conclusive on-track testing of Speed Engineering Directional Vaned Brake Rotors
05-10-2011, 10:49 PM
#1
Former Sponsor
Thread Starter
conclusive on-track testing of Speed Engineering Directional Vaned Brake Rotors
Reason for testing:
Speed Engineering offers a directionally vaned brake rotor that is a direct replacement for the factory Honda rotor. The front factory Honda ventilated rotor has straight vanes. This straight vane design is less expensive to produce (as the left and right are interchangeable) making it ideal for OEM equipment. The Speed Engineering rotors have directional, side-specific, vanes which actively pump air from the center of the rotor outwards and a reverse mount design that takes advantage of the greater airflow on the wheel side of the rotor. Directional vaned rotors are well established to provide more efficient brake rotor cooling. The question was “how much?” for the S2000 application.
In order to properly test the rotors, we needed a consistent testing environment and a way to accurately measure the brake rotor temperature in real time to eliminate variables (such as the time required to enter the pits and have temperatures read).
About testing:
ScienceofSpeed performed testing at Inde Motorsports Ranch in Wilcox, AZ. IMR is a 21 turn road course with a good sampling of hard-fast and slow-long braking corners. The testing was performed over two days with a ambient high of 95 degrees. 56 laps (over 154 track miles!) were completed in order to have the largest sampling of data possible.
The vehicle used was ScienceofSpeed’s 2005 Honda S2000. The car is a relatively factory track prepared S2000 weighing 2860 lbs with driver. The car has factory calipers and Carbotech XP10 brake pads front and XP8 brake pads rear. Fluid used was Motul RBF600. The only change made between tests was the rotors installed.
In order to capture accurate real-time data – a laboratory grade infrared sensor & controller was purchased to provide real time data. The Omega OS100E infrared sensor & controller is a highly accurate sensor used in industrial process automation, laboratory, and other testing environments requiring a range of 0-1000 degree F, high accuracy (+/- 2%), and fast response time (100 millisecond).
The sensor was mounted to the lower control arm and positioned such that the sampling 36mm spot was focused on the center of the swept area of the disc. The sensor’s emissivity was adjusted and verified using a calibrated thermometer in ambient temperature. The sensor’s body was equipped with a water cooled jacked to protect the sensor against radiant heat from the brakes. The sensor’s output was datalogged along with vehicle speed and time.
Vehicle speed and time was logged in order to eliminate the variable of the car being driven faster or slower to influence rotor temperatures. Laps completed with the factory and Speed Engineering rotors with the most consistent lap time and average vehicle speed were used. Each session's data was downloaded and analyzed.
Results:
We analyzed rotor temperature between two laps that had only a .48 mph (.7%) average difference. We have the following results to share:
The following graph shows the entire lap with rotor temperature and vehicle speed plotted. The blue plots are vehicle speed demonstrating the consistency of the lap. The red plot shows the factory rotor temperature, the green plot shows the Speed Engineering rotor temperature. The plot demonstrates the Speed Engineering rotor to run consistently cooler and also to recover temperature at a faster rate at higher operating temperatures.
The following histogram bar graph shows the duration of time spent at certain temperature ranges over these laps. The red bars are the factory rotor showing extended time in the 800-1000 degree F temperature range and the green bars are the Speed Engineering rotor showing greater running time in the cooler 500-800 degree F temperature range.
This testing accurately demonstrates the cooling efficiency of the directional vaned rotors versus the factory straight vane rotors. Subjectively, compared to the factory rotors which demonstrated a small amount of brake fade – the directional vaned rotors were consistent through out the day exhibiting no fade.
A cooler running rotor has many benefits including:
Rotors are on sale here:
http://scienceofspeed.com/products/b.../brake_rotors/
We have a discounted brake packages available here until the end of this month (May):
https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/862...nted-packages/
cheers,
-- Chris
Speed Engineering offers a directionally vaned brake rotor that is a direct replacement for the factory Honda rotor. The front factory Honda ventilated rotor has straight vanes. This straight vane design is less expensive to produce (as the left and right are interchangeable) making it ideal for OEM equipment. The Speed Engineering rotors have directional, side-specific, vanes which actively pump air from the center of the rotor outwards and a reverse mount design that takes advantage of the greater airflow on the wheel side of the rotor. Directional vaned rotors are well established to provide more efficient brake rotor cooling. The question was “how much?” for the S2000 application.
In order to properly test the rotors, we needed a consistent testing environment and a way to accurately measure the brake rotor temperature in real time to eliminate variables (such as the time required to enter the pits and have temperatures read).
About testing:
ScienceofSpeed performed testing at Inde Motorsports Ranch in Wilcox, AZ. IMR is a 21 turn road course with a good sampling of hard-fast and slow-long braking corners. The testing was performed over two days with a ambient high of 95 degrees. 56 laps (over 154 track miles!) were completed in order to have the largest sampling of data possible.
The vehicle used was ScienceofSpeed’s 2005 Honda S2000. The car is a relatively factory track prepared S2000 weighing 2860 lbs with driver. The car has factory calipers and Carbotech XP10 brake pads front and XP8 brake pads rear. Fluid used was Motul RBF600. The only change made between tests was the rotors installed.
