Last weekend, I took my car to Roebling Racetrack near Savannah, GA for a day for fun and flogging.

This was the first time on the track with my Greddy TT kit boosting 8.5psi , and my 14inch 6 piston/4piston Wilwood BBK. I was also running my new Michelin Pilot Sport 2's all around.

The track consists of mostly higher speed sweepers, and two or three VERY hard braking areas. The front straight away is incredibly long. most of the N/A cars were getting up to about 120-130mph, but my Greddy TT was pushing nearly 150mph. And this was coming from a rookie that didnt really hit the last corner fast enough to blast into the straight with enough speed.

Anways, I made several HARD braking stops from nearly 150mph down to about 40-50mph to make turn 1, and i can tell you that the braking power was tremendous. I literally felt like the rear wheels were coming off the ground. The pedal felt nice and firm, and had a very linear feel to it. I was able to brake with plenty of room to spare.

The amazing thing, is that I was running the basic street pad compound, which makes no noise and leaves no dusting. There are several brake pad upgrades that are even stronger. I hope to experiment with those for my next track day. A cool feature of the Wilwoods, is that there is only one bolt holding the brake pad rod into place..as you can see in the pic. So it's super easy to swap pads at the track. You dont have to move or disturb the caliper, and the pads are easily swapped.

I can tell this was one of the best mods I made to the car. The brakes look outstanding...I get constant compliments on them...and they perform extrememly well.

I enjoy accelerating towards red lights and slamming on the brakes...just to freak out the cross traffic.

Pics are coming

 

shot of the rear caliper/disc






my favorite

 

nice write up.

I wonder if you would get more brake dust if you chose a cross-drilled rotor.

 

Nice write up Great to hear you love your brake kit.

Jeff

 

I know it is hard to compare with prior runs since you changed power and braking ability at the same time but how did you do compared to other cars on lap times.

 

I didnt time the laps, primarily becuase it started raining in the afternnoon, just as I was begining to get comfortable in the car. And since it was my first time on the track, i was just slowly trying to get used to the car.

I will tell you that the car, with this much power, is pretty loose on the track. I honestly think its too much power for with street tires on a road course. Ideally, I should be running DOT race tires with that much power. 1/4 throttle...honestly was enough to break the rear end waaaay loose.

The last turn on the track is a right hand sweeper ending at about 95mph as you head onto the front straight. What a thrill!! The car is gradually drifting left, as the turbos kick in, and you literally get launched into the front straight. FuN!

I will also tell you that my car was the 2nd fastest down the straight. The only other car that was faster was my buddies 460whp Evo. with AWD, he was really able to exit the turns with greater speeds than me.

 

I hate those AWD guys they don't have to drive the car just smash the pedal down. I can imagine the rear end now, just playing around town I get it to break lose with ease, I will have to relearn driving the track next time.

It sounds like a blast, I can't wait to go back out to Sebring and try it again, I was waiting for cooler weather now that the TT is in I didn't want to go out in our summer ongodly heat and humidity.

 

Actually, R-compounds are much less forgiving than street tires, and they tend to break away much more suddenly. Master being smooth with the throttle and steering on street tires before you upgrade to stickier rubber.

Glad you had fun at the track though!

 

Sharif do the Willwoods fit behind the stock 18s Track Rays or Performance rims...I want to get a set up from them but I run Perf 18s every day and will run Track Rays for track events.

 

Good write up -- but it sounds like your brake system may be too biased to the front. Your car should feel pretty flat as it brakes, not as if the rears are doing nothing.

You should also always you track pads when at the track. Perhaps the course you were at was not very technical -- but you need to use some track pads (I use Pagid Orange). Using street pads you risk allowing the pad material to overheat and then fuse to the rotor (ruining your expensive rotors). BTW -- virutally all BBK's offer quick pad swaps, even the track Brembros offer this.

Finally, make sure to check and clean the area around our pistons with the Willwoods. Unlike Stoptech and Brembro -- they don't have dust boots and require a little extra maintenance.

 

Correct. If grit (be it brake dust, sand, squirrel bits, crack cocaine, whatever) gets into the piston seals, it can score the walls and ruin it ($$$). Even if you have dust boots, you will have to maintain them and replace them every so often as they break down over time being subjected to all that heat.

 

The Wilwood use the metal backup plates on the pads, so that should provide somewhat of a protective barrier. I usually remove my calipers for cleaning every two months...just for a quite inspection and tightening up of everything. I am paranoid I guess.

John, I know what you mean by DOT race being unforgiving. I've raced motorcycles with racing slicks for years. The problem is, with this much power, I flat out have no traction to drive out of a corner...even the slightly throttle inputs will disrupt my traction. DOT race tires would provide MUCH more overall grip. But you are correct, that they tend to break loose more violently, than their street compound counterparts.

Good point on the track pads. I will do that next time. This track doesnt tax the brakes with hard repeated braking, so I was probablyl fine using the street pads.

 

BTW, I found that these worked extremely well at the track:

 

Yes, they will fit behind the Rays Track wheels. Bini_2 has that setup. I am not 100% certain on the Peformance wheels fitting these brakes....maybe someone else can confirm that.

 

 

 

what he said, smoothness is the key to be fast on the track!

 

 

Nice pics Jeff. i am still amazed at how many cars you get into the mags. Good work!

 

To keep the rear end in check you can always turn the gain down on your boost controller a bit. I've had to do that on days that it's rained at the track.