Code named the Big Dirty Mother BBK, here's a teaser on our new, forthcoming, totally hardcore kit... These feature a massive 11.75" x 1.25" "lightweight" rotor from Coleman Racing and Outlaw calipers. Yes, that's 1.25" of goodness!

The production Outlaw calipers will feature the TSW flag logo... The hat and bracketry is of our own design, machined out of billet aluminum. We'll supply you with aircraft-grade hardware, which means no more safety wiring the hat to the rotor, and SS lines to go with it... Also, we'll offer several choices of pads or you can source whatever you prefer.

The production hats have a built in spacer to allow the massive rotors and wiiiiiiide calipers to fit under most 15's. We've LONG been proponents of 15" wheels for track use - now, you can have a truly race worthy BBK that'll stuff under 15" wheels. It's safe to say that these are the wiiiiiidest 11.75" rotors you can stuff under your car and still run 15's. 225/50R15 is still our favorite size of r-compy goodness for the track.

Expect the hardware to be anodized a nice gunmetal color...

How do they work? Well, I'll let Dr. Mike chime in since he's been trying to kill them - but, you cam jam two fingers into the vanes. Imagine the cooling... *drool* Pound them into submission - we dare you...

We expect to have these in-hand and ready to ship in the next 3-4 weeks. Pricing will be released shortly, but we expect it to fall squarely in the $1350-1450 range.

Here's the prototype, stuffed under some 15x7 Team Dymanics Pro Race 1's with RA-1 rubber (225/50R15)... 16" Rota Slipstreams also clear... We plan on offering a template to see if your wheels will fit...

 

Hey there, this is "Dr. Mike" with a little more information about the forthcoming brake kit.

The design of this kit centers around heat capacity and heat dissipation. No big brake kit can realistically shorten the one-time stopping distance of a particular car, tire, pavement, and set of environmental conditions - or if it does, the car was seriously deficient in braking to begin with! However, the brake systems on street cars are necessarily developed to meet the following goals, among others:

1. Meets the federal guidelines for stopping distance verses brake pedal effort
2. Does not make noise, or more specifically NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness)
3. Works very well when the brakes are cold
4. Can stop the car one time, at least, from top speed, with maximum braking force
5. Has a reasonable pad life

In short, the brakes must be civil, user-friendly, and quiet. For cars such as the MINI, which are performance-oriented, additional performance requirements are levied, but the above requirements must still be met.

After buying my MINI in 2003, I took it to the track, and found, as many of us have, that the stock brakes were not up to the pounding they received. Pads smoked and cracked into pieces, and the rotors died in less than one day.

I followed the familiar arc of increasingly aggresive brake pads, but in the end, I had to admit that a brake kit was necessary.

I will not name names, so don't ask, but I found that, while the racing brake kit I installed was far superior to the stock package, it also could not keep up at the more demanding tracks. With R-compound tires, I was soon cooking pads and destroying rotor sets in less than one weekend. The rotors would glow reddish-orange, and they would cool to a gunmetal color, with severe surface crazing and other modes of failure. Proper brake ducting doubled the life of the rotors - from one day at the track to two days. Full race pads from a variety of manufacturers fared better but tended to wear with an extreme amount of taper.

Through it all, I was determined to keep my 15" wheels. Racing tires for smaller wheels are less expensive and lighter, have less rotating inertia, tend to have smaller outer diameters, and did I mention they cost less? The problem was, there was no other kit available that would solve my problem without necessitating the move to large wheels to fit around huge (and heavy) rotors.

Thus, Texas Speedwerks found itself with an immediate need for a new product, and a willing test subject. The picture above is a mock-up only (the brake hat shown is a cut-down version of the hat from a different supplier); and the prototype has been treated quite rudely without any failures.

Full disclosure - I am absolutely brutal on brakes. My driving style uses late-braking and trail-braking, and I tend to be extremely aggressive (optimistic?) with my braking points. If anyone is going to cook the brakes on a MINI, I will.