I'd signed up for a Friday At The Track (BSRs HPDE program, referred to as FATT).

Summit Point Main was getting really beat up over the decades, and they had used concrete patches in a number of areas that made it a very ruff course. Over the last decade I'd been there once, although throughout the late 1980s and into the 1990s I'd gone there a lot... So yesterday was a true surprise when I got there and saw that new pavement... What a true treat.

So I got down to the business of learning the line with an instructor in the advanced group. We whittled away at it, and I was doing pretty decent. Next session I get ANOTHER good instructor and we get another corner entry set much faster and on a "true racers" line.

Third instructor was the charm that KILLED my brakes... Randy was showing me how to drop into the chute at well over 120mph and that, coupled with my front straight gonzo runs (Hitting right at 150mph) cooked my brakes, to the point that the pedal would go to the floor.

I'm pretty much done screwing around with these brakes on this car... A 14inch 6puck kit will be purchased and installed over the winter. Time to move up to something that will consistantly, event to event, stop this little land rocket!

Those that haven't been to summit point, you're missing out! Get out there and check it out!
Mike

 

Until recently I had shared the same opinion of summit point, main. I would much rather take my bike to VIR than to Summit just because of the patches of concrete. However, I figured that the concrete patches would not matter so much in a car.

The first FATT was all it took for the addiction to set in and now that the track has been repaved well, I believe I'll be at more FATT events next year. I did the event with the Ferrari guys, great guys to run with, with the new pavement and it was a huge improvement.

I had the opportunity to drive a friends GT3 and man those brakes feel much better than my stock turbo brakes. I think that might also be an upgrade for this winter too.

The great thing about summit is that it's only an hour away from Fairfax!
Chris

 

Mike, I'll be interested to hear about your new brakes. I've read many times about guys on the track in 996's that boil their brakes. I'm just about to put my car in the shop for lowering and PSS9's and wanted to have them flush the existing brake fluid and put in SRF. Do you think that will also fail? My car has stock brakes.
Can you tell me how the Friday at the Track works? Where do you sign up, how many $$, and how much track time do you get?

 

funny how the stock brakes just go, no warnings\\\ at times the pedal will still feel solid.

 

http://www.bsr-inc.com/ Click on the recreational/Safety button at the bottom right...

http://www.summitpoint-raceway.com/ for more about Summit Point...

Well after going back and reviewing the video, I was running deeper into the corners than I thought, based on where others were braking. I may have just over cooked the brakes. Pedal got soft once, but this course is short and hard on brakes, at only about 2.2 miles, and lapping in about 1.24-1.22 seconds with two very hard braking zones (T1 & T5) I think I just over drove them in a couple corners in the 3rd session.

This particular event I didn't bleed the brakes. Normally I would bleed them with my Motiv, before each and every event weekend. I use RBF600 Motul due to this practice. This time I didn't and the pedal was not as firm and predictable. My Pagid Yellows are also down to that margainal 1/3rd inch of pad left, so that may have lended to it.

I use brake cooling ducts, and the last two events I've had zero issues with my car braking consistantly, so maybe it was just be skipping that step of bleeding the brakes, and then over-driving the car. I'm looking at the GT2 brake kit sold by Suncoast for $2500.

Mike

 

Here's a clip I posted for the guy in the Blue STi. He wanted to "see" his car on track...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDIaZtyEj1E

This was the first time at this track in 4 years, and the 2nd time in a decade... I was getting a check off ride with a decent guy who was trying to get me off the traditional line and onto the race line.

Mike

 

I also noticed the brakes start to feel somewhat sloppy after the pads are past 50% worn. maybe the extra pad material insulates the heat from the rotors to the calipers. ?

 

With all due respect, I think learning to brake more efficiently with aggressive pads is far more important than just getting some bigger brakes. I raced at summit with my stock setup and with just a couple of brake habit changes (like NOT bombing the chute and braking lighter, earlier), I was able to make my pads ability to stop for a couple days rather than just a couple sessions. FWIW, I still hit 152 before braking on the main straight WITH braking early. That said, you can also try to brake later, lighter and INTO the corner (which is much faster...especially in turn 1). OBV, bigger brakes will work but...teach a man how to fish...etc...


The FATT events sound great though...

 

I'm inclined to agree with you, as I've had much better success with my stock brakes on tracks I'm familiar with, than on tracks I'm learning, like Summit Main. I know I was harder on my brakes on this course than I normally am on other tracks, so it well could have been my driving that caused the issues... Still no fun when the brake pedal sinks!

Mike

 

that...thats definitely a "come to jesus" moment...

 

Yea, I heard about the new pavement from a friend of mine who was there a couple weeks ago...can't wait for next season!

BTW, another friend was riding along in his instructor's car when the brake pedal went to the floor...scared teh bejesus out of him to say the least...