roto-molding is expensive. :)

Thanks Guys.

I put together a page on our blog explaining the pad options for our Competition Systems. Hopefully that clears up any questions or confusion about what pads are available. I used some of the info from one of my previous posts, but also went into greater depth on the 'why's. :thumbsup:

Thanks for the suggestions. We aren't in the plastics business, but we are examining options. We are certainly open to partnering with the right business to produce the parts our customers want.:happy0180:

Can't wait to get my hands on a sprint kit. :)

Jeff - I just saw a post on FB from APR Performance about some brake duct bezels they have in development. I don't think I can post the FB pic here but here's the link on FB. Looks like a good, clean solution.

https://www.facebook.com/aprperformance

Arnie - nice find! I'm curious to see the backside of that kit. I'm hoping its compatible with the usual hose diameter that most people use with their ducting. Respectively I hope Essex's kit works with that type of hose and isn't a one-off custom bit.

Thanks for the link Arnie...that looks cool indeed. I'd also love to see the backside, as there's not much room to work in there.

On the FB page, APR wrote 'This will fit a 3" high temp. brake hose to feed air-flow to your hot brakes on the track."

Three inch hose is a generally accepted standard size, what we currently use in racing, and what we will be using in our application.:thumbsup:

Cheers Jeff! Very cool they are using the 3" standard hose size. Maybe you can contact them directly to get some insider info. And since they are still in the developmental stage maybe, as a brake manufacturer, you can add your input before things are finalized.

Hi Jeff, due to my race category rules I have to run no bigger than the standard diameter 294mm I believe.. can I use the comp calipers on a standard disc or one of yours about the same.. I am sure I could fudge it to 300mm ??
If not I need to keep looking..
Thanks
Chris

I imagine, technically speaking, the piston size of that caliper is matched specifically to that diameter to maintain proper brake bias. So even if you were to get the bracket machined so the caliper could fit the smaller rotor it might not be ideal. I guess the question is would those few mm's be within reason for a decent brake bias, or would even that amount of change throw things off significantly?

Hi Chris,
I obviously haven't seen the rules for your class/series, but if you are limited to the "OEM-sized" discs, you'll likely run into issues with disc width as well. The USDM stockers are only 24-25mm wide I believe, while our Competition Systems are using a 32mm wide disc. The sanctioning body will likely not go for that much added thermal capacity...but it just depends on how the rules are worded, etc.

That said, I can special order different variants of the CP8350 that are narrower. To address Arnie's point on brake bias, the narrower CP8350's also have a range of piston sizes available that would mate up to the smaller diameter discs to ensure appropriate bias. We would just have to do the math to determine the appropriate size, so no problems there.

Also, AP Racing has a range of brake discs in the 290mm-295mm range that would match the narrower version of the CP8350 caliper. You'd be on your own for fabricating the appropriate caliper mounting brackets and disc hats to get the parts on the car though. Shoot me an email and I can present some more detailed options to you. Thanks.

Or, if he really wants a 4-pot while remaining with that rotor diameter, he could just use the OEM Subaru 4 pot and some 2 piece standard rotors like DBA's. Or the fancier AP Racing Group N 4 pot. Woot!

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/8...ow2ftasam8.jpg

I figured this was the case. I honestly was thinking that a smaller size would be sufficient and easier to route. I know the guys at APR well. If we need more info, let me know, but this seems really straight forward.

Is there an eta on these?

I've 3 dates at Silverstone coming up.

I can't give any firm dates yet, but we are supposed to do field testing next week on both Competition Systems. If all goes well, they will go into production immediately thereafter.:thumbsup:

@JRitt
About 30 years ago I was friends with a guy who was into hill climbing in a big way. We were discussing brakes and he said brake ducting on road cars was a bad idea. The story went something like this: if you were using hard pads on a street car they would never get up to temperature and when you used them on a track thermal shock was much greater (i.e. a much faster heating and cooling cycle). He said this wasn't a problem with race cars because the discs were replaced often but if you didn't replace them they were more prone to cracking.
Your thoughts please.

