Quote:
Originally Posted by AW325xi
I have one BMW driving experience weekend, another track weekend and I also have an Indy car driving experience. I have already started threashold braking and am diving much deeper than most everyone in my run group (intermediate). I am getting quite a bit of heat into my brakes. The last event I went to I took it easy on my brakes because I didn't have the Stoptechs or synthetic fluid, so I held back quite a bit. I'm very smooth and don't hammer my car around the track. Smooth seems to be the best anyway.
|
What I am going to tell you, you will not like. So I must warn you up front.
DO NOT BE OFFENDED BY WHAT I AM ABOUT TO TELL YOU.
You've already built up a lot of bad habits, and at this point, getting track pads will ONLY MAKE YOUR BAD HABITS WORSE.
When I first started doing this "sport" long time ago, I got into a serious discussion with someone far more experienced than I was about getting track pads. He was convinced that I'm just not using my brakes right. Sure enough, he took me out in his car, which was similarly equipped to mine except on pretty much street pads, and he was significantly faster than I was and was able to brake harder than I could dream of on hot California tracks without a sign of fade. While I was fading badly on my Carbotech Panther XP pads which were suppose to be track pads. I couldn't quite figure out what I was doing wrong. He told me he perfected his braking technique until he could basically do 80% of his braking near the beginning 1/2 of his braking zone, and only use 80% of the brake's threshold, and taper off of the brakes starting from about half way through his typical braking zone, and it made a HUGE difference in extending the life and capabilities of his brakes. And that technique transfers to track pads on R-Comps and he was able to brake harder, in a shorter distance, than anybody else could on the same system.
It was so counter-intuitive that I kept searching for better and better pads, until about 20 more track days later, I ended up with the dood as my instructor. Again, he corrected my braking technique and VOILA! It was like a light-bulb went off in my head. I mean, I was by no means a slow driver, and in the BMW CCA advanced group I hold my own and then some. But with a couple of very minor adjustment, I was actually PASSING just about everybody in my group, including Instructors out for Instructor derby. I was completely baffled by this, and he showed that with the same technique learned on the street pads he was able to transfer that same technique and do it on track pads and that basically allowed him to use the brakes to go FASTER, not slower.
Here's where it's going to get offensive, so skip it and don't read the rest if you're thin skinned.
Just based off of your description of what you're doing, you're already doing something wrong. What you're attempting to do, is maximize your equipment's capabilities instead of your braking technique. While this will technically allow you to brake harder, it won't necessarily make you FASTER. I'm going to say a few things that, while it won't be the most sugar coated opinion, it's about as close to truth as e-pinions are going to get. At 3-5 events, you may think you're threshold braking, but you're not. You are just light enough on your foot to not activate ABS. You'll eventually find that "threshold braking" means more than finding that one point prior to ABS engaging...it's hard to describe with words, all I can tell you is that when properly done, you can practically be putting your foot through the floor and ABS won't kick-in. It's not something you learn in 3 events, trust me. The fact you're diving much deeper than your intermediate group-mates means you're just braking later but not harder. It's hard to comprehend, but in reality you can brake harder, in a shorter span, earlier in the brake zone and be FASTER through a turn. If you're telling me you're braking
earlier than any of your intermediate group-mates, then there's some positive foundations to build on. It's counter-intuitive, it doesn't make sense RIGHT NOW, but in about 10-15 events the light is going to go on and you're going to say, damn, that "Hack" guy pissed me off but boy is he right.
Then in 5 more events you're going to go, man, I wish that "Hack" guy would have told me, once I figured out how to "brake early" then I need to learn to move my braking point further and further back. And then I'm going to tell you, once you've mastered "early braking", you can start moving your braking points further and further closer to turn-in and also braking in shorter and shorter periods with more and more pressure, but continue to apply the same principles of early braking (and taper off of the last 1/2 of braking into your turn-in to "trail brake) to maximize the use of your brakes.
Somewhere along the line you would have upgraded to Hawk DTC-60s or 70s or Cobalt XR3 or XR2s or Performance Friction PFC-01 or PFC-06es and be done with it.
