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
I gotta say that I'm learning alot from your experiences with the Integra, and look forward to all your postings. I haven't taken my car to the track here as yet, but I don't think it's nearly as demanding as the one's in Japan as well as I don't think I will get there very often, so I choose to get the plain dixcel rotors with Endless SNP Street pads for the moment.
ReplyDeleteNeil,
ReplyDeleteThat will work !
Anyway whether a track is demanding or not you'll learn first hand by driving your car there and learning all the responses from your tyres, brakes etc. Over time you'll know what feels better when and how and again these experiences vary depending on the car (front wheel or rear wheel etc), weight, centre of gravity etc, but it's fun discovering it and knowing what works for you !
Good luck
Cherry blossom looks very nice :) We're missing Japan very much. Keep up the great blogs Rod!
ReplyDeleteRod,
ReplyDeletenice screne there fr tsukuba to tokyo. btw Wat's the music in this clip? i really like it.
cheers,
ed