sharkster

This silver 2007 GT3 has lived an incredibly active life around NorCal's loop thanks to SnowBoarder. She's been in a few magazines including Excellence and 9Magazine (more on this soon) so you may have seen her around. She's as good a looking car that's been driven properly as I've seen. It was actually the very first 997 GT3 I ever drove back in late 2006 and some 50,000plus miles later she's back here again for another round of goodies.


She's made the 250mile trip south a few times over the years to get the light weight flywheel conversion, Sharkwerks exhaust and 13,000 miles ago our 3.9L engine too. We've also monitored and/or changed out some of the factory components along the way due to natural wear and tear which included the Bilstein coil overs and RSS suspension links however after all this her factory/original brakes were _finally_ needing some attention. Anyone that knows Snowboarder knows that he has an affinity for the gas pedal, turning, accelerating and yet his right foot rarely touches the brakes I have to say I'm impressed how long they lasted. He's been lusting over PCCB's but in lieu of those factory units a nice set of Brembo GT 380mm x 32 6-piston front and 380mm x 28rear 4-piston brakes should make for a fun test-case scenario. There's some good weight savings (specifically a reduction in rotational mass) to be had along with improved braking performance on offer with these larger/thicker rotors and pistons on the calipers.

In she comes:


Off come the stock calipers, rotors, lines in front etc..



And of course the rear:


Here's the factory 355mm one piece rotor which weighs in at 24.3 pounds:


And the two piece 380mm (15-inch) front rotors at 19.62 pounds:


Side by side there's a nice difference in size:


The factory front caliper comes in at 12.76 pounds:


The larger replacement Brembo caliper, showing that larger can also mean lighter still (11.96 pounds):


And then the calipers off vs going on:


A real-world comparison on the stock rear GT3 one piece rotor vs the two piece 380mm rear rotor. The factory rear is 21.26 pounds per corner:


Here's the replacement Brembo unit coming in at 17.3 pounds:


A good indicator of the difference:


And here's the stock rear caliper which comes in at 8.6pounds:


And now vs the larger Brembo rear caliper 8.9 pounds:


I did say larger...


Fronts installed with Goodrich stainless steel brake lines:


Rears next:


Overall that's a 17.3pound reduction in unsprung rotational mass as far as the rotors go. The larger calipers come in about a pound lighter overall as well. We'll be monitoring Snowboarder's progress in terms of pad combination and performance over the next 50,000 miles. It has to be said the factory brakes are/were indeed world class so these have a lot to live up to. We have actually used this very same set up on other powerful TT's as well that have destroyed their PCCB's (including calipers) over the years and those 700hp cars/owners have been happy with their performance/life at the track thus far.

Finally a set of HRE Competition Series C93 wheels have been added/updated over the previous C21's. These are also considerably lighter than factory but in brushed/clear centers and clear outers I think they look pretty darn sweet!

A close up of the new HRE C93's in front:


And mounted in the rear:


Clearance for the fronts:




And all ready to go:






The only thing left is for SnowBoarder to go with the track exhaust. You can have mine. I'm deaf!

911dev

Stunning!!!! I love the brakes and wheels. Cost for each?

Carrera GT

380mm fronts.
Not bad.

sharkster

Running for cover on that one;( Brake kit like this is mid 7K or so. The wheels in the 6K range.
Aye they work! Early reports are he's digging them. Then again he doesn't use brakes that often.

I have to say for all the miles, power, driving etc.. I was pleasantly surprised by just how well the stockers did!

CRex

I had these (Brembo GTs) on my old M3 but when the time came for my 997.1RS I went for Brembo Type-IIIs to retain compatibility with the OEM PCCB calipers.

Whereas I've tracked those Type IIIs hard and found them utterly bullet-proof (15+ hot laps and no fade) my experience with the GTs have been largely limited to street driving. (I may have just incriminated myself as a poseur haven't I?)

I wonder how do these two (GT vs. Type III) compare in an apples-to-apples environment?

stevecolletti

Very nice! The car just keeps getting better.

mklaskin

Great combination. Love the wheels.

