godzilladude

This is probably a dumb question, but just wanted to make sure. I'm going to be at the 9/11 event at Texas Motor Speedway, running the Roval with the Experienced drivers. I haven't driven the roval before. Do I want to load in the racing brake pads for this? It looks like there is a lot of straight runs with lots of cooling going on here.

Experienced knowledge appreciated

BEZ06

All you're doing when you put on the brakes is turning kinetic energy into heat energy as you decelerate. The KE increases by the square of the speed increase, so there is a HUGE difference between stepping on the brakes at 140 mph or 170+ mph!!!

I haven't driven on TMS, but I imagine it's similar to Daytona. Many of the tracks I've driven have a straight where you can get to 135 to 150, but at Daytona you can easily get 170+, and I guess that's what you'll be hitting at TMS.

Like you say, the roval has areas where the brakes can cool off, but those long straights or high-banked sections also allow you to get to higher speeds, and your brakes will really be heating up when you brake from 170 to 60 for the turn into the infield.

There may not be as many turns in the infield where you'll be braking hard, but when you brake at high speed you'll be putting really big heat energy into your brakes.

If you exceed the operating temp of your brakes, they just go away - and nothing worse than brake fade when you're approaching a corner at high speed!!! At least when you come off the high speed straights for a turn into a chicane or into the infield, there's usually lots of run-off area, i.e. you can usually blow through some cones that define the turn off the oval and just continue down the straight until you can get it stopped.

So.....I say you need a high-temp racing brake pad on the roval even more than many other tracks.

Have fun!!!!

BTW: I just read your thread about top speed in a convertible at Bonneville - very cool!!!

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-t...nvertible.html

Your signature has your mods, and it looks like you've done some suspension stuff, but your LS3 is stock. It also says "Next up: Roll bar".

Did you get a roll bar or cage installed yet??? I assume you needed one for a vert out at the Salt Flats, and I'm sure you'll need one for running track days in a vert at TMS.

If you've got a stock LS3, you probably won't be getting more than 155 on the roval, especially in a vert which has more drag than a coupe.

I still think a high-temp racing brake pad would be a good idea. If you have Z51 pads you'll be okay, but if they're OE pads for a base C6 be ready for some brake fade when braking from high speed.

Bob

godzilladude

That's what I was thinking as well. Thanks!

BEZ06

Hmmmmm.......

I just read some additional posts in your "Top Speed in a Vert" thread.

When I read your initial post I certainly thought you were running during the sanctioned event that, of course, would have had crash-rescue personnel and equipment to get you out of a mangled car or a car on fire. And you also would have had the car teched (which I'm sure would have required a roll bar or cage) and you'd need an approved helmet.

However.....looking at your picture in that other thread, I can't see through your tinted window, so I can't tell if there's a roll bar in there. I guess you changed out of your driving gear for the picture.

And.....to read that you ran after the event was over, and just drove out there on the open Salt Flats and opened her up to 185 I find kind of curious.

I take a helluva risk when I drive about that fast on a race track, but I wear a helmet and HANS type device, and the track has guys that can extract me from a ball of mangled steel, aluminum, and plastic.

I do applaud you for getting ready to run at TWS (after googling TMS I see they don't seem to do much HPDE or open track day events there, but TWS does have a driving school on Sept 11th), but their website says you'll need the car to pass a tech inspection and a vert must have a roll bar.

Have fun at TMS/TWS - the track or a sanctioned speed event is the place to do fast driving!!!

Bob

godzilladude

I take it your comfort level for risk is different from mine. And indeed, your risky choices, taking your car out on a track, with other cars with amateur drivers, turning corners at the limits of adhesion, with fire and rescue vehicles around, a LOT of other folks in this world would consider that pretty risky behavior. Risking damage to a very expensive car, and to yourself, for what?

Every kind of driving we do carries risk. If we want to be safe, we stay home and don't get out on the streets with the drunks, teenagers and other assorted poor drivers.

But that's why we discuss our car experiences here, we all like our cars, a few of us like to drive them hard and/or fast, and hopefully because we are all respectful of other people's choices.

saibel

I will also be at this event and had a question about upgrading brake fluid. I was thinking about changing the brake fluid to DOT4. I have an 09 stock z51 and this will be my first HPDE.....novice .

I have run the oval at TMS with the LSCC and the road course, but not the roval.

BEZ06

I've just finished watching some youtube videos of P-cars running the roval at TMS. It looks like you guys will have a lot of fun!!!

You'd probably be okay with the stock fluid, but upgrading to DOT 4 would be a good idea.

David Farmer runs his C6 Z06 as hard as anybody, and he runs Valvoline Synpower fluid - I don't know what the boiling point specs are, but it's cheap and works for him, so it should work great for any of us that just do HPDEs.

As far as a DOT 4: Motul RBF 600, ATE Super Blue or Gold, APRacing 600, Castrol SRF.

I run Motul, but the ATE is a very good choice. The Castrol is VERY expensive, but VERY good!

I had thought TMS might be somewhat similar to Daytona, but I guess it's not one of the "SuperSpeedways". After watching the video I can see that you won't be doing any 175, rather more like a max of 130 or so down the front "straight" of the quad-oval, and a little in excess of 100 around the banked sections. But, it does look like you'll be having a lot of fun!!!

We're expecting some reports with pictures after the event!!!

Bob

txst

I ran the roval at TMS last year - it was a blast. Don't even think about going with just run-of-the-mill DOT4 fluid - use Motul 600 or ATE.

Make sure your brakes have plenty of pad on them

The transition from the well lit oval to the infield is tough on the eyes - especially with the headlights of my C5.

Keep an eye on your oil temps - it was really hot when I ran there and oil temps can exceed 300F easily if you don't have an aftermarket oil cooler.

Have fun and be safe!

MikeFleischer

Hi

I have run at TMS on the Roval a couple of times, instructed for Maverick region and the NSX club there also. It is a tough track for brakes. I ran my 01 Z06 there and my Ferrari 348.

My Ferrari went through a set of pads in 3 sessions, brand new RS4's, rears wore out first surprisingly.

My Z06 went through its pads in 2 days, (3 day event) but it cracked 3 of 4 rotors by the middle of the 1st day and forced me to go to some gentler pads and easier braking for the rest of the weekend.

A buddy of mine (runs a Red Viper GTS) melted all the grease out of his front suspension connections and front wheel bearings. When he got to TMS for the 2nd time he had heat/asbestos wrap all over the ball joints in the front suspension.

Bring a spare set of Rotors. All 4, front and rear. Bring a spare set of pads also. As for pad choice, you want something that is more an enduro pad than a super fast stop. PFC99's vs 01's... I ran EBC's most aggressive pad on the Vette there and I think Porterfield's RS4's but that was many years ago, today I'd go with PFC 99's, all 4 corners. Inspect the rotors after each run and the cool down lap is very very very important at TMS, the braking zones are very hard, and in the Vette you hit them very frequently with little time to cool things off. Proper brake ducting is a must! I did not have that on my Z06 and it is likely why I cracked those rotors so quickly.

Other fun stuff at TMS: Got my first trans warning, trans overtemp, and diff overtemp messages. oil temps also ran very high in both cars, I think 275 in the Vette? Hard to remember but very high. Plan to change the oil after the event, and if you have no dry sump, it may not be a terrible idea to make sure the oil is topped off as you get pretty decent G loading running around the banking at 150+ mph

BR,
Mike