Brake ducts on a road car are not a bad idea, you just have to know how to manage them. When a disc is run on the track, the iron expands quite a bit due to heat. When it cools off, it shrinks. The constant heating and cooling, growing and contracting, is what stresses the metal and causes it to crack. Since cooling ducts provide greater airflow and cooling to the discs, they increase the rate of cooling.

Ideally, your discs and pads would maintain a nice steady temperature on the track, without any violent swings upward or downward in temperature. In that situation, the consistency of the brakes would be very good...pads and discs stay at the same temp, and maintain a consistent mu (coefficient of friction). The discs aren't oscillating up and down in temperature, so they aren't as prone to cracking.

Race teams keep a close watch on brake temperatures, and they shoot to eliminate wild swings in temperature. They have a target temperature range based on the pads and overall brake setup they are running for a given track. They can adjust how much cooling air is allowed into the brake ducts, by blocking the duct inlets on the front of the car. If you watch a race at certain tracks, you'll see brake ducts that are partially (or even fully) blocked off.

On a track that is really tough on brakes, you may need as much cooling air as possible, just to keep the brakes in a temperature range where they aren't fading. On a different track however, you may have one very high speed, hard stop, followed by long straights and some low speed stops. In such a case, the brakes would have plenty of time to cool down, even without ducting. If the ducts are wide open, they could introduce so much cool air that the pads don't work as well by the time the car gets back to the hard stop (most race pads don't work great cold...mu varies by temperature), and the discs will get quite a shock going from rather cool (several hundred degrees F) to very hot (possibly 1200F+) during the short time span of that stop. In that case, it would make sense to not use the ducts, in order to keep some heat in the pads and discs during the cooler running portion of the track. That way the upward temp swing isn't as great when you get back to the hard stop, and the pads are already closer to their ideal operating temp.

Also keep in mind that pro race cars have different setups for different tracks. In NASCAR for example, they run heavy duty equipment on a road course like Watkins Glen, whereas on a super speedway that isn't so tough on brakes, they'll run the lightest equipment possible...different calipers, discs, and pads.

For most of the enthusiast, track day, club race guys like us, we don't have the luxury of multiple brake setups. We have one setup, and we have to make it work the best we can. We can use disc paint, which shows the max temp. the discs have reached. Caliper temperature stickers are also available, and you can have a friend check temps with a pyrometer in the hot pits. That is all valuable info to get an understanding of how your brakes are working and the temps they are reaching. Real-time temperature collection is more difficult and expensive.

Then you have to interpret that data based on the tracks you're running and the demands you are placing on the brakes. Are you having any pad fade, are you exceeding the max temps. recommended for the pads you're running, is your pedal getting mushy (fluid fade)??? Then you can decide if you need more or less cooling air, size of duct opening, etc. It's something that takes time and experimentation until you can really dial it in, but every car setup, track, and driver is different. What works for one person in a certain situation, may not be ideal for the next.

Only reason I could see brake ducts being bad on the street would be if your pad selection was such that they never got into their effective temp range on the street. This could eat rotors and not stop effectively. But with the proper pad selection this wouldn't be an issue. It goes without saying though, that brake ducts on the street would be boarderline pointless if you never put the car on the track.

Well unless you do very spirited driving on canyons and use the brakes a lot. Twisted sisters pass around my area has you using the brakes a lot during the downhill which is 12 miles long, but there are only so many few high speed sections that the ducts will get enough air to cool the brakes. So i agree in a part that for street driving they might be pointless but for the track i see them as a necessity specially if you live in a place where you track the car with temps over 100F. Cant wait for an oil cooler for this car as well.

Hi Guys,
A quick update: I haven't posted much this past week, but we have been hard at work on our brake system development. We had the car out on Wednesday for testing our Competition Systems. They performed flawlessly during the tests. I had a chance to put in a little wheel time on them, and they felt awesome. Check out some of the details on our blog.

We're full speed ahead on these, and we'll have them on track very soon for a few more evaluations. I'll post more info as we progress. Thanks for your patience!

http://www.essexpartsblog.com/media//BRZ_incoming.jpg
http://www.essexpartsblog.com/media//Sprint_bedin.jpg

We are happy to see AP making good progress on FR-S/BRZ BBK's.

