Oh great, fake Brembos now....

If you read Axis regularly, chances are you don't need us to tell you a $1500 set of new Brembos is fishy.  What's worrying here is that these Chinese counterfeits are so convincing,  that an unscrupulous  reseller or tuning shop might be tempted to pass it off as the real thing for the real price.

The story was dug up by AppleNews Hong Kong and reported by ZeroToHundred where you can read more about it.

I remember once  a mechanic at the Nürburgring, when I asked if he would kindly put some pads that were more than just a backing plates in my rental car,  say

"Brakes? who needs brakes, they only slow you down".

That was funny at the time, not sure it would be so much when your fake big brake kit fails bombing at 140 into turn 1 at the Glen or at 10 at Road Atlanta.

And lest you think it's just Brembo, mr Chen also trades in AP.  Stop Tech and Performance Friction can't be far behind so, Caveat Emptor and buy from a reputable dealer.

That moment when you realize you have no brakes...

It's the ultimate nightmare, you're fully committed when reach for the middle pedal and find nothing there.

Unless somehow you managed to shear your brake lines, this does not happen just out of the blue, you get clues, a mushy pedal at least to ignore at your own risk.

There is only one way to prevent it:  make sure your brakes are in order, that you have the very best possible fluid and that you have bled the lines properly.

Amazingly, nobody was hurt in this crash at the Rallye Haute Senne but yeah,...putain les freins all right !

Who brakes best in Formula 1, Brembo tells

Tiny holes, about a thousand, on brake disks Brembo produces for Ferrari

Autosprint magazine is such a fantastic resource, it's been around since 1961 and always has precious insights and an alternative points of view.  On our must read list along with Autosport and Racecar Engineering.

I this week's issue there is a fascinating interview with Mauro Piccoli, chief of Brembo's racing department which we'll translate for you.


Autosprint: Brakes these days give so few problems that they can almost be taken for granted, true or false?

Mauro Piccoli: They are so reliable because of the amount of work done in simulation in order to arrive at the track with components that behave as predicted. In recent years, friction materials have changed a lot. We now have types of carbon which reduce wear tremendously, even in extreme conditions (In Singapore disks only wore an average of 1 mm for the whole race). Component design has changed a lot also because it's dictated not just by performance requirements but by aerodynamic requirement.

AS: Can you expand on that?

MP: Work on air flow started with the famous "wheel covers" which were banned. Later, work was done to try and re-create the same effect without them. The other important aspect is how to manage brake temperature as a way to get tires to temperature as fast as possible.

Toro Rosso have tested a new front suspension with the caliper in different position. A vertical position allows a better weight/rigidity ratio while a bottom mount lowers the CG but also increases the vibration on the rotor. (illustration Piola/Autosprint)

AS: How does your interaction with the teams work?

MP: We have s "idea sets" to work on during the season. There is the aspect of weight vs rigidity and there are aspects involving fluid dynamics studies which Brembo can conduct in its facilities. We integrate with the team's techs to make sure all that is built around our disks and calipers allows them to work in the best possible way.

AS: Today we are seeing much work done on cooling vane holes

MP: It's an aspect that has taken hold since last year and is becoming more and more extreme. It requires on the one side a very deep knowledge of composite materials making it quite tricky. On the other, it's dictated by fluid dynamics, it's not enough to just dill holes in the rotors to have efficiency. We have an advanced test bed which allows us to simulate changing airflow as a function of speed, as if we were testing on a real car because for aerodynamic reasons teams want to reduce the size of cooling ducts as much as possible.

Kamui Kobayashi locking up

AS: How different are braking styles in F1 today?

MP: A lot depends on tires. When there were different manufacturers one had to adapt style as a function of that tire's characteristics. Now with a single manufacturer there is effectively only one way to optimize braking. There are however those who are more or less aggressive.

AS: Some examples?

MP: Hamilton has his own style, he needs to "feel" front wheel lockup. On the contrary, Button very much tries for control and modulation. He might reach the same pressure peak but also manages the bakes more in the release phase.

AS: And at Ferrari?

MP: Alonso stomps on the pedal harder and generates more pressure on the system, we are talking of a pedal pressure in the 130-140kg range (+/-285-310lbs). It's similar to figures for Lewis or Jenson but Fernando is less aggressive. He likes to use a large diameter pump with a very short pedal. Pedal travel is in the order of 30-40mm, three and a half times that of the pump. Felipe prefers to manage lower pressures but as far as corner entry, there are no great differences.

AS: Everyone left foot brakes, does that cause you any issues?

MP: In the beginning there were overlaps between brake and accelerator which caused some excess of torque. We worked on various aspects which have minimized any issues.

AS: But then you have KERS which as it charges acts as an additional brake on the rear axle, has it complicated your life?

