You are too modest. I bet you are as fast as hell. How many track days have you done now? And how many at RA?

 

LOL, me? Fast as hell? I push the envelope of my small skill when I'm out, but thats about it. HMMM, maybe I should get out that video of me passing a 04 Cobra,

 

Well after about 1.5 years of street driving and 1 track day my stock front pads were smoked. Went to Porterfield R4-S for the street and Carbotech XP8 for the track. Plenty of pad left on the Carbotechs after 3 track days (great considering I bought them used and they had about 2-3 track days on them when i got them).

Now brake fluid?!? thats a whole other story. I think I need a faucet installed at my residence that dispatches ATE SuperBlue.

 

really? I havent had any issues with fluid at all.

 

You don't bleed your brakes after every track day? I definitely bleed mine after every track day, and sometimes before and after. Of course I run at NHIS all the time and it is a very technical track with about 11 turns in a 1.6 mile lap. Lots of braking needs to be done.

 

Heh, I run at Road America which is over 4 miles with a lot of high speed turns. Haven't had any problems but not that you mention it maybe I will before I run there next time.

 

speaking of the kink.


I heard this one from a friend from BMW club. Some guy, I think one of his former instrutors was approaching the kink at probably 100+ mph and went to turn the steering wheel and it came off in his hands while the car was still going straight. I think the car was a Porsche and it was totalled.

 

I would hope so, hittnig the wall at 100+ would do it for a lot of cars, at least he walked away, lots of people in stuff like that dont.

 

BUMP

How far should I be wearing down on my pads? Less than half? any idea?

 

Update on brake pad life: I looked at my pads. I actually took the rear ones off, but only looked through the wheel at the fronts. They're pretty much gone. They have the wear tabs that squeal when they're low, and they're squealing. The lowest one had about 2mm of pad left. This is after 2 days (1 weekend) at Putnam Park. The fronts are quite low, too, I know. If I'm lucky, I'd get one more day out of them, but I doubt it. The rears are definitely toasted.

I reported before that I went through my stock brakes in 1 weekend at Watkins Glen when they had 7000 or so street miles. I guess I may be using my brakes more than most. I've been on street tires until now, but I'm going to be running 255/35/18 Dunlop SP SS Race in the future, which will mean I'll be able to brake that much later and harder, so I'm not expecting to get any more than a weekend out of a set of pads anymore. Btw, at the last school, I was running Hawk HP+ up front and Hawk HPS in back. They worked fine and didn't overheat after they received their first heat cycle.

I love how freakin hard this car brakes!

 

Let's see, car is 26 months old. Track days = 4x Watkins Glen, 1x Limerock, 5x Loudon.... I've got about 1/2 my pads left...but then that's reasonable....why use your brakes on the track? ....you're supposed to use the accelerator and go faster ...not the brakes and go slower :D

 

well, at some tracks if u only use the accelerator, you will hit the wall. I.E. Turn 5 at RA

Also, when I checked my rears they were pretty much toasted. They did last 20k miles on the street and a couple track events, so the rears are decent. My HP+ are down to about 40% pad

 

Sounds reasonable, but then again I would have said the same about certain turns at Watkins Glen. However, last week NASA had us in Group 3 do one 25 min session using no brakes. Yup, no brakes, I mean we could in a pinch but the game was not to....I know it sound kinda nuts, but surprisingly it took a lot of pressure off to go fast, and we actually went faster in many turns by having to plan better for them. Lots of fun and a very educational exercise.

Less wear on the pads naturally...

 

interesting

 

My stock rear pads only last three days on the track now

 

wow! They are pretty tiny tho

 

Well, I think the life of the pad has a lot to do with the circuit itself and your own personal driving style. I've used the Mazdaspeed pads and they last me 9 track days. And I can safe to say that the remaining could most likely last another 1 track day for me.