Last weekend I took my V8V to the race track. It’s a small track in France, around 3km long and with 12 corners quite demanding for brakes and tires. Knowing that the Aston is not the perfect track tool I still expected it to be more durable on the rack (it’s still a sports car isn't it?). After a couple of labs the brakes start fading as they got hotter and hotter. In fact they got so hot, that the wear indication cables cooked (burned through). Also my fairly new brake pads (> 2.000km) are almost done yet.

Long story short, it seems tracking the AM Vantage is quite material consuming and expensive. My dealer suggested replacing the brake pads after every track day (at least after every other track day) and the brake rotors will only last 2 sets of brake pads. Also I guess constant gear changes under full throttle (I have the sport shift gear box) is quite challenging for the clutch.

What is your experience? How often do you have to change brake pads, rotors and clutch when lapping the V8V on the track?

Thanks, J

 

I have the s and did almost 400 miles on Daytona a few weeks ago. Brakes are better in the S and held up great. Dealer said I should get two more track days out of the pads. I have sport shift 2 on mine and it was brilliant. Tires will have one more track day in them and are quite noisy now. Overall only expense was an oil change. They must have done the S to be more track happy

 

This topic has been covered before, and quite recently, too. Try these links:

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...-brakes-3.html
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...-question.html

My take, based on my experience: If you plan to track your V8V hard, the OEM brakes are the weak point and will quickly and expensively be ruined. There is NO viable option other than improved front brake cooling with proper airflow. Rotor change, pad change, fluid change, big brake kit - all a waste of time and money without proper cooling if you want to run repeated, hard laps on a proper, high speed circuit. If you want to run two or three fun laps, then maybe Pagid Yellows and fluid would suffice.

Unfortunately, there is no viable cooling duct kit I am aware of for 4.7 L cars; I cannot comment on 4.3 L. From what I can tell, your choices are: replace front bumper with V12V unit or better, with AM race car unit (such as N24 or GT4).

 

Anyone know if the V12V indeed provides significantly better cooling? I realize that the rotors are CCMs but Clarkson managed to (temporarily) cook the brakes on the Aventador on the track.

 

I will be able to report on that this summer ;-)

I'm wary of CCM brakes on track. To a point, I'm sure they're great, but hardcore track junkies in the Porsche community have been against them for years, preferring iron brakes for durability and obvious cost reasons.

 

Since the S has the same front end as the V12V would it be safer to say it would do better on the track? Also, isn't the MY12 V8V getting the same front end?

 

As you've said, that is a short circuit with a lot of corners, so very heavy on brakes and tyres.

But still, two laps and you'd cooked the brakes? that seems very unusual, and doesn't seem to be what you'd expect.

 

Not at all unusual IME. On OEM setup I had similarly short-lived fun. An upgrade to 2 piece front floating discs, Pagid Yellows and high-temp fluid extended my fun to max. stints of around 10-15 mins. before bad fade set in. Better than 2 laps, although my wheels got so hot I was seriously concerned that if I continued something bad would happen, such as cooked wheel bearings. So IMO the upgrades were hardly good value for money.

Valid points. My comments re: V12V were conjecture, though, and I would think the GT4 front end would be a better gamble as it presumably works for the race cars just fine! Maybe someone on this forum has tracked their V12V/V8VS hard and wishes to chime in?

 

No one have experience with the replacement front under-hood panel and duct work from RSC? It's designed to address this issue.

 

It doesn't address cooling effectively on the 4.7 L cars. Can't comment on the 4.3 L cars, for which I believe it was initially designed.

 

E problem is not your pads, it's not your rotors, you CERTAINLY do not need to replace your brake pads after every track event (complete BS).

... IT'S YOUR BRAKE FLUID. Upgrade to castrol SRF and you won't experience brake fade at all. I bet your fluid is probably a few years old (basically junk). Trust me, get a brake flush with SRF and you will not regret it.

Fluid is the #1 most important component in your braking system and it is almost always completely overlooked. It is the weakest link by far

 

Try flushing your brake fluid out and replace it with higher temperature brake fluids like the Motul RBF 600. Chuck the OEM pads out or swap them out for some Pagid Blue or Yellow pads or Ferrodo track pads. You will notice significant difference in stopping power, pad life, rotor life and brake fade. Have fun.

 

Thanks guys. I will visit a track 3 to 4 times a year, not more. Thus I am not sure if its worth the effort to install new rotors or a brake cooling system.
Don't get me wrong, the car was great, very stable and easy to drive, I just expected it to be more durable on the track. It was developed on the Nurburgring...

I am just wondering how a M3 or M5 or RS4 or whatever "normal" road car, deal with driven on track days?

 

Hi Jarod. Shoot me an email - Stuart@RSCTuning.com

Would like to discuss with you.

 

I think that is the critical difference, it was developed on a long circuit with high speeds and lengthy sections where the brakes aren't used and can cool down.

It sounds like the track you used was short, with plenty of corners and relatively low speeds, so you weren't getting the airflow over the brakes, and weren't getting long sections where the brakes could cool down.

Rather than change brakes and other components, you'd probably find everything would work well if you changed circuit.