Hey - I'll be at LRP on the 10th with BMWCCA

 

Anyone going to the Vintage Races tomorrow?

 

Is it tomorrow or Monday?
Either way I am home the weekend. I need to get my car ready for next week and finish a "simple" kitchen project that I have been working on for the last 4 months.

 

It is both days but I am going tomorrow

 

Have a grand time
Those old cars are really neat.
Remember earplugs

 

I signed up as a volunteer. So let see what happens.

 

Hey, Tank - so we should get to meet.

I may be a little hard to spot, though. I'll be the only (I think) MINI in a sea of Beamers.

The Patroons chapter of BMWCCA is a great group and they run a good event. They always seem to attract a really good group of instructors and work hard at making classroom sessions interesting for all, which can be tough to do for the advanced groups.

Right now I am working on an old school form of brake ducts. I don't need them for LRP but definitely need them for WGI.

Oh, did I mention that I have signed up with GVC for 2 days at the Glen the first weekend in October? Yup, I did. And I will finally get a chance to see my cousin's new M2.

 

Trying to find out from them. They haven't gor back to me. picture for the brake duct.

 

Did you sign up through Motorsports Reg?

 

Yah as a volunteer. They contacted me via email and everything,

 

So, when is a set of warped brake rotors not really warped rotors?

When they have a lump of brake pad material on them.

So the last time I was at WGI I developed what I thought was warped rotors. The weird thing was they were not giving me that lumpy brake thing when they were cold. Only after a couple of laps.

Well, today I pulled the rotors for another reason and guess what I found? A spot on the back side of the one rotor I pulled. That sucks.

Anyone know a good way to clean this stuff off without going to someone to have them turned?

 

Wilwood recommends sanding them, which I did when I had pad build up and it worked well.

 

That was my guess. I'll see if it works for me.

Speaking of brakes, take a watch from the 38 minute mark of the brakes on the stock car running this year at WGI:

 

Sanding does the trick. what i would recommend is to be careful not to sand toooooo much in one spot (i guess you know this already). I would use your hands instead of a machine unless your really good with a machine lol. I did this with a machine and had to get new ones on a Ford Escape i had. I normally sand the rotors when I'm replacing brake pads. Nothing crazy but trying to get some of the old material of the rotor.

After WGI it looks like i have to change my brakes pads. I took it look at it yesterday and OMG it like 1/4 left. I can't believe how fast this things wear out lol. Then again i use to have cheap pads which i use to swap out on my old car after every track day lol. 3 track events and about 2000 miles of driving and they are almost gone.

Do you guys wait for the brakes to go bye bye before you replace it. I'm trying to avoid replacing the brake wear sensor every time i need to replace the pads any. People say you have to replace the sensor but you don't if you are very careful while removing ask me how i know lol. Don't feel like spending an extra $30 every time i need new brake pads.

Eddie Ill be at Lime Rock tomorrow as a volunteer. They sent me the assignments yesterday. Hope i can make it for 6:30am. it like a 2.5hr drive for me. Guess ill putting that Radar detector to good use tomorrow lol. I personally like the back roads.

 

Ideally you'll want to use Emery paper on this. Not "sand paper" as sandpaper is comprised of aluminum oxide which can gum up things.

 

Oh crap

Didn't think of that. I have some really good cloth backed coarse sandpaper I used It still took some effort.

Well, I am about to take the car out for a test run. I guess I'll see what happens.

Todd good to hear from you and that you are still following us

 

Still here. Still a supporting Vendor...MINI market however is not what it was ten years ago. Do have a long term contract tho so if you need something don't be shy!

I think you'll be fine on the rotors..just some suggestions for the future.

 

Tank - see you there. I guess there will be several MINIs there Just look for the old fart with the gray MINI. I may have my bright yellow pop up shade thingy.

Leave the brake sensors off and zip tie them out of the way. Make sure the end is not flapping in the breeze. If they flap, the little wire will break and give you a big red warning that makes you think that if you don't stop immediately your car is going to explode or something worse.

WGI is very hard on brakes. 2 of the 3 big braking zones are headed down hill. I change pads before and after event. I switch between street and track pads. The Wilwood pads are smaller than yours. I'll get at least 6 days out of a set of pads.

Have a safe ride.

 

Eddie. Tank,

Hope to make up there in morning for a while to meet up. Need to get car set for Tuesday track day with the SCDA. Have a track day data sheet I developed for recording data on car. Will bring some copies for you guys.

 

Good to know i always do it with sand paper and hands. Next time it will be emery paper.

 

Why didn't i think of that lol. That is great idea you never need to worry about replace it ever lol and since all i do every time is check the pads. This will be my next mod lol. too bad because i was there today replacing my Charcoal canister lol.

I think i will go back to swapping pads like i used to do. This is my first time also running with slotted rotors, so I'm sure that had something to do with it as well. Guess a trip to Autozone before the next track day.

Well dont know if it a combination of having too much brakes (big brakes) and them not getting hot but for the past 3 HPDE event i have been running Valvoline DOT4 from Autozone and it been working fine. I have one of does Brake fluid checker (it should be call water checker) and it still holding it own. Maybe i dont brake hard enough at the corner (i think i do). but something to considered. I think it a mix of i have more brakes then the car actually need mixed with light car and good tires.

What do you guys use for brake fluid? Did you guys test anything else or just went with the common suggestion? I forget to mention I'm really a fan of TI shims which i have on the Racing Turtle. This made the difference on my Genesis Coupe. I went from brake fade In 70f after the first 3 laps to no brake fade in 90f the whole session.

I'm more of a trier. Waiting to do other HPDE even to send my T6 Oil to Blackstone and see where it stands.

My r56 has Motul that i had left after my Genesis coupe was totaled and I really don't notice the difference between the two (never took my R56 to a track), but have done many 0-60 at an air field around me and i don't really notice any difference between the $20 for 500ml vs the $8 for a 1L.

 

I have the green mini LOL. If you guys PM me ill give you my phone number, Dont know if ill have cell service but i hope so lol.

 

I use the Wilwood 570 Dot 3 which has a about a 570 deg boil point. Todd sells it and it is a good price. Check this for brake fluid comparison (https://www.lelandwest.com/brake-flu...ison-chart.cfm)

If it works, good, but the Castrol has about a 70 deg lower boiling point.

I flush my brake fluid before every event and save the worry.

My brakes get hot. With the 15" wheels, they get really hot. I use the Ti shims and I still get boiled bubbles out during an event. I am hoping I have a fix for that. I went old school for this one. Remember the air deflectors they used to put on brakes? Well, I made a set for my MINI. The intent of mine is to catch some of that high velocity air that comes out of those MINI brake ducts and divert it into the rotors.

Well, ya know that little ride I said I was going to take? That was to test these out (and to see if I was able to clean up the rotors). And, they seem to work. I took the car to a long hill I usually go to to bed in a set of pad. While things got warm in there, it was nothing like bedding in temps. So, it is off to LRP to further test them. Oh, and the rotors seem to be back to good now.

 

Just sourced some free tix to the f1 race on race day. Includes the paddock tour and dinner at the hospitality tent. But not the race though. At least its gratis.

 

Nice, that should be great fun. Will be watching from here.