This is NOT a vantage issue, as i mentioned before. It certainly was a brake pad or driving style issue. The cars capabilities are far below the brakes it comes with.
keep in mind, the Vantage's front calipers are as large as the largest caliper made by StopTech. (a well known racing brake manufacturer). they compare themselves to Brembo, with near the same design style. the ONLY real difference of our brakes vs a racing brake, is the two piece rotor, which for our uses, actually works against us. why, because a 2 piece hat insulates the heat dissipation from the hub. this is great for a race car, with cooling ducts, but not so good for a track street car, because the heat dissipation capabilities due to the increased mass, is greatly reduced. sure, you have higher weight, but that weight helps with brake cooling due to the hub area heat sinking.
So, feel confident that the AMV8 has racing brakes... but you just need to put in the proper pads if you are going to use the car at the track at greater than a Pro driver's, 7/10ths.

 

The Vantage is a great track car with a little prep - specifically tires, brake pads, and springs (my suggestion, as these are livable daily and make the car much better above 8/10ths). It isn't ideal unless you want to strip some pounds, but excellent for tossing around once in a while.

 

exactly! many top performance cars, are sprung too soft stock to be any fun at the track, especially the ones with a lot of HP. However, most of the newest performance cars, have pushed the level of prep, so that they are pretty good for a track day, regardless of the tires used. The vantage, is agressivly sprung, and has a decent amount of power. a 3500lb car with 400+ hp can be a pretty fun car at the track. Gut it and push the HP to near 500 like the GT4, and you have a car that can keep up with any of the top sports car marques in a racing environment.

 

No, no, no.


If you want an exotic you can track, get an Lp550/560/570 Gallardo 09+, or a mclaren.

Everything else is just for show pretty much by comparison.

 

When I look at a car to track, I am more thinking along the lines of a more dedicated race car. Sure you can take the Vantage out to the track to have fun in but it's not a dedicated race car out of the box. Flaws in my eyes would be this: you'd have to do quite a bit of suspension tuning, running costs may be very high, (I wouldn't gut out an Aston nor put a roll cage in it), and you just don't see many Astons on track to race against, so where would be the competition? (I'm not talking Pro series)

In my eyes, the top track race cars that are street production would be Porsche, Lotus, BMW's, and even Miatas and S2K's. There are many avenues such as SCCA, NASA, PCA, LotusCup etc. to race against like competition.

Again if it's just for a few HPDE track days, then sure have fun in the Aston. But just be careful as running cost or damage may be heavy on the wallet. Anything can happen.

 

I'd say go for it!!

I have tracked may times and love it. Wear and tear is totally dependent on how hard you push it on the track. To keep wear low, I normally do 1 fast lap then a slow one to let the parts cool. The brakes were out much faster when over heated.

 

Take it to the track. Find a good Drivers Ed Track Day and have fun. You don't have to have a dedicated track car, and if you decide to do three or four weekends a year get a set of take-off wheels and run some sticky rubber. I hardly think since a Vantage weighs 370 pounds more then a P-car I would NEVER take it to a track.

Find a track day with an organization that is not full of pompous egomaniacs and have a good time - not always easy, but they are out there.

Since you are in Florida, try the guys at Chin Motorsports, I have run with them several times. If you end up doing Barber or Road Atlanta let me know, I'll meet you there.

 

Yes, I agree, just the fact that you cant put a cage in it (without a huge amount of effort, knocks it off the list for a race car candidate, but I was talking mainly about fun and performance factor compared to the other marquees. miatas , lotus and S2ks are no where near as fast without a lot of work for track duty, but are still fun track cars. ignoring costs, the aston is a fantastic track day car (DE). porsches and BMW are much more ideal from a cost stand point, and there are lots of mods available for them to kick up their performance...... however, my point about the aston being a race car to begin with, was meant to cover its design, sans the cage. all the things you need to do to a BMW / Porsche to make it a race car, are already done with the aston. stiffer chassis, racing brakes, dry sump engine, more race tuned suspension, wider platform, wide wheels. Ive raced against and with, these platforms to know what it takes to make them fast. what I see in the aston for a DE or track day car is as good as it gets out of the box. But again, maintaining and fixing things that break is going to be much less attractive with the Aston. ..... but that's not the discussion here.

