Back from the track
 

I had an AMAZING newbie day at Pacific Raceways - did some training in the morning and high speed lapping in the afternoon in my relatively newly broken in RX-8 (about 3500 miles).

Now I'm back, and my brakes obviously don't seem as crisp as they were before. What should I be checking? Pads? Fluids? Ruber brake line? All of them? Is it relatively easy to check those myself (considering I never did any kind of mechanic work and I only open the hood to check/add oil :)) ?

If I need to change any component of the braking system, should I go with aftermarket? If so, anything I should be looking at? I don't plan to do serious tracking (maybe twice a year)

Thanks for the tips,
-Mat

>....and my brakes obviously don't seem as crisp as they were before
Well, the stock braking system is actually pretty good. I don't think there could be any serious damage done except maybe you've wrapped the disc.
Did you put the hand brake on after you've come back to the padock area from the track??

After some hard braking the pads may glaze up. Give them a few days to rub off the glazing, if any, and they'll be as good as new. Unless you wore through the pads or warped the rotors, everything else should be fine.

The RX-8 brakes are extremely good, and typically the pads will be good for quite a large number of laps; almost certainly more than you would do on the first time in a single afternoon. The lines and fluid will also be fine, I predict.

(Amazing car; it can handle a lot of laps without ever breaking a sweat.)

Cool. To answer RotaryZZ's question - I did not put the hand brake in (well I did for about 3 seconds until I realize what I was doing and then let it off).

The brakes were indeed excellent, most of the instructors were amazed.

Would the glazing alone explain how the brakes feel different? It seems I need to push much more on the pedal to get decent braking at low speeds.

Check out this really excellent article:

http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm

His last two instructions (#s 7 & 8) make it sound like you could expect slightly less braking at normal street speeds for a little while, or at least until you do a second track day! :D

That's precisely how it feels when they glaze. It should wear off soon.

street brakes are made to work at low temps, but lose power as temp increases. that may be one cause. street brakes also wear out at higher temps. a heating disk or brake fluid would do that. brake fluid also has a tendency to partially vaporize at high temps, reducing braking force (sometimes a little, sometimes completely... also called vapor lock). give it some time to cool off. see if it goes back to normal. if not, check pads and disks, finally check the fluid in the master cylinder.

if it vaporizes at high temp, it should condense back at low temp, no?

That sounds really fun. How do I find a place like that in/near San Jose, CA? I've never done any sort of racing. Do they take complete beginners? What kind of training do they provide?

sometimes yes, sometimes no. mostly no. it's a weird thermodynamic thing that i don't understand (WHAT A CRAPPY ENGINEER I AM!!!!!! :eek: ).