MP: In 2009, the first year, it did and we had to redesign our systems. However, having access to materials which are consistent and stable in their behavior have allowed for not having to continually fiddle with the bias adjuster. For 2014 when KERS will be twice as powerful...we'll see!

(Via Autosprint, interview by Alberto Antonini)
You can subscribe to Autosprint for your iPad HERE

5.1 G under braking

Think about that for a second as you watch the race today.... repeat 53 times

BBC pre-show feed is up here at the moment




More on BRAKES

Brakes.

Key in Valencia will be brakes. Like in Montreal, but perhaps even more so as there are very fast sections into very slow corners. This is where all the passing will be done.

Practice should be quite interesting!



From "Inside Grand Prix"



In case you were wondering, 100 Bar= 1450 lb/sq in.

Main Page

More about Brembo and BMW: optional BBK soon.

Since some questions have been raised about the veracity of this latest evolution of the Brembo-BMW automotive partnership (Brembo has supplied BMW motorcycles for a while now and BMW Automobiles in the 80's), I went digging around the Brembo corporate site and found the following quote in their third quarter results press release dated 11-12-2007:

Brembo returns to be a supplier of braking systems, in addition to brake discs, for passenger cars to BMW Group.

During the quarter Brembo began supplying the front braking system (6-piston calliper and disc) for a top-of-the-range model of the German car manufacturer and obtained other supplies that will grant, in the mid-term, additional yearly revenues of over €10 million.
Furthermore, Brembo will supply, starting 2008, special braking kits that the final customer may choose as optional.

Brembo announce partnership with BMW!

Finally the number one complaint about BMW from hardcore enthusiasts (after weight that is) is being addressed. Brembo has announced that it will supply BMW with both disks and complete braking systems. Brembo has recently also acquired major manufacturing facilites in the US and Mexico when it bought Hayes Lemmerz's brake division.

If we can presume the 6 piston front caliper on the 135 is in fact a Brembo piece, why the e92 M3 will retain the traditional BMW single piston is a bit of a mystery. However future models will be equipped with calipers capable of sustainable stopping power.

UPDATE: Ben, one of our readers kindly linked a photo (via 1addicts.com)of a 135i caliper where the Brembo logo is clearly visible.

At Watkins Glen this week...

I'm the lone Axis member at the incredible Watkins Glen this week with the Delaware-Valley BMW club chapter, and I learned some stuff after Day 1: 1) cars look cool when it rains, and 2) I learned what can happen when you don't put new brake pads on your E36 M3 track car.

Our friend, who's name we won't reveal but we'll just call him Duffman, found out just how far you can push the brakes on an M3 before hot SuperBlue fluid bursts from behind the piston and onto the ground. His pedal went flat on the Uphill, and when he returned to the garage it made a huge puddle of fluid. Obviously, it drew quite a crowd...



Turns out... his piston went through the backing plate and it used the actual PISTON as a brake pad against the rotor! Check out the pictures of the penetrated, welded backing plate. We estimate temps reached 1600 F in order to spot weld the piston to the backing plate. Luckily, we were able to get Duffman's car driveable in time for the afterparty.

VIR in February...

...Stee has been making the trek down to Virginia International Raceway from NYC for a few year now, he always has a good time and finds semi decent weather to boot. So while we patiently wait for BadBAdM and Stee to do the writeups they promised, I'm putting these couple of laps up.

Stee is driving a BMW M3 CS with TCKline suspension, Brembos on all fours, Performance Friction PF01 pads and new to the mix, Nitto NT01 tires. His best times are in the 2:17 range which I'm told is very respectable. Good show Stee!

Click on the window, the video is large but should stream without too many issues, or follow the download link below.



download

Performance Friction Direct Drive Rotors now @ Off Camber Motorsport.

OCM is now making the Performance friction Direct Drive rotors available at a very good price.

I'm a big fan of this product and I've tried pretty much everything you can try short of installing a BBK on the MCoupe. Since I've installed them I've had no issues with brake fade at track days.

Considering the expense of BBK's and the intended use of the car, this product makes a lot of sense. They are available in e36M3 and MCoupe front and e46M3 front and rear fitments.

Performance Friction PF01 review: the best so far

There are two moments in my driving "education" that stand out: the first is when I realized that brakes are not something you can take for granted. The other, a consequence of the first, when I discovered that braking could be taken to a level I never imagined.


Anyone who has tracked their street car knows what burning pads smell like and many will also know the unsettling feeling of quickly finding their pedal getting longer and longer after only a few laps pushing the car. It's the worse feeling in the world and while our fathers and grandfathers had to learn to deal with cars that had no brakes, there is little reason for us to suffer.

