Quote:
Originally Posted by rice_classic
To me this suggests that professional race cars don't have brakes that are big enough since so many run ducting... But that's not why I'm here.
I need to the see the math or the data to flesh out how lowering the equilibrium = increases temperature spikes. Do you have a resource for this Mike? My experience from the hundreds of cars that run ducting here in the Pacific Northwest is that brake ducting, even on cars with massive rotors, is always good and you can never get enough of it. Rotors/pads/fluid all last substantially longer as a result. I will add that in the PacNW, we don't have any tracks with excessively long straights that we would ever run on in very cold weather. So what you speak of simply may not be a concern in this neck of the woods.
But then again, maybe all cars are under-braked if that's the case? That's sort of tongue-in-cheek.. If the rotor doesn't need cooling (or the temp variations are too extreme) then the ducting can still be of benefit in keeping bearing/axle/caliper temps down.
I would also like to know more about how ducting cause your rotor failure and what part of the rotor the ducting was pointed at. I hope it was pointed at the center. I see people who point their ducting right at the face of the rotor blade and IMHO, it's a poor choice to unevenly cool a rotor, just as it to unevenly heat one. Or were you on a track in the dead of winter with a really long straight followed by a 30mph hairpin?
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It really depends on what net effect of the ducting is.
For example, the S2000 has ducts to bring down the equilibrium point low enough that aggressive race pads will not fade, but because the equilibrium temperature is so high, the result is rotors that crack quickly.
On our BRZ with the AP Endurance kit, the braking system is oversized for the car, and ducting is again utilized to bring down the equilibrium temperature, but this time it is so that we can use less aggressive pads without fading. The side benefit is that
we can almost use street pads at our current power levels and tires.
Most race cars are using ducting to bring the equilibrium point down to reduce wear, not to prevent fade. The ducts do the same thing, but for different reasons.