[DeTomaso] round table pizza car

[Mike Drew]

Rich,

Great report!

I question your assertion that your brakes aren’t good enough. Before you invest in bigger wheels and tires to support bigger brakes, I would first try to optimize what you have. 

Does their performance fade over time? If so you have a brake cooling issue, most likely. Get creative with fresh air ducting. You could also be barbecuing your pads because of poor pad choice.

If your brakes are never good enough, ask yourself why? Do you have a solid or mushy pedal? The pedal cluster is set up for power assist. Did you ‘improve’ the brakes by removing the power brake booster? Because of the pedal leverage ratio, you likely won’t have enough leg force to actuate the calipers properly. Put the booster back in. 

If you already have the booster hooked up, what about brake pad compound? Wilwood themselves offer numerous different compounds, never mind the dozens of aftermarket companies out there.

I have a heavy (relative to your car) Pantera equipped with 15-inch wheels, Hoosier slicks and Wilwood brakes.  I use the Wilwood Smartpad BP-20 compound as a compromise between street and track performance, but if it was a dedicated track car I might consider something else. I have run Laguna Seca which is notoriously hard on brakes, as there are four mega braking zones on each lap.  

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I have never had a hint of brake problems, even coming down from 140 mph to 30 mph, lap after lap. So I would urge you to analyze what you have and take the necessary steps to make it work?

Mike

Sent from my iPad

> On Jun 7, 2020, at 17:59, Rich Hoppe <richbhoppe at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>    Let me start by saying I wanted the car to run at the Fun Rally and in
>   Jan when I put gas in it the 2000 dollar fuel cells let the fuel run on
>   the floor of my garage.
>   So it took 4 months to get the fuel cells custom built again for 3200
>   dollars.
>   I had the car on the Apex motorsports club track for the first time on
>   Sat and it ran great.
>   I was running with all the $150k-$250k Porsche's RS c or something but
>   I it did not embarrass the mark.
>   Porsche guys came up to me and said that car sounds so good.A  I was
>   driving kind of easy short shifting atA  6500A  to 7000.A  Max hp is
>   7800.
>   A
>   It is a lot of car for this wheel man.A A  I need to install better
>   brakes and newer tires.
>   I have michelin sport cups but racing slicks would be better.
>   I thought I wanted to be able to install the original 15 inch race
>   wheels that came with the car so decided to not install bigger rotors.
>   I have wilwood brakes with rotors that fit under 15 inch wheel. Not big
>   enough
>   Some of the Porsche's are better than this driver on the curvesA  but
>   not by much and on the straights I show horsepower advantage.
>   So it was a great day. Only scared myself a few times.A  No spins. Each
>   lap is about 140 mph
>   I have been out on the track before with my Porsche 944 Turbo and I
>   have spun each time out. The turbo and the balance of the car trick
>   me.A
>   I tell people and I believe that the Pantera has a little bit of Devil
>   in it so I am trying to be moreA  careful when I drive it than the
>   porsche.
>   It was only 72 to 93 degrees in Phoenix so it was a good day to run and
>   it was fun. I started a7 am and was done by 10;30.A  I am going to be
>   70 years old why do I still like to do this?
>   Rich
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