AFF 2005 Brake Test

**russellw** · 06-08-2005, 10:14 PM

Thanks to the kind assistance of xa-coupe, Laminge, Trevor Haines (TeamGT) and Russell at Heathcote Park we have completed testing of three different BA braking systems today.

The article can be found HERE

I'll get some pics posted up later this evening.
Please post comments and questions in this thread.

Regards
Russ

wulos · 06-08-2005, 11:04 PM

A VERY informative article guys. WELL DONE on compiling all the data. Quite interesting to note the oddball results @ the 100km tests.
A little suprised that the results were so cut & dried actually - thought that there wouldnt be such a dramatic performance difference - but the results DO speak for themselves!!!
Anyone care to supply an EA for 160-0 brake testing?? I know of a good 50m braking area that ends with a concrete wall to conduct the brake test upon.(also need a volunteer to pilot though)

Filthy GT-P · 06-08-2005, 11:34 PM

As usual Russell and all of the people who took part and assisted excellent work and unbiased presentation of the data in an easy to read and understand format.

Having just gone through my first set of pads and discs on my GT-P I was a bit surprised at the cost, but what price can you put on your and your loved ones lives. The brembo package may be expensive, but from personal experience and your report they really do work.

Regards

Steven

SpoolMan · 06-08-2005, 11:37 PM

Thats a awesome write up some Real informative data, at 100 k's there isn't a lot of difference like some of the slower speeds.
Good work guy's, xa-coupe, Laminge, Russ, Trevor Haines & Heathcote Park Raceway.

**russellw** · 06-08-2005, 11:47 PM

The photos from the day are up now and can be found HERE

Cheers
Russ

DOC · 07-08-2005, 12:10 AM

An informative test / article, appreciate the time taken by the guys involved and thier willingness to share the results for all.

JC · 07-08-2005, 12:47 PM

Great article Russ. I don't suppose you'd have any data for AU1 XR8, AU2/3 XR8 with standard brakes, and then each with premium brakes just to compare. I would imagine the AU1 to AU2/3 differences would be along the lines of BAXR8 to GT-P differences.

It would also be worth comparing a stock BAXR8 with aftermarket (DBA or RDA) slotted and/or cross drilled rotors, to see if this is an economical and effective upgrade to standard brakes - and to see how close this setup gets to either the premium (possible) or Brembo (dreaming) setups.

**russellw** · 07-08-2005, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JCXR8

Great article Russ. I don't suppose you'd have any data for AU1 XR8, AU2/3 XR8 with standard brakes, and then each with premium brakes just to compare. I would imagine the AU1 to AU2/3 differences would be along the lines of BAXR8 to GT-P differences.

It would also be worth comparing a stock BAXR8 with aftermarket (DBA or RDA) slotted and/or cross drilled rotors, to see if this is an economical and effective upgrade to standard brakes - and to see how close this setup gets to either the premium (possible) or Brembo (dreaming) setups.

As you can imagine the logisitcs for this type of testing are fairly demanding. Having said that if enough people are prepared to volunteer suitable cars then I'm happy to run another set of tests to collate that data.

I'd suggest the following as a reasonable comparison:

AU with standard brakes
AU with Premium brakes (ie: AU1/2 T-Series or XR8 with the option package)
AU/BA with DBA brake package
AU/BA with RDA brake package
AU3 with Brembo package

To make this work we would require the following:

1. Weighbridge weights (without driver) for all the cars to establish ballast requirements.
2. A control set of tyres/rims for all cars to use. Easy enough for all except the AU Brembos which require different wheel offsets.
3. Similar track conditions to the BA set run yesterday or a re-run of the BA set along with the AU's.

A set of 10 runs (and I don't know that I'd want to run a stock braked AU to 160 km/h and still stop in time) takes about 20 minutes to complete so even the 5 vejicles listed above would require three and a half hours plus cool down time for the tyres.

If you find enough volunteers or interested people want to respond to me via PM then we can schedule a time.

Regards
Russ

LG · 07-08-2005, 01:46 PM

Top effort, real handy. And goes to show, that even with the added weight of the GT/GT-P, the better brakes still pull up better. Also shows a true indication of how long/far it takes to stop a car.

Thanks guys

**russellw** · 07-08-2005, 01:49 PM

One of the other interesting pieces of data was the total elapsed time (and distance) for the 0 to 160 and back to 0 runs. The cars weren't being driven hard in the acceleration phase.

