lionking

Thanks for the info guys. Just had a servicing and was told the front pads are due for replacement. Will check out the upgrade pads.

Muzz

Folks,

Just to answer several questions asked above.

1. Time at Philip Island around 2 minutes. We were unfamiliar with the track so were driving under the limit of the car and the driver as it was our first time there. BMW M3 with racing driver on board = 1 minute 52 seconds. A bonus at Philip Island (apart from the fact we had perfect weather) is that the gearing is perfect on the 350Z. If you were to design a circuit geared for the Z, you would copy Philip Island. My 16 year old son ran faster times at Philip Island and Sandown in the 350Z than me but I am still 3/10th second faster at Mallala. This year he will run the Gen III V8 with Harrop Brakes along side me [if he does his homework first]. The Harrop’s are stunning, make the Brembo’s look like toys. These are huge 4 piston calipers and rotors front and rear with 62 slots per side of each rotor. These are the brakes the V8 Super Cars ran until a few years ago when they went to 6 piston calipers.

2. Kent Engineering in Adelaide did the slotting of the original Nissan Rotors for $170. I removed the rotors from the car and delivered them to Kent (rather than pay to have them take them off and put them back).

3. Changing from Nissan Rotors. I run the original Nissan rotors on the track. In four laps ( 5 hard braking corners per lap) the front rotors are glowing RED HOT - easily seen in a night sprint. The brake pads, fluid, and slots have been changed to try and accommodate the massive heat. A lot of the heat is caused by the hard braking. But the really important point to understand here is much of the heat is not been removed and allowed to accumulate as you drive and break because there are NO Ducts to vent air directly onto the brake rotors. So its like continual heat accumulation in an oven as opposed to leaving the oven door and window open with the fan on. For street use, you are a bad boy when driving if you need to change from Nissan rotors. For the Track there are more things I can do when the original rotors wear out.

4. Pad wear. In both the original pads that came with the Brembos and the Ferodos that were the second set, when the 12mm of pad material was down to 2mm on the front (worn out) the rear pads still had half the pad material left. So I never had an issue with rears wearing more than front. That would suggest the braking on the rear is too high and cause the rears to lock up due to less weight.

5. Tyres for the Track. We use Bridgestone Potenza RE540S, 245/40 ZR 18. These are run on a duplicate set of Track Rims. This class of tyre is used in the Commodore Cup. Its a tyre that has a compound like a Slick but with some groves so it is street legal to drive to the track and has some limited grip if it rains. The big difference to the RE040 road tyres, is on warming up on a sunny day they get VERY sticky which translates into enormous grip under braking and particularly turning in the corners. No wonder the brakes take a pounding. This translates to around 3 - 4 seconds a lap quicker at Mallala. Road Tyres would be completely spent after 2 sprints under these conditions, the RE540S tyres are good for 12 sprints and they get better as they wear. They get replaced just as they become a slick only because they are not road legal. But don’t get any ideas of using these tyres on the road permanently. When new they are initially quiet. But after a little use they become very noisy and sound like a Jeep. You don’t notice it with a helmet on and the engine on full noise but for the road you would be punishing yourself.

Hope this helps.

mchapman

iTrader: (1)

This is great info!

Now i'm armed with what to get for the brakes. Can't wait till I get it serviced now, cars going to be running great/greater.

This service:
Brake Fluid - Lucas Grand Prix 600
Pads(If they are worn) - Ferodo or RB74(noise matters day to day)
Motor Oil - Mobil 1 Syn.
Trans Oil - Royal Purple
Diff Oil - Royal Purple
K&N Drop-in
Pulleys(not service related)

+ anything they want to do to it.

How much brake fluid needs to be bought for the 4 brakes?

Murray

DavidM

Thanks for the info Muzz.

Time at Philip Island around 2 minutes. We were unfamiliar with the track so were driving under the limit of the car and the driver as it was our first time there.

That is a very good time here considering that this was your fisrt outting there. Though, can you be a bit more specific with the time you guys have managed?

Also what about Sandown? What time have you managed there? Last of all, do you recall what top-speed you were reaching at Sandown?

BMW M3 with racing driver on board = 1 minute 52 seconds.

Yeah, that sounds about right. Cameron McConville has managed 1:53.72 there at the Island in an M3 on stock tyres.

Tyres for the Track. We use Bridgestone Potenza RE540S, 245/40 ZR 18. These are run on a duplicate set of Track Rims.

Cool, that is exactly the same setup I am using (ie. spare set of Track rims with 245/40/18" RE540s). How do you find the car with the same tyres front and back? Not only that, how are you finding the front end ... do you still feel like there is not enough grip (compared to the rear)?

Which bring me to to another question. Is your car (besides the tyres and brakes) stock? If not, what have you done to it?

ps. Your 16 year old son sounds like a very good griver .... anyone who can get close to 2min mark at the Island certainly knows what they are doing.