Liquid Cool

I bought a '96 GSR recently which I plan to take to driving schools.

My first question is how do the stock brakes hold up on the track? I was thinking of getting a Willwood BBK (unless I hear that the stock setup is fine).

Secondly, does anyone know where I can buy a rollbar for this car?!

Thanks!

CivicSiRacer

Stock brakes will not hold up. I would suggest getting some Brembo blanks and maybe Hawk HP+ or Carbotech pads. Change the brake fluid and maybe throw on some stainless steel lines.

Liquid Cool

Thanks, Racer. I know about Brembos, but how do Wilwoods compare to them? The Wilwoods are much cheaper.

Shingoblade-GSR

Wilwoods are pretty popular (actually I've seen more wilwoods than brembos).

Your stock brakes are generally OK but your PADS are certainly not. Is your car a daily driver? I used Axxis Ultimates for a few track/autocross events and they're a great pad for street/light track duty (not sure since you said "driving school" not "honda challenge ). Plus getting rid of brake dust on your wheels is a matter of soap, hose, done (I've heard the hawks' brake dust is considerably difficult to get off).

Brembo blanks are just the blank OEM-type rotor; the Brembo Big Brake Kit uses slotted/x-drilled rotors if I'm not mistaken.

So basically making a gsr ready for "light" track duty comes down to: Upgrading your pads, getting some blank rotors, upgrading your brake lines, and changing your brake fluid. Your stock tires (if you're still on the XGT V4's) are great for learning (as I did for several events), but def. change those to something stickier (which is 99% of the other tires out there).

Rollbar? You mean a 5/6-pt. cage that takes up the rear passenger area correct? Most of the guys I know have a shop do a custom weld-job.

Shingo

Shingoblade-GSR

I just noticed 2002 M3 Laguna Seca Blue in your sig.

Go ahead and get a wilwoods kit (not sure if the stock 15" wheels clear the brakes). The Brembo BBK in general is too pricey for frequent track abuse.

As for the rollbar/rear-half-of-a-full-rollcage:

http://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=198856

Not sure which vendors carry those brands listed above but at least now you have a brand name to go by.

Weston

Brembo blanks wont hold up either, as I found out. In my experience, they have nothing over the stock rotors and will warp just as easily. I'll be going with some cheap drilled rotors soon. I can't see spending much money on rotors, since they keep warping on me.

When you go out to the track, your brakes will get very much hotter than they ever would on the street. I over heated my brakes so bad that I could see the smoke from inside the car when I pulled into the pits, and people were looking at me funny. My Brembo rotors are now severely warped and they even threw sparks during some high speed braking the other night! So, go with rotors that dissipate heat well and get brake pads that perform well at high temps.

1stGenCRXer

Brembo rotors hold up just fine, the problem with preventing them from warping is gentle cool down. Ideally, your final lap of a session you should not use any brakes at all, which means driving well below racing pace, and using the e-brake to stop in the pits if need be, to keep pad/rotor contact to a minimum since such contact changes how the rotor dissipates heat, and can lead to warping. If you come into the pits kind of hot, hit the brakes and get out of the car and call it a day, your chance of warping rotors increases dramatically. If you find yourself needing to use the brakes frequently in the pits and on your cool down lap, jack the front of the car in the air and spin the wheels to allow the runout of the rotors to push back the pads some, then park the car in gear without the e-brake.

In 11 years of racing and being around racing, I've never seen a rotor warp if given a chance to cool down without contact.

Shingoblade-GSR

The main advantage of using Brembo blanks is that they are cheap, and you won't be broke from replacing your brakes if you do these events frequently.

Cross-drilled may help dissipate heat but there is less pad-to-rotor contact area and the rotors themselves are weaker structurally.

Slotted rotors seem to be the choice around here, but they eat pads for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

In general I think with proper cool-down runs and proper care, blank rotors will last just as long as slotted/x-drilled.

Shingo

Liquid Cool

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the advice. To clarify some points, the GSR will be a daily driver (mostly in winter), but it'll be the car I take to the 5 or 6 BMW CCA driving schools (track days), and maybe a couple of autoXes. So I won't put full time track pads on it. Though I could swap in some track pads befre the driving schools.

Anyways, it looks like I'll be getting a Wilwood kit. Since I'd be changing the rotors, pads, and brake lines anyway, might as well go all the way and change the calipers. Anyone have recommendations on which Wilwood kit to get. They seem to have one with 11" rotors (~$700) and another for 11.75" rotors (~$1000). They claim both will fit under 15" wheels. How are the quality of the rotors. A friend told me that some Wilwood kits have crappy calipers, and other are pretty good. Anyone have experience with kits for the Integras?

Thanks Shingo for the link to the rollcage! Definitely want one of those on the track.