In order to capture accurate real-time data – a laboratory grade infrared sensor & controller was purchased to provide real time data. The Omega OS100E infrared sensor & controller is a highly accurate sensor used in industrial process automation, laboratory, and other testing environments requiring a range of 0-1000 degree F, high accuracy (+/- 2%), and fast response time (100 millisecond).
The sensor was mounted to the lower control arm and positioned such that the sampling 36mm spot was focused on the center of the swept area of the disc. The sensor’s emissivity was adjusted and verified using a calibrated thermometer in ambient temperature. The sensor’s body was equipped with a water cooled jacked to protect the sensor against radiant heat from the brakes. The sensor’s output was datalogged along with vehicle speed and time.
Vehicle speed and time was logged in order to eliminate the variable of the car being driven faster or slower to influence rotor temperatures. Laps completed with the factory and Speed Engineering rotors with the most consistent lap time and average vehicle speed were used. Each session's data was downloaded and analyzed.
Results:
We analyzed rotor temperature between two laps that had only a .48 mph (.7%) average difference. We have the following results to share:
- The Speed Engineering rotors were 96.5 degrees (12.4%) cooler from lap start to lap end.
- The Speed Engineering rotors were 58.4 degrees (7.4%) cooler on average through the lap.
The following graph shows the entire lap with rotor temperature and vehicle speed plotted. The blue plots are vehicle speed demonstrating the consistency of the lap. The red plot shows the factory rotor temperature, the green plot shows the Speed Engineering rotor temperature. The plot demonstrates the Speed Engineering rotor to run consistently cooler and also to recover temperature at a faster rate at higher operating temperatures.
The following histogram bar graph shows the duration of time spent at certain temperature ranges over these laps. The red bars are the factory rotor showing extended time in the 800-1000 degree F temperature range and the green bars are the Speed Engineering rotor showing greater running time in the cooler 500-800 degree F temperature range.
This testing accurately demonstrates the cooling efficiency of the directional vaned rotors versus the factory straight vane rotors. Subjectively, compared to the factory rotors which demonstrated a small amount of brake fade – the directional vaned rotors were consistent through out the day exhibiting no fade.
A cooler running rotor has many benefits including:
- Increased durability of brake components including rotors, pads, fluid, and caliper seals.
- Increased durability of suspension & steering joints and wheel bearings.
- Decreased long term operating costs due to extended life of components.
- Access to air flow on wheel side of rotor.
- Ability to retain factory heat shield to provide protection against suspension & steering joints.
Rotors are on sale here:
http://scienceofspeed.com/products/b.../brake_rotors/
We have a discounted brake packages available here until the end of this month (May):
https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/862...nted-packages/
cheers,
-- Chris
05-10-2011, 11:27 PM
#2
Registered User
The following graph shows the entire lap with rotor temperature and vehicle speed plotted. The blue plots are vehicle speed demonstrating the consistency of the lap. The red plot shows the factory rotor temperature, the green plot shows the Speed Engineering rotor temperature. The plot demonstrates the Speed Engineering rotor to run consistently cooler and also to recover temperature at a faster rate at higher operating temperatures.
just to reconfirm - cooler rotors means less brake fading?
or pads are those which play more important part in fading?
05-11-2011, 03:19 AM
#3
Great stuff, Chris & co.!! I hope other sponsors are taking notes: this is how every racing part should be tested and advertised.
That said, though, one question:
At the end of the plot, why don't the rotor temps return to roughly where they were at the start of the lap? Is the plot not quite the full lap? I ask because it's interesting that the two temp curves are essentially identical at the start, indicating that the stock rotor did eventually cool down to the same temp at the end of the previous lap (and therefore, presumably, should be pretty close at the end of the current lap).
That said, though, one question:
At the end of the plot, why don't the rotor temps return to roughly where they were at the start of the lap? Is the plot not quite the full lap? I ask because it's interesting that the two temp curves are essentially identical at the start, indicating that the stock rotor did eventually cool down to the same temp at the end of the previous lap (and therefore, presumably, should be pretty close at the end of the current lap).
05-11-2011, 07:23 AM
#4
Former Sponsor
Thread Starter
That's a good question.
The plotted graph is a complete lap of the 21 turn road course. At the end of each lap, the rotor (either factory or Speed) was always hotter than when it started the lap. We chose two laps that were the most consistent in lap time and average vehicle speed. We also chose the laps that started the lap closest in initial rotor temperature for the best comparison. The rotors would stack on more temperature each lap, the factory rotor at a greater rate. This would explain the onset of brake fade we felt with the stock rotors as they exceeded either the brake fluid or brake pad's temperature threshold.
-- Chris
The plotted graph is a complete lap of the 21 turn road course. At the end of each lap, the rotor (either factory or Speed) was always hotter than when it started the lap. We chose two laps that were the most consistent in lap time and average vehicle speed. We also chose the laps that started the lap closest in initial rotor temperature for the best comparison. The rotors would stack on more temperature each lap, the factory rotor at a greater rate. This would explain the onset of brake fade we felt with the stock rotors as they exceeded either the brake fluid or brake pad's temperature threshold.
-- Chris
05-11-2011, 07:31 AM
#5
Former Sponsor
Thread Starter
-- Chris
05-11-2011, 07:49 AM
#7
I almost wish I was in need of new rotors so I could pick up a set of these. My s2k only has 24k miles though and most miles are highway with little braking so I doubt I'll need them anytime soon.
