Sputnik

Of course it does, but it doesn't eliminate it. Especially since a lighter car will come with smaller brakes anyway (no need to add unsprung weight if you don't need to). It still takes a bit of braking force to bring a 2200lb car + passenger down from 100+ mph. When you see braking tests where 60-0 and 70-0 are performed on the same car, note how much of a difference 10 mph makes.

This is why stock Spyders and Miatas can actually run factory pads on a road course that is easy on braking. You aren't getting that much speed before you get to a corner, and with these cars, you need to carry as much speed through the corners as possible. Therefore, braking zones are not long enough for those cars for an increase in braking performance to make much of a difference in lap times. In fact, if you put race pads on in that situation, they will probably not get up to operating temperatures, and would perform even worse than factory pads or other street compounds.

But even for stock Miatas and Spyders, I know people who did fine on some tracks with factory pads, yet finally had to admit that they needed to look into other compounds when they tried a track that was harder on brakes.

Now, when you effectively double the HP on the car with a turbo, you arrive at that braking zone at a much higher speed (hopefully ), and even with the same wheels/tires, bigger brakes will make a difference. Sure, you could keep the stock brake setups, add some race pads, and the setup won't fail or fade on you. But just because you're not fading doesn't mean that you can't improve on braking performance.

---jps

Hercules

I don't see how that matters... even if you are on a track and you get up to 60 mph in a heavy car... a light car will still have less fade than a heavy one. Ideally even in a heavy car you'd get to the braking points at the same speed, so I don't see how a light car WOULDN'T have an advantage over a heavy one where brake fade is concerned.

I am however, still a neophyte at the world of auto mechanics. I much prefer to drive

Sputnik

That all depends on the brake setup. If they are similar, then yes. If the brakes are sized according to the weight of the car (which they most likely are), then the fade characteristics will most likely be similar. Compare the brakes (rotor size, and width, caliper size, piston count, sliding or fixed) on a C5 to an MR2 Spyder. Even on sports cars, most car companies are only going to put enough braking on a car that can handle most of the street/highway brake use that the car will see. This is to save on cost, and more importantly, unsprung and rotational weight (which makes a huge difference in a lightweight car). Even with C5s and Vipers that I've seen tracked regularly in this area, the first thing that the owners upgraded were the brakes.

---jps