These are actually designed by Essex and only use AP calipers and AP J hook rotors. The rest of the kit is completely Essex engineered and manufactured. There are separate AP racing kits that are completely different then these made by AP.

Any idea how much of my arm or leg I need to cut off for this kit?

Nothing wrong with that.

Agreed, these are much better then the kits AP will be offering. If you are serious about tracking your car that is.

Definitely looking forward to this kit. Just went to the track running Carbotech XP8s - and while the pads were good this car definitely could use a brake upgrade. Totally cooked the brakes, haha.

Hi Guys,
After we got back from testing last week, we decided to confirm the weight of our Sprint Competition Brake System for the BRZ/FR-S. We put all of the brake components from an entire front corner of the car on the scale, and found that our Sprint System saves 10lbs. of unsprung weight per corner. That's 20 lbs. off the nose of the car, and a nice shift in front to rear weight balance.

OEM brakes total weight per front corner= 31.2 lbs.
Essex Sprint Brake System total weight per front corner= 21 lbs.

:party0030:
http://www.essexpartsblog.com/media//OESystemweight.jpg
http://www.essexpartsblog.com/media/...tkitweight.jpg

I should have the Endurance System on the scale next week (it's on the car now). On that one we're likely looking at a 4-5 lbs. savings per corner vs. stock, which is also more than we initially anticipated.

jeez. ignoring the upgrade in braking performance, you can feel 20lbs of unsprung weight in many cars. that's awesome.

Wow. Well done.

- Andrew

Will have.

@JRitt
I appreciate the rear brakes aren't subject to as much abuse as the fronts but do you think there is any chance of Essex Parts doing a kit for the rear? Not so much for braking but weight reduction?

I love that rainbow on the disc - it proves you've been pushing really hard on the testing

cheers for your care for your finished product reliability !

10 lbs of unsprung weight per front corner, that is huge!

Thanks guys. Yes. We are looking at options for the rear. Our first priority is finishing development on the front setups, as that is where the most need obviously is. After we're done there, we'll be looking at the rear and seeing what we can do. Anything we do in the rear will be designed to work seamlessly with our front systems. That said, the big issue with the rear is the parking brake. Eliminating it would make things easy, but retaining it (which most people want), makes it tricky.

yeah. I want a 2 piece rotor for the rear for weight. But I'm not sure how I feel about aluminum. If you accidentally left the parking brake engaged, would your be eating up the e brake pad? or would the e brake pad be eating the aluminum hat?

You'd be eating the aluminium. The only aftermarket kit I've seen that addresses the drum parking brake has a steel/iron/whatever liner pressed into the inside of the hat.

I'd personally be happy with a caliper kit so they visually match front to rear.

Hi Guys,
I haven't updated in a while...sorry for the silence...been very busy!

Our Essex Competition Brake Systems are officially in production! We're shooting for late this month/early next month. The Sprint System will mostly likely be released shortly before the Endurance System (we had to go back and make some revisions to the brake duct inlet).

I will be announcing final pricing very soon. We are most likely going to do a pre-order special deal. I'm looking at some options now. Thanks for your patience. :happy0180:

:thumbsup:
thanking you in anticipation!

Yes, as long as the natural brake bias doesn't shift too much to the front (A function of piston diameter, effective disk diameter and swept area/coefficient of friction) and the main benefits of the AP system are increased heat capacity and feel as opposed to vastly increased braking torque (Remember, you can only brake as hard as your tires can grip. I could lock up all 4 on my old Impreza with the dinky sliding calipers. It just didn't feel so great), then just making a bracket and caliper to fit the stock rear rotors would be perfect.

That said, I've seen pressed in liners as well and it seems to be a good enough solution as long as you're not using the e-brake rally style, and in that case you should really be using a hydraulic system anyway.

Nathan

Thanks Jeff, I'm ready to get on the preorder list. :)

+1 for the Endurance here. Did you ever get final weights for that one?