How one f*** up could have cost me my car and how we can all learn from it.
Before we get started, admitting you stuffed up isn’t fun and I don’t particularly like talking about it, however I think there’s something we can all take away from this so here goes nothing.
Coming into Aus Time Attack I had some issues with the factory ABS and “ice mode”. I thought that gripping the car up would help - which it did but I was still blasting past apexes when the brake pedal would go rock hard. I opted to throw my spare pads in, my trusty Ferodo DS1.11’s that had served me well for half a dozen trackdays.
The pads were low so there was a chance of destroying my rotors but given they were up for replacement at the end of ATA it was a risk I was willing to take, after all I was just going to run them for a session to try and punch a laptime.
2.5 sessions later I found myself blasting into the kink at 190kmh, going for the brakes only to find that nobody was home. It was at this moment I learnt there’s a very big difference between a long pedal and no pedal. The brake pedal was completely absent as the system had lost pressure.
After I was pulled from the gravel trap I limped the car back to the pits where the V-Sport crew that I was luckily garaging next to whipped into action to find out what went wrong and hopefully get the car drivable to get it home. It was pretty clear that I should have kept my “1 session to try these pads” to the one session I promised myself.
A combination of low friction material on the pad, rotors that were due for replacement and Alek being greedy saw the 2 inner pistons of the drivers side 9440 caliper punch through the backing plate so hard that the piston popped out of the caliper ultimately losing pressure in the brake system. Now let me be very clear, this wasn’t even close to a component failure and judging by the damage i’m very lucky that not only was I not worse off but also that the caliper was somewhat re-buildable with the same pistons and seals to get me home - even after I had pumped stupid amounts of heat through them.
Buying local is something I harp on about alot and it’s something that i’ve touched on in my review of this brake kit (that I haven’t yet published) but this situation is the perfect example of why you should buy quality, serviceable components from local vendors. Not only did the boys get me back on the road on Saturday night, on Monday I took my worse for wear looking calipers (front and rear) and front disks in for new seals, pistons (where necessary) and a fresh set of AP rotors. By Monday night the brakes were back on the car and I was ready to go again.
There would have been a couple of differences if this happened with a set of budget calipers. Firstly the car would need to be towed home because 90% of cheap calipers use aluminium pistons which would have been in a puddle on the floor with my brake fluid. Secondly I would be hoping and praying the budget company copied an AP or Brembo design so I could decipher what seals and pistons I could put in them. 9 times out of 10 this isn’t the case so the calipers turn into paperweights. Next comes rotor availability. Because V-Sport brake kits typically use common rotors/calipers it brings replacement cost down but also greatly increases part availability meaning you can rebuild your brakes any day of the week because the local vendor has the parts on the shelf. As the old saying goes, the poor man pays twice.
I’m extremely lucky I lost brakes where I did and I managed to wipe off a bunch of speed before burying it into the gravel trap. I’ve seen many people be far worse off losing brakes through the kink with cars rolling once they hit the gravel side on or sliding over the gravel entirely and ending up in the fence.
So, next time your pedal goes long, you can feel your brakes overheating or you hear something funny just pull in. Chances are you’ve already thrown the lap away and if there’s even a doubt in your mind about your car there’s no chance you’re driving at your or your cars maximum potential.
