Just Keep It Together... (8/9/15) - 6 hours - Portland International Raceway:
On our second day of the weekend, we are on old tires trying to use up our 15 inch to get ready to switch to something bigger. The sun is shining as Dave takes the first stint in the car. He starts in 15th place, and battles his way all the way up to 3rd!
Nathan is in the car next, battling with an SC300 and MK3 Supra turbo. Both cars have more horsepower than us, but our cars light weight helps in the corners. Nathan pits with us in 2nd place behind the SC300!
I get in the car last. I put in a solid session and we finish up the race in 3rd. I didn't quite hang onto the 2nd place, but we got our trophy!
Highlight video:
After the race, it was time to figure out what we were doing with our brakes. I want to go overkill, as we really need some serious life. We have been overheating the brakes due to such little mass in the rotors. The front calipers would start leaking about every other race, and the pads needed swapped around every 7 hours. We had originally resisted upgrading brakes, as light weight was one of our few advantages and bigger brakes meant bigger heavier wheels/tires.
We pick up some adapters that will allow us to bolt Wilwood calipers and use 350Z Track rotors.
The four-piston Wilwoods calipers are significantly bigger than the stock single pistons. I ordered the smallest caliper Wilwoods, which is almost a perfect match hydraulically to the single piston so the rear brakes could be left alone.
Rotors go from 9.8" (10 lbs) to 12.8" (21 lbs).
We first try fitting them behind some factory 16" wheels, trying to not add any more wheel weight than we have to.. but they just don't quite clear.
While the 16" just didn't quite fit, some 17x9 fit great:
In addition to more weight, the pads are significantly thicker:
Here's an example of how tiny the stock rotors looked in there.
The difference in tire is pretty significant as well:
The 17x9s with 225s definitely change the look of the car:
I tape up the brake ducts to try keep some heat in them, and head out to bed in the brakes. We are running Raybestos ST43 pads, and wow do they squeel! But.. it's a race car and if they are going to last, I can live with that. The brakes were already plenty enough to lock the tires, and the new brakes feel just as strong. The pedal is definitely softer with the extra fluid going from single piston to four piston. Now these should last, next up it's time to see what they can do!