Brakes - The importance of slowing down
Braking is one of the most important aspects of performance on track. Powerful, consistent brakes that have been well engineered will see your car perform at its best, corner after corner, lap after lap, and keep you safe as well.
We have tried brakes from various manufacturers, both OE and aftermarket and, as fate would have it, none we found more impressive on track than the pads that were fitted to an MX5 we added to the fleet in 2014.
Having done an initial track test of the car and been mightily impressed with outright braking performance as well as consistency and feel, I called the previous owner to discuss the braking products fitted to the car. I was advised that they were from a manufacturer called 'Stoptech', a little known brand and the pads had apparently been ordered from the USA.
Now, Stoptech a better known in the UK now than they were back in 2014, however they are not as widely quoted by trackday enthusiasts as EBC, Brembo or Ferodo products. Now, not taking anything away from the aforementioned (we also use Ferodo products on some applications), we found, on track at least, that Stoptech was outperforming everything apart from the full race pads we use on our Porsche race car (CL Brakes) and are highly competitive against these, too.
As with our tyres, fluids and other consumables, we have to strike the right balance between cost and performance, which will enable us to continue charging competitive rates for our car hires and driver training packages.
However, unlike with most things in life, we found that the Stoptech applications we fit to our cars are not only the best performing on the market when up to temperature, but also cost effective enough for us to absorb the upgrade costs into our existing package prices. Therefore you benefit from the best braking technology and continually affordable prices for our services.
Of course, trackday pads are inherently compromised to benefit on track performance. Therefore, we may not recommend our pads for everyday road car use. Please consider your own priorities when choosing your braking products, as a general rule pads designed to work when hot are not particularly good when cold.
Unfortunately Stoptech do not cater for all applications, so whilst we enjoy Stoptech performance brakes on our BMW M3s, Honda S2000 / Integra DC2 track and Mazda MX5 NB track cars, they are unfortunately unavailable for our track special Ariel Atom and Caterham 7. For these applications we utilise Ferodo and Alcon components which we have also successfully track tested and are happy to supply.
For advice or supply of braking components for your performance car, get in touch.
