brake pad inspection
 

maybe this is more obvious and i have too much newbspace in my head but how do i check how much pad life i have? on my stis it was very obvious, on my 545i with non-race brakes it is too, as well as other cars i've seen without race brakes. yet with the brz caliper design i can't casually glance in there and see how much pad is left, and in fact it seems like i won't be able to after even removing the wheel and sticking my noggin in. so what's the good way to tell before i go on to a race track and slide off into a wall? i certainly don't want to pop off the caliper any time i want to take a look. i'm not sure if the back is like this too now that i think about it, i haven't even tried to look at that one, but the front certainly seems non-obvious to me...

You can tell fairly well once you take off the wheel. It's still not greatly visible but visible enough. At that point it's just one more bolt to be really sure though. If that's too much prep work for track events then I'm not sure what else to suggest :)

You should be able to remove the wheel and look through the hole in the caliper just like Dave said. You might need a light to get a good view though!

Tech lines at HPDE have been dumbfounded trying to check pad thickness. They just have to trust me when I say I've checked them that morning.
Kind of a pain in the ass but on the upside being forced to swing up the caliper allows you to see both inside and outside pads, as well as become aware of any uneven wear.

what about during the day? 2 day weekend? blah. such a pain in this car.

I no longer care. I can see just fine on my brakes, the OEMs not so much though.

did you put on a bbk or something?