Hey guys,
I just did my first HPDE last weekend at SOW, and had a great time. I think I'm hooked. I signed up for the next event on the 7th, and had a few questions. I'm running pretty much everything stock, and on street tires, S03's. My question is should I upgrade my pads to the Cobalt Sports or is this overkill? I realize that my street tires are probably the limiting factor in braking. I just don't want to have any fade on the next event at a high speed track. Also, can the Cobalt's be used on the street, and what is their expected lifetime. Thanks.

Sri

 

You will probably boil your brake fluid before you experience pad fade. You can pick up both from the S2ki Marketplace.

For your first few HPDE's you should be fine with the stock brakes, but if you anticipate your speeds picking up, consider the upgrades.

 

Big Willow is not a track that's particularly hard on brakes, much less so than SOW, but I'd still consider a pad/fluid upgrade if you're going to be playing track a lot and anticipate this to be more than a passing fad.

The Cobalt GT-Sport pads are an excellent choice for occasional HPDE and street use. They will be slightly noisy and throw more dust than the OEM pads but the tradeoff in fade resistance and pedal feel is well worth it imho. They won't make your car sound like a city bus unlike hardcore track pads would.

PM me if you need more info about pricing and where to buy them.

J.P.

PS> Jerry, where's my video?

 

Pretty much agree with the cat herder. You might want to flush the brake fluid, that's the most you'll need to do for now.

 

Sweet, I'll just flush out the brakes with some Super Blue. Thanks for the help.

 

A brake fluid change is most important regardless of what pads you're running. It's cheap and doesn't take long to do.

 

If it's only your 2nd track event, chances are your not going to need to do anything to a stock S2000. I run totally stock and don't have a problem with tires or brakes. Just keep your run sessions to 20 minutes. WSIR is not that hard on brakes as you only really need to use them hard in turn 3, Turn 1, 5 and 9 you just tap on the breaks to slow you down 20 to 30 MPH depending on how fast you are going so the brakes stay pretty cool compaired to Button willow or Laguna Seca. Your actually much harder on the brakes at SOW because of all the low speed turns.