First real test of the brake upgrade, works FANTASTIC!

Yesterday I got a chance to really put the upgraded brakes to the test. For those of you who didn’t follow the brake upgrade thread: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=258160&highlight=expensive

Gothenburg Sport car Club had its yearly track day meeting at Kinnekulle. This is usually the first chance to test any winter upgrades, and this year I came reasonably well prepared. New for this year was a yearly oil service, brand new R-rated Pirelli Corsa on track day rims, slightly more camber in front, challenge sway bars and upgraded front brakes.

There have been discussions of why you would like to upgrade the brakes on the 355, and the general assumption is that the brakes are more than capable of giving you the stopping power you need, if not “learn how to brake”. This is probably true, but I felt that bigger brakes would be a fun project and hopefully useful as well. Now I know

We had great weather and no accidents on the track which meant a lot of track time. I managed to put in about 70 laps in about 7 stints, not too bad Started to play with the tire pressure and found a reasonable pressure of about 1.8 in front and 2.0 at the rear at the end of the day. Probably need even more camber in front, the tires got worn too much on the outside and I didn’t get even heat in them… I also have a little too much under steer in mid speed corners that I need to figure out.

Second part was to test the new brakes. All in all the upgraded brakes works just perfect, especially with the new tires. The stopping power and brake feel is just phenomenal! The Pirelli Corsas were really easy to balance on the edge and never gave any nasty surprises. With these new tires there is no way I would have made it through all the 70 laps with the old brakes. The difference between R- and regular tires is huge, I expected it to be big, but I am still amazed with the grip I got with after finding the correct pressure.

Conclusion: If you track your car and plan on using R-tires I can see no real reason not to upgrade the brakes, it is a lot safer, certainly much faster and so much more fun

 

Agree, but I think I have to say that R-rated tires are the number one on my list. There is just no comparison to regular street tires. But then again, you will smoke the brakes if you use them to the max and then you need the bigger brakes ;-)

 

I am using original rims, tire size 235/40-18 and 265/40-18. Should have been 225/40 in front but the corsa is being replaced by trofeo and is getting harder to come by.

Strangely enough I dont find there to bee too much grip in front, actually I would like to have more. I was expecting the wider front tires to give over steer but it didnt. Proably need to lower front or raise rear... But first I need to get camber right i guess.

 

Great mod you came up with, mille grazie