#project86 - Budget stopping power.
Coming on 2 months ago now I went and saw our friend John Healey from V-sport Australia about how we could improve the braking package on #project86.
The Brief.
Previously I had been using oem brake lines and rotors paired with Hawk HP+ pads (which I used quite successfully in my MX5 previously) and Penrite 10tenths fluid.
I didn’t have a major issue with the standard setup, the car pulled up well but I found the HP+ pads weren’t very linear in the stop. They had a great initial bite but they weren’t very consistent and braking power was noticeably affected towards the end of the stop at T2 and T9 at Wakefield Park making it difficult to trail brake consistently. The fade wasn’t horrible but they definitely fell off after 2-3 hot laps.
Essentially I wanted something that would hold unto a full trackday of 80+ laps while still being fast without wearing in 3 trackdays.
Ofcourse the obvious answer is a Big Brake Kit (BBK) but the whole point of #project86 is to show people how accessible high performance driving can be so John suggested the following setup: (the below are all hyperlinked so feel free to click through direct to the V-sport site!)
Progress Report.
The setup is wearing quite well. We’ve stacked up about 230-250 laps at wakefield park aswell as 2000km on the road and I’d say there’s comfortably another 2 trackdays in the pads before they’ll be due for a change. One major thing to remember is that Wakefield Park is very hard on brakes. There’s a number of big stops spread over just 2kms so there isn't much time for the brakes to shed off heat. We’re also pushing the car fairly hard for what it is. The average punter in a similarly specced 86 will be floating somewhere around the 1:12-1:15 mark at Wakefield and 2-5 seconds is a big difference at a little track in an NA car.
Another less important fact but something still relevant is the ferodos make next to no noise on the street and aren’t very dusty at all. Not something i’ve never cared about before but it is nice not having to wash your wheels everyday.
We’re definitely working the brakes hard as seen here.
The Verdict.
4 Wakefield Park trackdays in varying conditions later and i’m over the moon with this braking setup. Is it the cheapest? Absolutely not. Is it the best bang for buck setup for aggressive track and street use? Without trying every possible brake combination on the market I can't say for sure but I would recommend this setup in a heartbeat and I will continue to run it. I believe there is a slightly more aggressive pad offering from Endless that we might try but they are considerably more expensive so this setup is very hard to look past.
A problem i’ve always found when building road/track cars is dealing with compromise. I believe this setup is very low compromise on both road and track.
Ultimately 1:10.888 is very quick for a stock powered 86 and I don't believe we would gain any time with a $3k+ BBK. We’ll be strapping some Zestinos to the car as well as some other fun mods which we’ll be documenting here in the coming weeks before heading back to Wakefield to see if a stock power 86 can do a 1:09 before we start adding power and some suspension mods.
