Level Max700 by Project Mu

Project Mu develop and sell a wide range of brake pads for different applications starting from BASIC STREET OEM replacement pads all the way through COMPETITION level pads.

Having used HC+ (in the STREET SPORTS category) on many occassions and circuits I recently purchased the next level pad LEVEL MAX700 (in the CIRCUIT SPORTS category).

The pads arrived yesterday and I used today's sunny day to install them all by myself.

Why did I decide to go for these pads ? My earlier post(s) explain this but in a nutshell I needed more control over the recently upgraded front rotors.

For those of you mechanically inclined, here is a tip : When you replace your own pads, put some heat-resistant grease on the back of the plate right around the area where your pistons touch the pad. This will a) prevent squeeling and b) improve the durability of your pistons' contact area under high temperature conditions (we're talking 300-900C here). I use this grease made by a local Japanese company WAKO.

My next event is at Suzuka Circuit on April 29th !

Tsukuba 1000 Time Attack

Video of Seeker's S2000 "flying" around the circuit !



My HOT LAP in the Time Attack session !



Motorsport IS dangerous !

Tsukuba 1000 Time Attack

Today's time attack event yielded a time of 0'43"67 ! Not bad for my
first attempt on this circuit !

Live and learn ...

Yesterday I went out to Tsukuba Circuit for a couple of practice sessions.
The day was actually quite warm (17°C) and because of that the oil temps hovered pretty high around the 130°-132°C mark (acceptable threshold for MOTUL 300V is 130°C with 160°C being the absolute highest) nevertheless I still managed a couple of quick laps.

I took the 1st session easy on the rotors with only applying at most 80% of the brake pedal. Despite doing so I felt my front wheels locking up a number of times and ABS kicking in. As I later found out this was a side effect of too much of the "initial bite" friction between pads and the rotor (this new rotor produces 20% more friction than normal).

In the 2nd session of the day when the temperatures dropped slightly, I was applying full brakes at every corner with the same initial momentanous lockup occuring. So to get to the bottom of it, I talked with a rep from DIXCEL last night and asked what was happening... Apparently Project Mu HC+ pads' friction co-efficient is too high for slotted rotors. Due to slotted rotor's higher friction capabilities it is recommended to run slighty lower friction co-officient pads to end up with a far smoother, controllable initial bite (or get a heavier car!).

So the solution is Project Mu HC-CS pads or Level Max700 should do the trick. If you're into DIXCEL pads then model Z will do the same (don't use R01s !)

Other than that there were Taniguchi with his 2 HKS EVOs flying around testing and Tarzan Yamada testing a Subaru Impreza (btw his daily commute is a PT Cruiser with a dinged real light hehe). Oh and my luck again, 2nd session was red flagged due to an oil spill on the track so after they resumed the session grip just wasn't the same.

Here is a video of one of the sessions with my new video installation



And this one shows what it's like driving back to Tokyo from Tsukuba !



And lastly, due to other personal committments I will be cutting down on the blogging and only posting a sporadic video or two on my YouTube channel. If you have any questions you can still email me !

Cheers

Stopping power (cont'd ...)

DIXCEL rotors finally arrived earlier today !






I immediately called the guys at SEEKER who luckily had some free time this afternoon to install them for me and so here they are installed !




I was running them in on my way back home and immediately noticed 2 clear differences.
The most obvious one, that friction noise I used to hear whilst heavy braking is now gone, and 2ndly braking is now way more balanced and the car is no longer braking more on one side compared to the other.

See yas at Tsukuba this Saturday April 10th !

Suzuka International Circuit here I come !

To satisfy my growing appetite for driving as many racing circuits in Japan as possible, I have now set my eyes on the Suzuka International Circuit !!!

It is not easy to get an opportunity to drive that circuit as a) it is quite far from Tokyo (over 340kms one way !), b) it is a very busy venue with races like GT300, GT500 series, motorbike series, Japan Formula series, Endurance Super Taikyu races and of course Formula1 amongst many others taking place constantly, c) it is quite expensive. However thanks to the guys at Seeker who pointed me towards J's Racing's events page the other day I am now set to drive Suzuka for myself on April 30th !!



It is a whole day event with J's Racing sponsoring it where a maximum of 80 entries allowed which will be split between 2 classes depending on individual lap times. On top of that a special guest Nobuteru Taniguchi will be there giving advice and a lucky one person will be taken for a spin in his/her car driven by no other than Taniguchi-san !

Very excited about this event !

Tokyo Bay on a windy thursday evening !