Dave (and others), thanks for the prompt. The track days were great. For me and the car, as much about sorting as performance, this was very first time out in anger. A number of things came up that required dealing with and have me started on a new ToDo list. Before I get to the brakes, other things I learned/happened.
A week prior to the event the clutch arm failed. I have an external clutch slave to clutch arm, rod/fork arrangement. The geometry on the slave to clutch arm was the culprit and bent the clutch arm to the point of failure. With the substantial help of Randall at Performance Unlimited in Wisconsin, I removed the arm, he took the bent disaster and straightened then reinforced with steel and tig welded the whole mess back together (many hours contained in that one sentence). This had me sure I wasn't getting the car in the trailer up until a few hours before departure. But the fix worked perfectly and I adjusted some of the geometry to prevent a repeat performance. Would not have made it without his help.
Due to this, I didn't get around to getting other pads to try..
Definitely need Valve covers vented into a catch can/breather arrangement. After 4-5 laps of going hard, the breather was overwhelmed by oil rich blow by and started to spit oil onto the headers. #smokescreen. 99% was coming from the rear valve breather cap. I McGyver'd a solution together by creating a remote breather setup with 3' of hose sealed to the valve cover to get me through the two days (thanks Ace Hardware). Worked fine, now time to make a permanent solution.
Now to the brakes. I had the factory installed pads that I am sure are the BP20's. Wear was high. I'm up for new pads. Feel was OK but more pedal action/movement than brake fade was apparent after 4-6 laps. As this was outing #1, I wasn't going full steam, but pretty quick. With a better pad and some work on bleeding and feel prior to the next event I feel I will be able to go in deeper with more confidence.
So sorry, no comparisons yet. Next outing I plan to have a few different compounds to try.
Good news side:
- Car ran great. I have the webers working well. Engine was flawless. Sound - intoxicating.
- Gear shifts were very slick on the way up. Need to work on footwork for heel and toe as I downshift in tricky corners. Got better as the weekend progressed
- Suspension set up felt really good first time out. Bump and Rebound settings were good. Grip, turn in and balance were great. Easy to predict and throttle steer through the corners with confidence.
- Driving position was comfortable. Will be adding a 5 point going forward and make sure I can get them tight. The G's makes staying in the seat a chore unless I'm really snug in there.
I know that's a little be of drift from a brake pads discussion, but hopefully useful context and info.