Mind if I ask what the Goodrich brake line kit costs? I think you understand why...

mooty

mustache man has the BEST 7.1 GT3 out there period. it's used daily and whipped as she should be.

salute.

sin911

Looks nice! I'm surprised that his calipers didn't turn purple over the years and miles

I'd stay away from the track exhaust as well, too loud.

Alex, what's the difference between the C21 and C93? Just curious...

911dev

I know I have a disease when I make myself believe that's cheap because I was expecting a higher price on the brakes.

sharkster

Hey CRex, roger that on the Type III's. Very nice system/update whether you have PCCB's or Steelies. I've asked/requested that very same question of Brembo and the 6-piston monoblok GT caliper was designed to work with their slotted or drilled rotor is the answer I get (I can go into more detail as to why) and they still feel that a GT Kit will outperform a Steel with Type III set up and/or at least closely match a PCCB replacement. As far as real-world we've had a bunch of 997TT and couple of GT3 guys with PCCB's that were toasted (including the calipers) switch to these and they're getting more life out of them (and cheaper I guess) and haven't noticed any significant difference (a good thing).

It really does Steve... when are you heading up here so we can all go for a fun run up the coast:P

Thanks man! They come with the brake kit (included in Brembo's boxing etc...) but if sold by themselves I'd guess maybe $200 for a pair?

He's for sure going to really see just what these things can do as well as the new tires

Haha yes.. as I was saying he doesn't seem to use brakes often:P

The C21 was HRE's first competition line and the 93 is the replacement. It's a pound lighter (and also stronger centers) with some motorsport-style milling of the spokes and back pad. It's quite similar tho.

Haha yes you do! I was thinking of getting a set of GTR brakes when I found out they were 18K I decided to retrofit my old GTR kit on to the 6gt3.

Snowboarder54

Hey Alex, I didn’t realize you took all those photos! The brakes are absolutely incredible! I now wish I had done this several years ago, I had a great time yesterday hanging out with you guys and want to thank everyone for making me feel at home, James for the caring way he always looks after my car, Dan for always helping me with my computer questions, Emily for doing all the clean-up on my old parts and especially you and Joan for relieving of my money, oh and the loan of your Audi to get to my meeting! Talk about customer service, it doesn’t get any better then this! By the way, my accountant doesn’t like you guys, he refers to you as my “drug dealer friends”, I tried to explain that drugs would be way more expensive, but he says he doesn’t believe that.

It was a great day; new “Big Yellows” I stopped at Infineon on the way home to top off with 14 gals of 100 then swung by my tire guys and had him mount my new Michelin SS’s! It was a great drive home, although I didn’t get there until 11:30! (and had to get up at 5:00am yesterday and this morning, that's hard on us old guys) As I said the brakes are superb, better then my expectations. Thanks to you guys for hooking me up.

By the time I got out of the tire shop it was dark and my installer always warns me not to cook the new tires the first 24 hours as there is a chance you can rotate the tires on the rims as he uses a lot of lube when he mounts tires on “expensive” rims. So I had a reasonable drive home, at least by my standards. So I can’t give a full report on the SS’s yet. Two things I know I don’t like about them already is that they are heavy compared to the MPSC’s, fronts are 5 ¼ lbs more and rears 5 ¾, but those were much worn out MPSC’s we were comparing them too! Still all things considered they are heeeavy!!
Second is they aren’t exactly beautiful, but I personally don’t think any tire is as handsome as the MPSC’s! My initial impression is that they may work for my type of driving but the jury is still out. I plan on giving them a proper thrashing this weekend. What the heck, Damon told me I have 30 days to try them and if I don’t like them for any reason within that time I can send them back for a full refund! I’ll post an update on the tires once I give them a few miles.

FFaust

AND back!!!

Such as, "it's been only 30 days, and they're already bald"

Congratulations Ralph, very tasteful and functional upgrades.

Yoops Racing

drool.........

sharkster

Haha... I could honestly see that line coming:P

hey ralph seriously it's always a thrill having you come down... you're always up to something eh:P I wonder if you'll use these brakes more than the stockers eh? They do have great bite and at least some weight came off vs adding it with the tires.... I'll be interested to read your experience with these as it'll help us all

And don't worry the money went straight into the Rolls Royce Charity Fund!