I have been thinking a lot about how to improve the brakes on the Type R for roadracing. There is obviously an issue with heat that a lot of us are struggling with. The brakes are the only thing that I have had problems with as a result of roadracing, and I guess I am just getting frustrated.

So, my thought was to go with a Brembo kit or something of the like that would in turn require me to run nothing but a 17" rim for both the street and the road. If I am not mistaken, I think the Realtime R's run 17's now. What are your guys' thoughts???

 

I'd like to know more about the Brembo setup Realtime are using.. Is is custom kit?

What sort of cost would it be?

 

I am making an 11.75" 4 piston setup for the ITR if you are interested. It will be enough brake for anyone other than a professional driver. These are designed to fit the stock 15" rims.

Price will be $800 and will include:

4 piston calipers
11.75" 2 piece rotors
all hardware
brake line adapters to fit the stock lines

Options include slotted/drilled rotors for $100, Billet calipers for $150.

I'm taking orders now for production. We need 5 total to get the parts made, I have 2 right now.

 

the Spoon pistons allow the use of 15" wheels..and the Mugen Active Gate Breaking System lets u use 16"

those might possibly be cheaper aswell

 

Take off the dust shields, run some ducts, and use good pads and fluid. You should be fine. The R has nice brakes. I envy you guys ...

 

You do understand you should not be "full into abs" when driving on a road course. There is a point jus before it kicks on which is much more effective

Mattj

 

I have considered running ducts, but I haven't seen any that have been effective yet. D's set-up may work out nicely, but I don't really want to cut holes in my front bumper. I have seen Andrew's set-up, and if I remember correctly, he has not noticed an improvement. I do run the R4E's and Hawk Blues. Basically, I am trying to avoid going through two sets of pads and a set of rotors in one weekend. I also find, that due to the very rapid wear of the pads, the feel of the brake pedal is not very consistent, which in turn makes me brake a little more conservative.

 

Holes in front bumper

actually, i really need to get back out on the track and give some feedback. need money, rotors, pads..

D

 

If you are still running the dust shields, pull them off ASAP. Those things hold in a ton of heat.

Brake fade, brake pedal getting soft, tires getting greasy, etc are part of driving on track. I don't think any setup will be free of it.

As for ABS. I say use it. Though I have never had it kick in on V700s and good track surface.

 

Road & Track did an interesting comparo with ABS, driver's best guess, and full lockup braking on a number of surfaces, and ABS brought the car to a complete halt better on most of the surfaces (except for like sand and a skating rink, but it was close in those cases). However i wonder if it's the way to go when you're not coming to a full stop....i'd consider it more of a safety net to prevent lockup on a road course, rather than the only means of doing so...i saw ABS maybe once or twice at Nelson Ledges, but mostly i was braking hard with a little bit to go, which came in handy when someone almost went off right in front of me and i got on them a little more. I know someone recently had ABS go haywire on them after heavy use at the track. Good question, keep experiences/opinions coming!

 

Realtime R's ran ABS until their weight penelties were adding up and the only thing left to reduce weight was the ABS system removal. So out it went. So it must be very effective.
And don't think you need one of those 13" kits either. Realtime's Brembos are just a little bigger than stock.



[Modified by ITR1227, 1:02 PM 9/20/2001]

 

ABS keeps the wheels at the sweet spot just before lock-up much more efficiently than any driver could, professional or otherwise. Yes, that point just before lock-up is when you are slowing the fastest, and the ABS system will keep you there more often due to the faster brake modulation times of the ABS sensors than any driver can by gauging this himself. Believe me, the sensor reacts faster to impending lockup than any driver. If you want to brake late, rely on your ABS. If you want to chance it and hope you don't over-shoot your late-braking mark, disable the ABS.

 

I think that the stock brakes with upgraded fluid, pads and ducting are all you need. I can already exceed the braking grip of R compound tires with the stock brakes. I wonder if switching to larger brakes will cause premature locking of the brakes under hard braking conditions. Granted there are heat dissipation and unsprung weight advantages to larger billet aluminum brakes over the stockers - but at the cost of added expense for pads, calipers and rotors.

Braking performance has a lot to do with heat dissipation. The stock setup has a lot to be desired in this department - that can be easily remedied with added cooling like brake ducting. If Mike Galati could win a championship with stock calipers and rotors - then I think that the stock setup is more than adequate for most purposes other than the bling bling factor.