Hi all, Gogglz Pizano fromma de olda country here (I won;t go there now)
Lots has been said about brakes and engine conversions lately. Many
expressed an opinion that you "must" have more brakes to go with more
power. May I humble suggest that you need "more" brakes BEFORE you need
more power?
In racing, things work backwards. The lowly stock classes usually limit
engine mods, thus bhp is level with stock. Thus, only cornering and
stopping remain options and often brake modifications are not permitted.
Putting sticky tires on raises many things. Cornering speed is obvious.
However, braking capability is increased just as much!!!! Think about it,
braking is linear G forces, cornering is lateral G forces. A G is a G is
a G.
This brings up cornering forces and suspension as the next improvement. In
exceedingly simple terms, body roll is bad and reduces cormering (but has
no effect on braking). thus, stiffer springs and/or bigger anti roll bars
improve lateral G forces by reducing body roll. This meand you can cormer
faster around any given cormer - be it a 30 or 70 mph cormer.
YOU WILL NEED LESS BRAKES IF YOU CAN CORNER FASTER.
...because you will need to slow down less.
Good shock absorbers are also needed because they help keep the stickier
tire stuck to the road. If the tire skitters over the surface, it cannot
stick and will not corner or brake nearly as well. Worn shock absorbers
reduce cornering and ALSO braking. Bigger stickier (also heavier by
design) tires also require stiffer shocks to control the extra weight.
So, all in, performance modifications that "improve braking" actually
start with suspension improvements. I did not get into stiffer bushings
etc (you really need to be a racer to appreciate the cement truck ride but
boy can you make a cormer - ask anyone at Team Fat) buy in general order
for TR's and Spitfire chassis the upgrades go like this:
- high quality brake pads (of course all this assumes you are using the
best pads and trued rotors)
- high quality skocks, ie Spax gas or Koni.
- sticky tires, wider and lower profile
- stiffer front springs (not much) and/or bigger sway bar
-stiffer rear springs (TR series only)
-rear sway bar.
After all that is you are still fading your brakes you are either A) a
racer, B) a maniac, C)not so secretly wishing you owned an F1 car!
A note on brakes. These new "carbon metallic" pads are well worth a look
since they work from cold, don't fade as much when hot, and last a long
time. The cheapie padsthat the big 3 sell work really well at low speed
because they are extremely soft and grabby. But, get them hot, really hot,
and they will either disintegrate or catch fire (been there done that).
They lose their grip when hot. Metallic brakes, OTOH, work poorly when
cold and get better when hot. Carbon metallics give you both. Formula 1
brakes don;t work until they're glowing hot. For race use, fir brake
cooling ducts and vented rotors where rules allow.
Now, go find some horsepower if you dare. it just gets you to the corner
quicker, that's all. I prefer the corners, thanks.
Dave Terrick
Winterpeg
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