D*MN, James, I thought my P+ pads were race pads.

They worked well for me in my Stoptech's though. I'm switching to their XP's for the rear though. Tryed them at my last event at the Farm with good results. Now I can spin the rims in my tires front & rear! And they don't appear to effect the rotor surface.

 

That's good to hear. I have used the P+ as my street/track pad on the OEM non-Brembos since last summer and found them to be reasonably rotor-friendly.

I recently received my StopTech front 13" kit, and have been looking for a good track pad. Maybe I should just stick with the P+ compound and not bother switching for street and track. It seems to have worked for others with StopTechs, and would certainly decrease my pre- and post- trackday maintenance time.

 

Thanks for the all the advice. I did explain to my insurance company exactly what kind of event this is… I will call them again and ask for a list of exclusions to my policy.

This might be a dumb question but is there such thing as track insurance i.e. insure your car for a weekend at the track?

Dmitry

 

Not a dumb question, and the answer is yes. Unfortunately, I can't recall the name of the company at the moment. Something like American Classic Cars, or something? Try searching this site on "track insurance."

It was about $500/year for a Z.

 

I find it absolutely amazing how quickly everything with the letters "OEM" gets a bad rap. There is nothing wrong with the RE040s, other than they wear out extremely quick (treadwear is only 140). At the end of last season, I was comfortably driving my new Z at 9/10ths. The Bridgestones were exhibiting textbook-perfect tire wear for a race tire. They also managed to exert enough load on the Brembos to boil the stock fluid. These are damn good tires for a car rolling off an assembly line.

As a noob, the stock Z brakes will be sufficient. To be extra safe, get a good pair of pads for the front (maybe the backs too...I've heard numerous complaints about the wimpy non-Brembo rears). I've run the Hawk HP+ pads at the last event and was happy with them. Even for an aggressive pad, the rotors showed little signs of wear. For you, I'd recommend the Hawk HPS.

If your car is over a year old (from manufacture date), then you might want to change the brake fluid. OEM fluid should be fine if it's fresh. You've probably heard a lot of people tell you to change the brake fluid, and you're probably wondering why, huh? Well, the short of it is that over time brake fluid absorbs moisture from the air. As it absorbs moisture, the boiling point goes down. The shocker: only 4% moisture contamination will cut the boiling point in half!! For a normal car brake system, this means just a few drops of water! Having the fluid boil can be a very scary thing for a rookie (even a pro!).

I second Jason Bourne's comment: Shut up, listen, and have fun!

 

If you can learn to drive well with whatever is on the car, doesn't that make you a better driver?

I had fun with the RE040s last season, especially when they got greasy. My rear tires have about 20k miles on them, including 3 open lapping days at Gingerman and 1 HPDE at Grattan and they still have some life left in them. I think my tires were blessed with unusually long life. You shouldn't have to worry about the tires yet unless, like James (Commasense) said, they are worn to the cords. Also, you might notice chunks of rubber missing from the center ribs of your front tires.

If you cannot find ATE or Castrol locally, Valvoline Synpower is an inexpensive alternative with very good boiling points. Here is a chart from an older post.

Here's a list of major brake fluids and their respective DRY/WET boiling temps:

Arranged by DRY boiling point:
DRY: 401F -- WET: 284F --- DOT3
DRY: 446F -- WET: 311F --- DOT4
DRY: 502F -- WET: 343F --- Valvoline SynPower
DRY: 509F -- WET: 365F --- Motul 5.1
DRY: 527F -- WET: 302F --- AP Racing 551
DRY: 536F -- WET: 392F --- ATE Superblue/TYP200
DRY: 590F -- WET: 410F --- AP Racing 600
DRY: 590F -- WET: 518F --- Castrol SRF
DRY: 593F -- WET: 420F --- Motul RBF600
DRY: 610F -- WET: 421F --- Neo-Synthetic Super DOT 610

Arranged by WET boiling point:
DRY: 401F -- WET: 284F --- DOT3
DRY: 527F -- WET: 302F --- AP Racing 551
DRY: 446F -- WET: 311F --- DOT4
DRY: 502F -- WET: 343F --- Valvoline SynPower
DRY: 509F -- WET: 365F --- Motul 5.1
DRY: 536F -- WET: 392F --- ATE Superblue/TYP200
DRY: 590F -- WET: 410F --- AP Racing 600
DRY: 593F -- WET: 420F --- Motul RBF600
DRY: 610F -- WET: 421F --- Neo-Synthetic Super DOT 610
DRY: 590F -- WET: 518F --- Castrol SRF

As far as stock pads go, I don't have any track experience with them.

James, for reference I run Cobalt Friction's Spec VR in the front and GT-Sports in the rear on OEM Brembos and I really like the combination.

EnthuZ, you weren't the only one landscaping Gingerman last year!

 

When did you go? I don't remember seeing your improvements?

Welcome to the club!

I have to remember the right pedal isn't an on/off switch, which I could get away with at Blackhawk.


BTW chahny, why don't you join us at Mid-Ohio in a month?

 

You might have noticed my personal touches inside turns 5-6 and outside turn 11.(we were running backward) I'll have to check my schedule for April, but I have always wanted to try Mid-Ohio.