I’ve just finished a fantastic weekend at Summit Point with PCA. For those of you that don’t know, this is one of the hardest tracks in the country on brakes…think Laguna Sceca hard, since there’s not much time to cool the brakes and you have 140->45 / 115->70 / 100->40 / 115->70 brake zones.
In the past I drove on this track (over 50 days) my E36 M3 track car, Audi RS3 (tunned to 500 HP), and 6Gen Camaro SS with 6 pistons kit, track pads and RE71R tiers. My best lap with the Camaro was 1:22xx (and I left a second on the table).
I drove 7/10th with the Blackwing this weekend on completely stock car besides brake fluid and alignment. Best time was 1:27 / PTM Sport. With brakes, tires, seat time and pushing harder I believe I can match the Camaro time, or get close.
The Good:
This car is a driving witchcraft. You point the wheel and go, so much stuff is happening in the background and make you drive like a hero. Is it good? Yes, because it feels very natural….but I know it’s just too good to be true. I had a blast and kept up with fast cars in my run group. This is the absolute best car to have as double duty daily driving and then just go to the track over the weekend and have some fun….I would not want to be in my stripped track E36 over this weekend without AC…. (low 90’s / 80%+ humidity).
Tires held up nicely. I started the session at 30 PSI and would end up around 35-37. They would start feeling greasy after 15 minutes, but still got me to 20 minutes session without any issue. After 8X20 min sessions, I would say that they have at least 8 more sessions in them. The outer shoulder will get corded, but the rest of the tread looks in a great shape. Tires communicated very well, and I would defiantly say that they are better than a normal Pilot 4S.
The brake pedal felt firm and secure. No issue with the clutch pedal. I took @Mirza Grebovic advice and put Brembo LCF in the car. No limping, no engine hiccups, oil temp did not go above 252F, no fuel starvation (I forgot to refuel and got a low fuel warning towards the end of my session).
The Bad:
The front brake pads lasted 8 X 20 minutes and not much left in them. At least I did not experience crazy pad tapper like I had with other heavy cars. I did confirm after the fact that the 4BW front pad size is 1405 – same as Camaro 1LE / C7 Grandsport (please note - track pads might not support the brake pad sensor). I guess for hard on brakes tracks you need to use track pads. I think for VIR / WGI stock will survive better.
Another point to mention - the engine sound is on the quiet side. Get your car with heads up display, or you will hit the rev limiter since it's hard to hear the revs. This is not an issue on street driving.
The Ugly:
Although the stock pads stayed intact, they had mini crumbles falling out of them. Since the stock rotors are not slotted, I got some bad 1mm deep grooves in my rotors (see pic below). I replaced the pads, but the brake judder is pretty bad right now. I hope it will go away with some hard braking / time, because I don’t want to replace $1200 worth of front rotors right now…
Comments / questions are welcome.
Cheers
In the past I drove on this track (over 50 days) my E36 M3 track car, Audi RS3 (tunned to 500 HP), and 6Gen Camaro SS with 6 pistons kit, track pads and RE71R tiers. My best lap with the Camaro was 1:22xx (and I left a second on the table).
I drove 7/10th with the Blackwing this weekend on completely stock car besides brake fluid and alignment. Best time was 1:27 / PTM Sport. With brakes, tires, seat time and pushing harder I believe I can match the Camaro time, or get close.
The Good:
This car is a driving witchcraft. You point the wheel and go, so much stuff is happening in the background and make you drive like a hero. Is it good? Yes, because it feels very natural….but I know it’s just too good to be true. I had a blast and kept up with fast cars in my run group. This is the absolute best car to have as double duty daily driving and then just go to the track over the weekend and have some fun….I would not want to be in my stripped track E36 over this weekend without AC…. (low 90’s / 80%+ humidity).
Tires held up nicely. I started the session at 30 PSI and would end up around 35-37. They would start feeling greasy after 15 minutes, but still got me to 20 minutes session without any issue. After 8X20 min sessions, I would say that they have at least 8 more sessions in them. The outer shoulder will get corded, but the rest of the tread looks in a great shape. Tires communicated very well, and I would defiantly say that they are better than a normal Pilot 4S.
The brake pedal felt firm and secure. No issue with the clutch pedal. I took @Mirza Grebovic advice and put Brembo LCF in the car. No limping, no engine hiccups, oil temp did not go above 252F, no fuel starvation (I forgot to refuel and got a low fuel warning towards the end of my session).
The Bad:
The front brake pads lasted 8 X 20 minutes and not much left in them. At least I did not experience crazy pad tapper like I had with other heavy cars. I did confirm after the fact that the 4BW front pad size is 1405 – same as Camaro 1LE / C7 Grandsport (please note - track pads might not support the brake pad sensor). I guess for hard on brakes tracks you need to use track pads. I think for VIR / WGI stock will survive better.
Another point to mention - the engine sound is on the quiet side. Get your car with heads up display, or you will hit the rev limiter since it's hard to hear the revs. This is not an issue on street driving.
The Ugly:
Although the stock pads stayed intact, they had mini crumbles falling out of them. Since the stock rotors are not slotted, I got some bad 1mm deep grooves in my rotors (see pic below). I replaced the pads, but the brake judder is pretty bad right now. I hope it will go away with some hard braking / time, because I don’t want to replace $1200 worth of front rotors right now…
Comments / questions are welcome.
Cheers
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