USA_Z

Hi All,

I'm finally going to be getting some on track experience this coming April. I'm taking a High Performance Driving School at the Autobahn Country Club here in IL. This is a weekend long school.

I have a question concerning brake setup for this weekend. I was planning on putting SS brake lines on and flushing the fluid with Motul RBF600. The pads are where I have the biggest questions. It seems from everything that I've read that Hawk HPS aren't the best for track use. I've also read that they should suffice for a "beginner."

What do you all think? Will I be ok with these pads for the weekend (bringing 2 sets of fronts) or am I asking for trouble?

How about Hawk Ceramics? Are these a complete no-no or are they equivalent to the HPS pads for beginner use?

Thanks,

Short-Throw

Who is putting on this event, the club or an outside organization. I'm a member at Autobahn and can help you prepare if you give me a little more info. You may not need too much at all aside from changing your brake fluid.

Mike

Corvee

Do not use ceramic pads on the track. Hawk HP Plus is a better choice for your application. Flush brake fluid with DOT 4 or the Motul if you have it. I would not change the lines unless they have to be replaced. OEM lines are fine.

Enjoy your first time out.

USA_Z

This is being put on by the Windy City BMW club. It's run over the weekend both Saturday and Sunday. Classroom as well as track time with a personal instructor for the entire weekend. Roughly 6 sessions on track total. I'll be in the novice group in my '03 Z06. I believe this is being run on the south track only.

Thanks,
Joe

BEZ06

Here's an excerpt from the Nat'l Corvette Museum pre-event inspection checklist for preparing your car prior to an NCM event:

So....a good DOT 4 fluid is an excellent idea (I use Motul RBF 600 and it's great stuff!!).

Ceramic pads are not a good idea for the track.

Hawk HPS are marketed by Hawk as a "high performance street" compound. I've used them at track events with street tires with no problems. I think especially at your first event you'll be okay with them.

Hawk HP Plus is a better pad for street tires at the track, but they are designed for AutoX and HPDE's and are not as good for driving on the street.

So, if you are going to run the same pads on the street and for your first track event, I think the HPS should do a good job for you.

I personally would not bother with SS hoses. The stock hoses are very good - you'll be able to learn brake modulation, and you can stomp on the brakes as hard as you can and wont' have any problems with them at all. At Spring Mountain they use stock cars and students do max brake application exercises and brake modulation exercises everyday on those cars, and to my knowledge they never have any problems with the brake hoses. They tell you to stomp on the brakes as hard as you can, and "if you break the car you can have it!!". Needless to say the students do plenty of hard braking in those exercises.

If you start doing a lot of track events per year, or turn the car into a track only car and doing some club racing, then you can think about SS hoses, but they are absolutely unnecessary for your first event.

Just MHO, YMMV!

Bob

USA_Z

I have ceramic pads for the street so buying track only pads is not a problem. Sounds like the Hawk HP Plus might be a better option for this weekend. I'll probably drive the car back and forth to this event with these pads in but that will be the only "street" use they'll see.

Short-Throw

Joe,

I sent you a PM.

Bad Karma

Do you have any details on this? Sounds like something I might be interested in as well. I want to get out on the track this year.

USA_Z

The event is being held on April 28th and 29th and you do not have to be a member. I'm not. You can get more details on their website, windycitybmw