I know this is a Honda forum, but a lot of people on here still like to keep up with Roger Foo even though he has gone over to the dark side with Mazda. Roger had a great day today in World Challenge Touring Car and showed why he is getting the respect he does on the race track.

Roger finished eighth which wasn't as good as he would have liked, but very, very good considering he..ummm...started 38th! The SpeedSport team was very happy with the result considering what happened. Roger qualified sixth, but a technical infraction (splitter too low) meant his time was thrown out. During the race Foo had the measure of most everyone in Turn One outbraking them into the cornerand made the most of it. Shameless plug follows: He owes this to one of the brake pad manufacturers mentioned here on the board - Andie Lin of Cobalt Friction. I met Andie for the first time this weekend and all the good things people say about the guy here on the board are true. Super nice and knows his stuff.

Honda/Acura content: That Pierre guy was in the top ten too. Good for RealTime as they had a pretty difficult weekend - Integra crashed twice pretty hard and P.D. decided not to fix it a second time so McKee didn't race. Kleinubing crashed and Mazotta blew an engine in qualifying. Their ability to get ill cars back on the track continue to impress.

 

Awesome to hear about Foo! VR pads rock, yeap, its the same he uses on his car thats on mine... He's a hella nice guy, wish SPEED WC was coming to VIR this year again..

 

WC is more competitive each year. Good going Roger. His excellent racecraft skills help him moved up so many positions.

 

I was watching Foo in T1 from the pit lane... talk about going deep! Totally awesome driving!

Alex
King RAT.

 

What a drive that Foo put on. That was impressive. He got half of his passes in T1 done because the guys being passed were caught totally by surprise, while the other half were done even though the guys being passed were defending. I think I know now his favorite turn at road atlanta.

It's too bad that Baxter had bad luck yet again... Hopefully he'll have some good days ahead too.

 

Anyone know when it will be televised offhand?

 

dang it....i missed it and king motorsports invited dave down.....shoot shoot shoot....kicking myself now for not going!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The past Speed World Challenge weekend was personally well worth the trip up and down from South Florida. Roger had a very good weekend, all things considered, and I look for Robert's streak of bad luck to come to an end in the near future.

Roger is actually using the Cobalt IT-R.spec(B) in the front, and the IT-R.spec(C) in the rear. Based on test session data, we swap between spec(VR) and spec(B) in the front, and spec(C) or Hawk Blue 9012 in the rear. The 1/2 hour test session yielded consistent hot-pit temperatures of ~600F front and ~550 rear which, even when allowing for time-lapse thermal loss, are well within the operating temperature ranges of the respective compounds.

While Cobalt is pleased to be a (small) part of Roger's racing success, I am of the opinion that the equipment is really just along for the ride. Put another way, Roger has chosen Cobalt as his brake friction supplier so that he doesn't have to think twice about the brakes, and can simply "just use them". While braking performance is one of the most important aspects of a race car's performance, it is also one that a driver doesn't want to second guess or think about at all. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to work closely with a driver of Roger's caliber, and while it certainly legitimizes the quality and performance of Cobalt race compounds in both the grassroots and professional motorsports arena, it also provides valuable test and application data which we use to improve our products and knowledge base.

-Andie


Modified by cobalt at 9:35 AM 7/1/2003

 

Andie,
Very nice post. I have only had a chance to speak very briefly with Rog about this past race weekend since he is still back East. He has nothing but good things to say about you, your company & your products. Keep up the good work!

 

that's all the temp you got? i collected some good data yesterday (private test day at buttonwillow). i have some interesting pix to show u andy. it was a hot 110F day. in the pits, rotor read 750F! and i'm still testing the GS Sport pads. they were great. never faded. no ducting in my civic (i guess i really should add some). rotors are scorned/grooved kind of badly, pads chucked off slightly. but considering their compound (autox) and the environment i put them in, i'm mightyly impressed.

ps, has anybody ever told you the pad naming scheme is hard to remember? i vote to simply it.

 

Keep in mind that brake pad/rotor interface temperatures are greatly affected by the cooling efficiency of the entire brake system. Roger is using a 4-piston Stoptech ST-40 caliper, with a floating, ventilated hat 2-piece rotor, which we have found to cool much more efficiently than standard floating hat rotors. In some cases, the Stoptech setup will reduce MOT by as much as 150-200F, while also increasing the cooling rate. When you compare this to an OE-equipment brake hardware setup, the differences in temperature can be staggering.

