M758

spaze... the thing with NA is that even stock the brakes stop the car very very well. Unlike the STI the cars are light and have 1/2 the hp (or less).

Therefore compare a hard brake zone entry in the 944 vs the STI.

Brakes are there to dispate energy. Both the STI and 944 are tire limited with right pads. That means than you can lock the brakes on these cars (of kick in the ABS). So braking performance comes down to heat management on a track.

The STI will enter the braking zone faster since it has more Hp.

So ...........................................944.......... STI
weight as raced........................2650...........3300
Speed At the braking point =.... 110..............140
Speed at turn in point = ............50.................45 (why? heavier and still a 'street car"
Speed to burn off by the brakes..60................95 mph
Initial Kinetic Energy KE= mv^2=32,065,000..64,680,000 (Wow Double the Energy)
KE at Turn in ........................6,625,00.........6,682,500 ( Interestinly about the same)
Engery take in to brakes = 25,440,000.....57,997,500 More than double

So the 944 brakes only need to disipate about 43% of the energy the STI does for the same hard braking zone. Hmm... so that is why the 944 NA brakes while being rather boring looking work quite well on these cars. Adding ducting and running good pads is all you need to make then work very very well.

Matt H

If you are still interested I have calipers and rotors from a car I will be parting starting this weekend. spindles are spoken for but they should be easy enough to get (and they are from an 97 late offset).
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spazegun2213

WOW, now THATS the type of answer i was looking for, lol (im an engineer).

True, the Sti takes a LOT more energy to stop, but with bigger brakes couldn't you stop quicker, there is just more surface area and power? Once all the weight has shifted bigger brakes might make the stops shorter? Sorry, while I'm an engineer its my nature to question things (just tell me to shut up if i get to annoying).

While the 944 will not be accelerating faster with bigger brakes, I think I *could* brake later? I think we have all done the stupid thing of entering a corner with too much speed. While braking you realize that if you press harder you are going to lock them up. There is only so much power the stockers can apply, and while most people never see a reason to replace them, it is racing, and stoping later = .00000001sec

I donno what I'm trying to explain, but really if i can fit bigger brakes under those 15x7's could i stop faster? wow it only took me 24 hours to be able to post that


oh and as an edit, i was SHOCKED to see what speeds a 944 could hold in the corners. It puts my sti to SHAME! haha, i can't wait to get out racing.

M758

Maybe just a bit, but consider that you still need to modulate the brakes to prevent lock-up and the way pass people and run fast laps is by braking less, not by braking more.

This is the reason most people are slow. They overslow the car too much for each corner. They infact use TOO MUCH brake causing them to be slow.

Truth fully you still want to optimize your braking, but this is done by putting good brake pads, bleeding the brakes often, and by tuning the chassis to make use of the brakes you have. Then comes the actual technique of braking which is actually rather difficult to master. All of these will have a bigger influence on braking performance than bigger rotors and 4 pot calipers. 95% of reason to run bigger rotors is for heat management.

spazegun2213

cool, well since no one over heats 944 brakes (or its hard to do) i think I'm good then. I just noticed that little loop in the rules and i wondered if it was worth doing. I mean stopping faster, means braking later... so you are in fact going "faster" unless you over slow the car... still...

thanks all!!!