ALFAGTV6.COM

[Zamani]

Sorry Jim, you don't know how to drive. You should be able to gain 1 sec with solid 250mm front rotors and stock pads.

Serioulsy, you nailed it Jim. My car is slightly lighter than yours and on SOME turns after a couple of laps, you just wonder what happened to the brakes. My current setup is, stock rotors and calipers, Porterfield R4S pads and Valvoline synthetic fluid.

[Micke]

Don't get me wrong.

I don't have anything against good brakes. On the contrary.

But don't think the braking distance would automatically shorten with the blingy stuff. In many cases the brake balance is ignored and braking distance even gets worse.

And Jim, you often quoted the weight of your car and I always get a frightening picture of a fat lady in my sore eyes.
Can't you put the hog on a diet? That's like racing with my camping car.

[la_strega_nera]

But don't think the braking distance would automatically shorten with the blingy stuff. In many cases the brake balance is ignored and braking distance even gets worse.

Precisely. Your braking distance is ultimately limited by your tires. Rotor size looks after the heat soak. If i can turn a set of rear rotors blue, and front rotors black on a 1100kg GTV with 2 75kg people on board on a sunday morning run through the Adelaide hills, then the brakes are not big enough!

[Jim K]

Its a form of masochism Micke! Its 100% road car with everything on it. But the other 75, the 1.8T which with the cage is 1245kg, will become much lighter (nothting extravagant)with the new 3liter (12 or 24v, haven't decided yet) at an estimated 1150kg (with a/c, it gets hot here!) That and the TS box + big brakes should be worth a few seconds! All this is no slicks, just DOT stuff (BS540 etc)
Jim K.

[Andrew.b]

Sorry Jim, you don't know how to drive. You should be able to gain 1 sec with solid 250mm front rotors and stock pads.

Serioulsy, you nailed it Jim. My car is slightly lighter than yours and on SOME turns after a couple of laps, you just wonder what happened to the brakes. My current setup is, stock rotors and calipers, Porterfield R4S pads and Valvoline synthetic fluid.

Hi Z

I had a look at whe R4S web site, and this is what they had to say...

"R4-S High Performance Street and Autocross
For high performance and heavy-duty street conditions. Perfect for prolonged everyday street use while also being capable of tolerating the most severe street use without any fade. Rotor friendly of course. The R4-S friction level will give you an impressive increase in stopping ability with very minimum pedal effort. R4-S compound has the absolute lowest noise and dust levels, far below OEM equipment or any other high performance brake material. Good for autocrossing, some drivers schools, solo events, and rally’s. The R4-S compound is available for virtually any vehicle sold in the US. We also offer the R4-S in pad sizes for competition type calipers that are used under street driven conditions"

I'd say you need to get some more agressive pads right away!

Using street pads on a demanding track is just asking for trouble. The pads will get to hot and become useless outside their designed heat range.
Have you tried performance friction race pads, or the DS3000?? both EXCELLENT on the GTV6/75 with uprated standard set-up, add a little cool air ducting too.

Cheap upgrades can make a useful difference!

Do you have abs?? if you do, is it cutting in at every braking zone?

But, as we all know, a road car on the track, will always lead to compromise

So, come on z man........time for you to build a dedicated track beast with 24v, or a 4pot turbo DO IT, you know you want to

[tomp]

Sorry if this is a brakes 101 question but I assume eveyone removes the splash plate behind the rotor for track duty right? I found out the hard way the with the stock setup caliper pistion orientation is critical. After a couple of hard track weekends some of the R4S pads started to taper and in each case the pistion was not in correct orientation. But, when fresh the stock rotors and R4S were pretty good. Ill try R4 next and compare.
Tom P.

[Jim K]

Oh, I did better than that! I left the splash tins on and warped the discs every time I hit the track. After every session, I turned the discs on-car and all was fine until next time. There go the discs, from 32mm down to 29 in no time at all! You pay and you learn!
Jim k.

[x-rad]

Anything new with the Wilwood calipers???? What size rims needed???