Test session temperature data is used to ensure that under race conditions, we are staying within the operating temperature range of the compounds we select, and also to diagnose any biasing issues which may exist. At Lime Rock Park, I noticed a differential in front to rear temperatures which was outside my comfort zone, given the conditions and vehicle setup; the rear temperatures were too cool, relative to our readings in the front. After consulting with Roger and Robert, both drivers attested to a forward bias in braking, so I had them dial in more rear bias, yielding a perfectly balanced brake setup. Driver feedback, in conjunction with the temperature data, both played an equally important part in arriving at the proper setting for the bias adjuster.

Regarding compound naming conventions...yes, I've had that comment in the past, and I'm looking to simplify things. For now, you can just refer to the compounds as spec(B), spec(c), spec(VR), etc...as the use of IT-R.spec or GT-R.spec is seemingly redundant, given that the spec(xyz) portion of the compound name does not cross between the different compound series.

HTH... -Andie

 

Bimmerworld finished 10 and 20

(our club crews for them and some even work at their place)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JMU1337 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Bimmerworld finished 10 and 20
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Off topic, but do you know if anything happened to James Clay (bimmerworld) in the race? He qualified 4th.

 

Alex, you come out to the track, hang with the SpeedSport gang and don't know where to find World Challenge info?

Results and other news can be found here:
http://www.world-challenge.com/

James Clay finished 10th which is his best to date. Good to see another club racer step up to pro racing and do well.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hracer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Off topic, but do you know if anything happened to James Clay (bimmerworld) in the race? He qualified 4th.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Will find out tomorrow and let you know.

 

I was just asking about Clay because he had a lot of speed in qualifying and a 10th in the race was a little surprising. Stretch on the other hand could have had a better weekend!

Oh, I still use the old http://www.speedvisionwc.com site. Nice article btw!

 

i would say even dropping the "spec" part. and simply call them for what they are... i'd think you want to make Cobalt Friction the known lable. the compound name should be used to just simply/easily identify what they are. just my 2 cents.

 

andie =

Keep up the good work. I'm an engineering grad and i still cant figure out the labeling scheme I just call and say send me what i should put on the kar

 

Clay apparently just took it easy and tried to have the fastest race possible without risking a punt.

Apparently those "top-dogs" don't like new faces in front of them

 

Thank you guys for your continued support! I feel we are all very fortunate to have Andie Lin to help us with our braking concerns. I had no idea there was such a science in choosing the proper friction material until now.

As a driver, I would always just say, as long as it stops what more can I ask for? Well let me tell you the value of having Andie inspect the brakes and recommend the next step of adjustment after each session. I thought, oh sure the brakes were fine earlier in the season, they stopped me.

Well, after completing the race weekend at Atlanta I know we made the right move to Cobalt Friction material. There is obviously a difference in friction materials from various manufacturers. There is also a difference in the amount of knowledge and support the people behind the scenes can offer.

Andie and Cobalt not only offered us a recommendation of friction material, but, also a bit of help with dialing in the proper amount of front to rear bias to optimize thermal efficiency.
It is this help and service that Andie provides that allowed me to gain the confidence in braking so deep into the corners and make up the ground I so badly needed.

I feel the optimum combination has been achieved this past weekend. Our team SpeedSport with Advanced Clutch Technology, BBS Wheels, Cobalt Friction material, H&R Special Springs, Mazda, Moton Dampers and StopTech Brakes has exceeded my personal expectation. When we get to Infinion/Sears Point we will be the team to beat! I hope! Maybe! Ahh, I'll settle for a podium finish! Just kidding, I plan on winning at Infinion!

Remember, the Road Atlanta race will be televised on July 19th so set your vcr's. I hope it's as exciting for you as it was for me in the drivers seat. Ohh! I forgot to mention. The car came back in one piece without a bump or a scratch on it due to the heads up racing by all the World Challenge Competitors.

 

hi Rog, you've really done great this year. I hope you will be up on the podium, if not outright win the races back here at home. SP and LS!! give me a buzz when you're back in town. we gotta hang a lil bit. i also have other good news to share with you that you will LOVE to hear about.

 

Congrats to Roger on the great drive. As usual, Andy is such a great help..


John: who has a Cobalt Friction sticka on his car..

 

Let me add my congratulations to the mix. I can't wait to see the race on TV and always like rooting for you when watching.

BTW I emailed you (Roger) last Thursday (7/3) about crewing at Road America and haven't heard back from you yet.