The first graph below looks at the total elapsed times for all 3 vehicles but it should be noted that there are variances in the peak speed for each.

The second chart looks at the same numbers but this time for total elapsed distance.

Cheers
Russ

parawolf · 07-08-2005, 02:36 PM

Russell, as per usual, an excellent article.

What would be REALLY interesting as a thought, would be to see how the distances compare with say 1/2 used pads or similar.

This certainly goes to show, any car that has had $$$ spend on upgrading the engine, its bound to be a death trap without a decent set of stoppers.

**russellw** · 07-08-2005, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by parawolf

Russell, as per usual, an excellent article.

What would be REALLY interesting as a thought, would be to see how the distances compare with say 1/2 used pads or similar.

This certainly goes to show, any car that has had $$$ spend on upgrading the engine, its bound to be a death trap without a decent set of stoppers.

The theory today would say that there should be no noticeable drop in braking performance as pads wear - we didn't make any effort to equalise the pad wear for this reason and each vehicle was running on various levels of used pads - over 1/3rd for the GT, similar for the GT-p and I'm not sure about the XR-8.

With consistent pad material throughout the wear cycle and calipers designed to keep the piston / pad up near the rotor you'd expect little drop off in performance.

Cheers
Russ

XA-Coupe · 07-08-2005, 05:48 PM

I had pads with almost no wear.

XR6ST · 07-08-2005, 10:19 PM

Great review, very well done. I have one question - what tyres were on each vehicle? Having read several tyre tests from motoring magazines over the past few years where they have carried out measured braking distance tests using different brands of tyre on the same vehicle, it appears different tyres can affect braking distances quite markedly.

XA-Coupe · 08-08-2005, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XR6ST

Great review, very well done. I have one question - what tyres were on each vehicle? Having read several tyre tests from motoring magazines over the past few years where they have carried out measured braking distance tests using different brands of tyre on the same vehicle, it appears different tyres can affect braking distances quite markedly.

Well used SP9000s on both the GT and GT-P and SP3000s on mine.

**russellw** · 15-08-2005, 09:56 PM

The report has been updated with some further analysis of the data.

HERE

xdc351 · 15-08-2005, 11:16 PM

Brilliant work as always.

Certainly shows why Cam's brembo equiped GT-P nearly had 30 or so XD shaped impressions left in the back of his car after last years 3 day cruise! They must be stopping at least 5m better than the older cars. I'd be interested to run an absoloutly irrelevent comparison if you do another one of these tests just to see what the difference is.

shane3 · 16-08-2005, 04:41 PM

With the GT and GT-P did they have the standard brake lines? Or stainless steel braided lines? As I know that they help with braking, as the brakes don’t go soft and spongy.

anakha · 16-08-2005, 06:16 PM

What wheel/tyre combination was each car using and were the tyre pressures standardised?

XA-Coupe · 16-08-2005, 08:27 PM

both the GT and GT-P ran 18 inch SP9000s and I ran 17 inch SP3000s. The GT had different styled wheels but the same size. Both the XR8 and GT-P had factory wheels.
As for the pressures, mine were at their usual 40 psi and NFI about the others.

**russellw** · 16-08-2005, 09:33 PM

To add to xa's comments - all pressures were at 40 for the start of the test.

All vehicles had their standard brake lines which means stainless for the GT-p; braided for the GT and standard for the XR8.

Cheers
Russ

johnydep · 16-08-2005, 10:44 PM

Well done guys, I never realised how serious FF.au was about the technical side of all things automotive. I love it.

A suggestion; if you do anymore tests on anything, maybe you could have a parts/fuel cost section before hand, I wouldn't mind donating parts to help out. just a though.

And again, fantastic effort hope there's more to come.

Kev_BLNXR8_Ute · 28-08-2005, 01:22 PM

Just came accross this as i havent been on much of late.
Great article. I love it.

Any idea how much weight was added to the xr8.
I know the test was done with all the weights being the same but the xr8 is a lighter car and i would have liked to know how all three cars would differ with thier factory weight.
I dont mean to mock the test or want to start anything but to me as the cars get heavier the brake package gets better. I hope you can see what I'm trying to say.
We all know that the brembo's are the best on offer. If you fitted brembo's to an xr8 it should out brake a GT-P due to the xr being lighter.

Cheers .......Kev

XA-Coupe · 28-08-2005, 08:56 PM

The Xr8 was increased by one laminge weight .. the GT and GTP were increased by one XA Coupe weight. They should roughly have evened out.