 

the Porsche 997 carrera is 3285 while the vantage is 3413lbs. that's 128 lbs..... hardly a factor for thinking one is really that much better than the other based on weight. the fact that the aston is much WIDER than the carrera , and has wider tires more than makes up for the difference at the near the same hp by the way, but the aston with a broader HP curve which would give it an advantage...... just say'in.

 

No doubt the newer V8V is a much better track option than my older 4100 lb. DB9... but the bottom-line...track days are a blast and allow you to really learn how balanced and beautifully an AM handles...mine has had springs, dampers, brakes, fluid and tires/wheels upgraded for the track... the Laguna pic is bone stock...the other pics are after mods...WHAT A DIFFERENCE!

You can learn more about my mods here...https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...phase-2-a.html

 

Agree with those who say that you can certainly track a Vantage but it isn't the ideal choice. If just starting out and thats the car you have, I would sign up for an HDPE (high performance driving event) and go for it. If after a few events you decide you really like it and want to work your way up through the groups, it might not hurt to start thinking about a different track car. The Vantage will do OK but you will a) run through consumables quickly b) not have a very quick car compared to some other much less costly choices - primarily due to setup (e.g., camber, weight, etc..) c) be risking a high $$ amount since most insurance carriers no longer pay out for track accidents - even if it is an educational non-competitive event.

I instruct with PCA and BMWCCA and had a 997 C2S that I used a street and track car and it was great. Compared to the Vantage it is faster around a track and much kinder on consumables and was worth about 1/3 of what my Vantage is worth. Sadly, I didn't have the garage space to keep a 5th car so I had to sell it and I'm now in a bit of a pickle about what to bring to track events. But in general, I'd say try it out for a season in the Vantage and if you fall in love with it, consider picking up a used $40K 911 or Corvette Z06 or something along those lines and leave the Aston for the street. Just one guy's opinion and I know of at least one fellow PCA instructor who tracks his Vantage hard and loves it - he would feel quite differently than I do and hard to really say that either of us is right or wrong. Either way, have fun! There are few things as fun as driving well and hard on a racetrack, IMO - and that is true whether you are in a $150K Aston or a $6K beat up Miata.

 

XWCGT, guess we're going to have to disagree on this one. I make no claims at being an amateur or professional racer, and I have no doubt that you have a lot more experience at circuit driving than I do. But the OEM V8V brakes are not up to the task at least not at my favourite venue, even with proper pads and high temp fluid. This is the case even with the useless OEM tires, and obviously more so with better rubber. No doubt I have a lot to learn about braking technique along with the rest of my track driving, but sorry, I don't buy it that my braking technique is the reason for the above.

As an extreme example, I used to track on occasion a 4.2TT RS6 modified with front Alcon rotors and calipers and race pads. These brakes could be driven hard for longer than the V8V, and on a much heavier car with a heavier front weight bias. Not a very fun car compared to the V8V on track, but I was more confident in the brakes! And as modified this RS6 was perfectly fine on the street.

Certainly don't agree that the V8V is a good track car 'out of the box'. Like most street cars these days it is too heavy IMO. And although there may be 3500 lb. race cars as you say - well, hardly ideal, I would think. Not that I am talking about race cars, of which I cannot claim to have any substantial experience. For me a great track day car is light, meaning easy on consumables like tires and brakes. Obviously, any streetable car will ultimately be a compromise compared to a stripped out car or something like a Radical, but I have nothing but good things to say about my Exige - I think it does the dual purpose role about as well as it can be done.

Interesting comment from you as well that a Lotus is "nowhere near as fast" without modifications. In my Exige S240 (unmodified save for race pads / fluid) I was slightly faster than in my old V8V with RE11s and race pads.

