An interesting article from Grassroots Motorsports: Pros vs. Schmoes.
Monthly Archive for December, 2008
While I enjoy Top Gear, I’m starting to tire of the hideous driving of the presenters. Clarkson seems to think that driving sideways with the tires smoking is the proper way to test a car. Yeah, if you’re into that motorsports equivalent of ice dancing known as “drifting.” There’s an antidote to that — another Brit car show, called Fifth Gear. While Top Gear may have the Stig, Fifth Gear has Jason Plato, and other pro racers.
More, over at Axis of Oversteer.
Now, if there was only a television channel in the US devoted to motorsports …
I didn’t even know the race car had a heater core. The heater never worked, so I just assumed. While TC Design was putting in a bar to connect the two A-pillar hoops, they found the core still in there and pulled it for me. Turns out the LTW had a special core — smaller and lighter than the regular M3. I don’t know if this was true of all light weights, or is a feature of “early” light weights. I’ll post a picture at some point.
In any case, anyone want to buy a motorsport special lightweight heater core? Your car will be faster.
Eyers Hitch Center was recommended to me as a place to get trailer maintenance done.
I found a thread from last year in which the principals from UUC and Bimmerworld debate their respective brake offerings.
Bimmerworld: While your kits are quite economical, the BMW M rotors in your kit aren’t real racing parts. Besides “M” is for “marketing” not “motorsports”.
UUC: Your StopTech kits are Brembo-wannabe, over-priced Taiwanese junk.
Both: Performance Friction are the gods of braking. All hail Performance Friction.
Update: More on the PFC kit, including photographic brake pr0n downthread.
Still looking at big brake kits (BBKs). There are a couple of criteria that help narrow down the options: 1) I’d like to stick with stock brakes at the back (caliper & rotor). I just think it’s a waste of money and creates unnecessary complexities to swap them out. And 2) I don’t want BBKs that use the crossdrilled E46 M3 CSL floating rotors.
Rotora calipers aren’t well supported, as far as I can tell, by an array of pad options. Some if the other kits are. That might be okay if Rotora made race pads for the stock rear brakes. They don’t. They have three ceramic compounds. The street version is available for the rear. It has temperature and friction characteristics that are very different from their full race pads. And if that turns out to be a problem, then one would have to try third party pads that match what Rotora supplies for the front. This ain’t a science experiment. I just want to fix the brakes and drive.
As mentioned in an earlier post on the topic, the UUC kits both use the E46 M3 CSL crossdrilled rotors. Maybe they’re cast that way, and won’t stress fracture. Maybe the Motorsports parts are teh shite. Whatever. No holes for me. I’m not even sure I want slots. But definitely no holes.
So that narrows the options down to Brembo (Bimmerworld), Stoptech (Bimmerworld or Turner Motorsport) or Performance Friction (Turner Motorsport). All of these parts have a selection of third party pads. And those third party pads are generally available for the stock rear brakes.
I’m not sure what to get at this point. Inquiries have been sent to both distributors. (The PF parts sure are purty.) I still might give Rotora a shot if the vendor can recommend a race proven front/rear pad solution. They really are a bargain.
Developing …
Steve was one of the instructors at the club racing school at Thunderhill last August. I didn’t know him well, but I’m glad I met him.