Without a doubt brake pad choice makes for long internet discussions, just check any car discussion group and even in the small Axis group we tried quite a number of pads collectively, off the top of my head I can think of:

Performance Friction, Pagid, Porterfiels Hawk, Ferodo, Carbotech,

I always come back to Performance Friction. MY first experience was with the PF 97 compound. Man, I still remember the first time I had those on the car, I was bedding the pads in at night on a dark road.....WOW lightshow! sparks flying out the side of the car! incredible. And on the track the 97 compound really has huge bite.

But there is a price to pay: I don't care what others say, PF97 EAT rotors, big ridges will appear on the surface of a both the stock and cryogenically treated rotors after even one track week end. I switched to the BMW "Euro" floating rotor and I got some relief but not much. Much of the wear came not when the brakes were hot at the track but rather when they were cold, on the street or at autox. Despite the warnings the pads work fine cold but seem to just dig into the disk like a hungry shark.
People loved the flames shooting out the wheels when braking at autox though...definite crowd pleaser.

I'm pleased to report however that one not need to look at rotors as consumables quite so often: the PF01 compound seems to be different from the 97 in one key way, it does not eat rotors.

Again, nothing is free. This compound does not last quite as long as the 97 but it brakes better and it will save you from having to buy rotors so often. I use the pads on both the front and the rear on the M Coupe.

The other big issue with brakes is of course fade, there might come a point where the stock components will just not cut it.
Stee solved the problem on the M3 by slapping a four wheel set of Brembos. This is the ultimate solution but a very expensive one, price it sometime! Stee was very clever about buying some choice used bits but it still came to a sizable investment. The running costs are also to consider, a set of PF-01 for the Brembos is in the $700 range, replacement rings are some absurd amount though you can use Stoptech parts and cut the price.

As much as I would like to this it was simply not in my budget but again thanks to Performance Friction I found a workable solution with their Direct Drive rotors. This is a real cool (pardon the pun) product, a true two piece rotor that works with the stock BMW caliper.

When I decided after a couple of track days where brake fade had been an issue to optimize my system, I installed these rotors on the front along with new PF-01 pads, Stoptech stainless steel lines (teflon coated as they should be), and Motul brake fluid. The result has been a fantastic brake pedal feel and stopping power and NO fade at all even during a 40 minute session at Watkins Glen. It was a cool day but as I said there was not even a hint of fade.

I noticed after the session that the temperature across the rotor was remarkably even more even that on stee's brembos and definitively more even than on a stock BMW rotor on another M3. I also experienced no brake judder from pad deposits at all... A great set up I would highly recomend to anyone tracking who is not yet ready to go for a BBK.
I think the guys at Off Camber Motorsport are going to be offering the Direct Drive rotors and of course the have the best price I've found on PF pads, make sure you give them a call.

Anyway...here are 2 laps from the last day at the Glen...Stee and I only really got one good dry session. Actually it was not all dry, the downhill left turn 6 and the off camber turn 9 both seemed just never to dry fully. I make a big mistake going into turn 8 on the second lap and the front end washes out. I get some of that push in turn 1 as well but there, as long as you let the car go wide over the turtles and keep the momentum, the penalty is not so bad speed wise. For time reasons I had to fill up at the track with 100 octane...and man, I burned through 10 gallons in 40 minutes...boy was that fun!

I tried using the divx codec, let me know if it works for you, especially the window users.

Lime Rock March 25 report

Well most 3/5ths of the Axis was at Lime Rock last week end and a great time was had by all. Here are the reports

The Stee Report:

1st session was cold and slippery. I took the time to warm everything up and remember LRP. Braking (with HT-10 up front and HP Plus in the rear) was ungodly unstable, especially with all those LRP bumps.
Braking for turn 1 was a nightmare with all those bumps. I swear, I almost put the car in the guardrail on the left multiple times. After the session, I attempted to calm the wandering rear end down by making shock adjustments.

Session 2 was more of the same, just with an increased pace and a slightly calmed down rear (but still rather scary). I do have video of this session. The video is pretty decent. Those puny Continental's (225 up front! to turn and brake 3450 lbs) howl and scream for mercy which makes for good video. Lap times were mostly 1:05s with one 1:04 in this session.

During the lunch break Matt, Carlos and I changed the rear pads to HT-10s in about 6 minutes. And then I jumped in La Bomba's passenger seat for the best ride of the day. I told Matt that if he passed the Porsche, that Mr.Porsche would cry, so we lined up a few cars behind him, with CG behind us. Matt is understating that run, it was fucken awesome! Matt is really working that poor little car as hard as possible. Clutchless downshifting in the middle of Big bend, and banging curbs like its his job. The car truly feels and sounds like a race car. It was clear that we were on a faster pace than the Porker but traffic was a bit of an issue.
Finally we were able to sort through it and had a clear sight of the back of the Cayman. I gave Matt the fist pump and he took that as his queue to turn it up. Trblmkr put it in full attack mode and started making a ton of noise behind Mr.Porsche slipping and sliding, nailing curbs and spitting up some dust clouds on "extended" track outs. Matt and I both waived in unison to him as we rolled past him down the front straight.