 

Yes, I do have quite a bit of experience with all sorts of different brake systems. brembo are at the top of the heap, and others like Alcon, Stoptech, wildwood, are all very close to the same. it really comes down to the rotor diameter and the pad composition (and caliper structure stifiness that effects pad wear characteristics and balance)

The brakes don't know that you are driving an RS6 or a AMV8. all they know is that they have a certain amount of mass tied to them, at a certain speed AND how much force they can apply before the tires break free from their traction from the road . Sure, a racing rotor can help with decoupling heat from the hub, and resist warping . (the former is not a help on a street car by the way, and the later, is not much of an issue either) (by the way , I have access with a team mate's RS6 and have changed the brake pads and know the system well ). its a little different being a 8 piston caliper and 4 little pads per side)
a 3400lb car is common for race cars. the audi RS6 I raced against in world challenge was using brembos and weighing over 3400lbs, even more with rewards weight of 275lbs in one Road America race and had no problem winning the race at a time 2:14. (flying by the way) AND ON DOT RA1 toyos. the point is not so much that the brakes on the RS6 are awesome, but because they are the near the same brembos we are using on the AMv8. calipers just clamp the pads on the rotor. its that simple. some are more rigid than others, but if you are on street tires, there is not much braking force you can apply. very analogous to the tires effect on handling . .8 g for lateral gs, and near 1.5 with DOTs. same ratio of degradation for braking.
so, yes, your technique will more than likely determine a lot of brake failures, or inadequacies. I cant tell you of the number of students that have complained of all sorts of things, most being brakes, that are caused ONLY by technique. guys running 4 seconds a lap slower, in lower hp, lighter cars, "cooking" their brakes , and making huge changes to fix the issue. the fact is, its nothing more than technique, or the right pads.
I would be willing to bet, you were not on the same tires with your AMv8 vs the Lotus. also, I bet you were not on the same pads either.


yes, ive raced with the lotus'. they are fun cars. they are little underpowered and are very light. no match for cars that have ONLY the power to overcome that deficit. and a car with the chassis like the AMv8, wide stance, and suspension geometry, it doesn't take as much power as you think


The brakes on the AMV8 are racing brakes. the 4 piston calipers are HUGE, and MUCH larger and bigger than the famed Porsche "big reds" on many race cars today. If you had a braking issue on a car that is not that heavy, really, it was caused by other things besides the brakes.. fluid, air in lines, technique, and pad type and quality.
as I said, ive raced my race car at weights from 3000lbs to 3400lbs with F50 calipers (stock for the P model I race and are very small), but with only 12" rotors. re-mating them to 13" rotors . these are near the smallest 4 piston calpers brembo makes. the AMv8 high quality race brembo calipers and their 14" rotors will never be an issue for braking. If it is, something is really really wrong.

 

I've got brake cooling ducts on mine... Don't have any data to show whether or not they're effective, though.

There's no reason the brakes should be that much of a handicap for the V8V. The OEM pads were selected for their combination of streetability (don't need to be warmed up before they can properly stop the car), noise levels, and performance. Performance, though adequate for a street car, isn't up to spec for the track so the OEM pads should be changed out for more aggressive pads if you are going to track your Vantage.

I'm not sure what the OEM brake fluid is, but I think it's Castrol. According to this, all of Castrol's brake fluids except for one have a relatively low boiling point:

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=424698

Upgrading your brake fluid would probably be worthwhile, too. It needs to be replaced regularly (once every year or two, at least) so you might as well upgrade it. I've used Motul RBF600 in other cars and liked it. I'll be putting that it this year and see how it holds up.

I'm pretty sure the OEM brake lines are braided stainless steel, so those should be fine.

2-piece rotors would also be worthwhile once the OEM ones are worn out... Better heat-dispersion and reduced weight. But the OEM rotors should be fine for the most part.

Just my .02

 

Totally agree that an Exige would out track a Vantage any day of the week. The power to weight ratio of the Exige, (primarily the light weight) will outperform the Vantage. Put a respectable driver in both cars and the Lotus should win.