kind of road course you are driving on but once you mod the car for extra HP and start really pushing it, the stock brake pads will also need to be swapped out for a higher temperature range combo.

 

Changing the brake fluid to something like ATE Super Blue, adding air ducts/guides, and adding SS brake lines adds a much more consistent feel when braking.

 

The driver plays the biggest role, be easy on the brakes dont hold them to long and never brake when entering a turn. If you do this your brembos will be forever bright red.

 

Sounds like you had a blast.

How many laps did you do non-stop? Get the Giro Disc 2 piece rotors, stainless steel brake lines, and change the fluid. That should make a world of difference pal..

wm

 

The rotor is fine, hold a bit more heat. But some better pads would help out even more. Especially pads that work in the higher temp ranges.

 

Here is the course I was on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_Z_eM7j3kE

Only took it out of second gear on one of the straights. Basically its the size of a big autocross course. Alot of braking...We did about 5 laps and then a 10 minute break. About 25 laps total in 4 hours.

 

Wow! Now I see why your brakes got so hot!

If you plan on racing it like that on a regular basis I would definitely consider giving Girodisc a call. They have some good kits to help out with just such a problem.

 

Nice video man,

Is Sebring close to you?

wm

 

Sebring is about 2 hours from Orlando. I live in Daytona Beach.

CFRC is in Orlando that's why I use that reference.

 

What kind of pads are you running?

If you aren't experiencing fade, what exactly are you worried about?

 

everything is stock. Im just thinking about the future. I would like to run at sebring eventually...

 

The stock pads should be the first to go. They will crumble once you really get to using them.

Then you need to flush the fluid with Motul600 or Amsoil dot4.

After that, SS lines are nice. Maybe 2 piece rotors if you're a baller (I'm not).