Session 3 in the fat bastard was completely different. After the rear pads bedded in, the braking became 100000% more stable. Finally hard braking without wagging the tail. Now the only thing I had to be careful of was not stabbing the brakes hard enough to invoke Brake Assist which extends distances and completely takes away the ability to modulate. With Matt in the car cheering me on we were able to pull off more 1:05s with a handful of 1:04s while listening to the S54 and the
Continentals battle it out at full volume.

Session 4 was time to get some instruction from CG. The only problem was, I couldn't hear a word he said. All I could get during the run was that he wanted me to unwind earlier, but it was too late. To unwind earlier meant coming into the apex at a steeper angle. Anyway, we still had fun, although my times slipped a little. CG, I'm going to really think about adjusting my line, especially entry to allow an earlier unwind and translate into faster exit speed. Maybe with more tire in
front I can actually get the car to rotate better so I can unwind sooner. I'm also going to concentrate on getting over my fear of running out of track and try to use all of the track. Make sure to reserve a session on April 8th to come for another ride with me so I can make you proud (this time with my communicators so we can actually hear each other).


Side Notes:

The uphill was pretty entertaining with the sudden wheelspin as the rear gets light over the crest.

My car is way too low and spends a lot of time on the bump stops. Before April 8th I plan to raise it substantially and recorner balance and realign.

I have been driving around with the HT10s all around and the braking is much more civilized. Formulas and science are one thing, but reality is another. This setup is MUCH better. There is much less nose dive and as long as the Brake Assist keeps out of the situation the car feels like it gets sucked into the pavement.


The BadbadM report:


My report:
Session 1 seemed like it would be a waste for me and CG because some poor guy smashed his V8 RX-7 on the inside of the downhill on lap 3, stopping us for a good 15 mins. But they sent us back out, and I agree with CG the grip was terribly inconsistent... on cold-winter-storage V710s (well-used at that) it felt like driving Johan's endurance kart with an extra 20bhp... it was all over the place! So I just used session 1 to scrub the tires in... no way I was getting any temperature into
them or going fast. However, I noticed the car was "neutral" during this session, meaning neither end had grip :(

Session 2 saw the V710s liven up, and I grabbed a Gershanok MClub lap timer to ensure I would see the red mist all day. Session 2 brought a bunch of laptimes in the 1:06 range, with a 1:05.2 being the lowest, IIRC.

Session 3 was different; definitely a highlight session for the E30 that day... SK rode with me and we had - where are the words - a freaking blast. Suicidal attacks on the uphill, doing the full-on DTM-racer thing by using every last inch of track (more in some cases)... it was great. Methinks it could be a mistake to have a fellow Axis member riding shotgun, especially the Dr. Jekyl of the Harassment Brigade (SK). We didn't break the 1:05.2, but we had a blast showing off for CG behind us
and for the Cayman (temporarily) in front of us.

Session 3.5 - I rode in the Kwiat Centrifuge... good God Almighty... what a car. This was my first time on a road course in the E46 M3. I hope it's not the last. The car has a different personality on the track... the S54 is way too small to make that kind of POWER and NOISE; I was shocked. The forces generated by that car were just awesome and my neck hurts like hell to prove it. THANKS to SK for a fantastic ride (complete with curb-jumping for added flavor).

Session 4 - long story short: everything came together. Labomba went very very quick and set at least 4 laps under 1:05. It remained neutral, power/gearing were good, and I chased that club racing lady Anne in the J-Stock M3 as my "line model". This was the first session she couldn't get away. Really I used her more for braking points, but I learned a ton
by following her.

A great day. Sorry I can't be there on April 8.


The CG report:



My day and some other highlights:

Track was the coldest I've ever experienced. Weird and inconsistent grip. Couldn't get those "in the zone 4 wheel drifts"
Lap times a full second or more slower than last year summer's (1:03.9 vs 1:02s).
Going long on braking or out of line felt like hitting an ice spot. When trying to push harder the rear slid first and did some nice (but safe) opposite lock turns plus a half cool down. lap ala Tiff Needel (just to prove myself it could be done, but clearly MUCH slower than at fullpace). Let's see if any were caught by the camera guy.
I believe the rears didn't survive the winter as well as the fronts. Let's see when weather is above 50F or if the car becomes a handful at autox (then its time to change rears).

Other highlights:
Looking at Mr P-car's eyes on his rearview mirror...... Through Matt's rear window and windshield (the harrassment train)

Driving and yelling with SK...... Unfortunately my voice pitch was overwhelmed by the S54 but it was fun to be on an E46 M3 on the passenger side (felt very comfortable and trusted SK 100%).