Brake pad recommendations (spirited street/occasional track)

Polling the collective wisdom present: does anyone have a brake pad (make & compound) recommendation that will be a good performance/rotor-wear compromise for a little light track use? I'm heading up to Lime Rock Park in a few weeks and plan on circling the illustrious perimeter with my old horse a few times. Relevant goals: stay on the track, and don't eat through my rotors.

My mostly-stock 308 QV isn't going to be generating any mach speed numbers approaching the braking zone on the Sam Posey straight, but the stock brakes are tea saucer-size (by modern standards) so I figure I'll run though a set of pads pretty quick. Should I just stick with organics or up the game (and noise) with semi-metallics?

 

FCA Empire State Region is hosting the event 30 JUNE to JULY 1. See their website for details: https://empirestateregion.com/events/lime-rock-track-event-summer-2023/

It would be really sweet to have another 308 QV out there on the track. Definitely a video-worth moment. And if you're only a 35 minutes away, its a much cheaper weekend for you. I'm coming from the DC area, and staying in East Canaan. PM me if decide to go; the more the merrier.

 

That's probably what I'm going to end up doing. I wasn't able to glean enough from their website to be confident deciding which compound to buy. Thanks.

 

And I suspect that the organics have gotten better over the years as well, so there's that. Having grown up driving on drum brakes that were only marginally more effective than opening the door and putting your left foot flat on the ground, I tend not to ask much of my brakes anyway--even when driving a modern performance car that will put my face into the windshield. That is something I am trying to get past however, since I know my lack of faith in the binders is causing me to leave a lot of performance on the table (and more importantly) impacting my enjoyment. Hence why I am willing to experiment. I had not considered the increased pedal forces however. Good point.

 

With my local Autozone, I'd have to go in the back and find the pads myself. They are 100% manned by people who know nothing about cars. And pretty much all they sell is snake-oil crap to get your old hoopty-wagon staggering down the road a couple more miles.

So if I'm going to pay shipping to get pads, I might as well get good ones. I don't fully buy into the argument that there is no qualitative difference there. If I end up in the gravel-trap, I'd rather not have to wonder if the outcome would have been different had I bought something besides the cheapest possible brake pads. (I'd rather be left with the unavoidable conclusion that I suck at driving. At least that's curable with experience and training. Being a cheapskate, on the other hand, is a chronic condition for most.)

You know, The Commonwealth of Virginia's Finest will tell you that such activities constitute "reckless driving," and/or "exhibition of speed."

 

The problem is, they don't even know HOW to look up a part #. I'm serious. I've tried. Even the NAPA here is bad. I used to buy parts for my Ferrari at an O'reilly's years ago, and had no "ego" problems about it. This isn't about ego. I'm all for easy. I've made parts of my car myself or modified things from more common sources to keep my car running or make it better, so no, I'm not one of those "yellow box only, please" Ferrari owners.

That said, here's where my perspective comes from: I've spent a couple decades risking my life professionally in equipment manufactured by the lowest bidder, and done engineering mishap investigations on fatal crashes that resulted from failure of indifferently manufactured components. I may be willing to compromise on a cosmetic component for my car, but when it comes to control and safety systems, no thanks. I'm actually a habitual tight-wad on most things (ask my wife!)--in fact, I'm probably more of a cheapskate than you are, though I'm not proud of it--but there are things that I don't want to go the lowest-bidder on.

Regarding your answer to my original query, I'm inclined to believe you that the difference in stopping performance is trivial, since you are clearly basing that on a significant amount of experience, but there are still going to be variances in qualities like feel, noise, or rotor wear between different makes and compounds, even in the most affordable categories. I didn't ask how much I should expect to pay; I asked for a recommendation on a specific pad type that people here have had favorable results with. If someone had suggested $300 pads made out of rainbow dust and unicorn testicles, they would have to make a pretty good case to me that they're better than $99 Porterfields RS4s--but I would try to keep an open mind. And if they convinced me somehow, I might actually shell out the money, albeit reluctantly.

Yes, of course, and don't forget the most important part: the rubber thingies that actually touch the road. Tires I think they're called. (or is it tyres?). I've heard they have some impact on vehicular performance, but what I do I know... I'm just an egotistical punter who's never bedded-in a set of brake pads, and is too stuck-up to shop for parts for my fancy car at an Autozone.

Sorry of my response rubbed you the wrong way. Tone does not always convey in text, and my sarcasm is not to everyone's taste. if nothing else, I admire you for putting almost 200K on your car and keeping it 45 years. I'd like to be able to make the same claim someday.