Quote:
Originally Posted by lucid
Wow JAJ, yes, you really managed to hold out on us all. Good thing you came clean with this thread! 
Can you elaborate a bit more on the finer points of the track performance of this system? You say that they are easy to modulate and you can be lazy and brake late. How noticable is the difference compared to stock? Is it more of a confidence issue, or a pure objective performance benefit, or both (I suspect it is the latter)?
Thanks, and ENJOY! |
I do open lapping days at Mission Raceway Park, a short 1.8 mile track with 9 corners. Very technical, high fuel consumption, murder on brakes.
With the factory brakes, I had to brake early and essentially let the howling (with RS-19's) be my guide to brake management. If I went beyond the high pitched howl, they'd start to fade badly and the pedal would head toward the floor. Heel and toe was challenging, to say the least. Every corner was a combo of brake management and steering rhythm. You could go fast, but every time out was a challenge to make sure you didn't overheat and lose the brakes for the day.
The AP brakes don't object to anything I've done with them so far. There's a hairpin at the end of the Mission pit straight. I tried going deeper and deeper into the hairpin, and finally knocked nearly 300' off my braking point. At that point I was running out of tires instead. The brakes were fine, but the car was so out of balance on the corner entry that my times got worse. That's why I said I had to re-learn braking - they'll do anything I ask so now I'm working on better questions, if you catch my drift.
There is a confidence issue too. I ran one day recently at Portland International Raceway. I had a great instructor who really knew the track, but I kept having trouble with the visual of staying full throttle much deeper into the corners than I'd ever gone before. I only had 80 minutes of track time to get readjusted, and I really need another hour or two to get it right.
So, to answer your question - "it's both" - confidence and outright performance at a totally new level (at least for me in this car).