JRitt@essex

Hi MW,
Sorry I missed this comment. Our GT3RS kit fits properly on the GT2RS. Please PM, jeff.ritter@essexparts.com, or call 704-824-6030 if you have any questions or would like a quote. Thank you very much!

JRitt@essex

Thanks for the positive feedback OrthoJoe!

Here are a few pics I thought I'd share with you gents from this weekend's testing at the Daytona Roar Before the Rolex 24. AP Racing Radi-CALs getting ready to carry the pros to victory again in 2019! Not Porsches, but I know you guys are always up for some good brake ****.

JRitt@essex

The AP Racing Radi-CAL-equipped 911 RSR at the Autosport show in England, along with the new 935!

JRitt@essex

The AP Racing Radi-CAL had another tremendous year in professional racing in 2018. Please see the graphic below to see the championships their brake and clutch products won. Also, below is a great video that exemplifies what our brake systems can do. The driver of the red Corvette won the USTCC GT Class on our system in 2018. The commentators specifically call out the power of the AP Racing brakes in the video at the 11:20, 11:40, and 24:40 marks (which is rare for commentators to do). Rob told us that our brakes were absolutely critical to his success, and that he would have not won the race or championship without them.

mdrums

JRitt@essex

Thanks!

Hello Gents,
We have a few announcements:

Essex Brake Kit Owners Facebook Group

To any of our kit owners who are also on Facebook...We have just formed the "Essex Designed AP Racing Brake Kit Owners Club" The group will be a digital extension of what we've seen among our customers out at the track, which is like-minded car nuts parking next to each other and sharing stories, ideas, photos, setup tips, pad advice, discussing future track events, etc. Not only will group members be able to interact with other Essex brake kit owners, Essex will be offering a number of exclusive perks and opportunities that will only be available to group members...giveaways, discounts on spares, contests, and even unique schwag. The only prerequisite to join this group is that you need to own an Essex Designed AP Racing Competition Brake Kit. To keep things fair for other members, we will ask you a couple of questions to verify kit ownership prior to approval. If you have one of our brake kits, click this link to join our group: Meet Other Essex Brake Kit Owners Now

Write a quick review for the chance to win a free set of replacement discs!

Who wants some FREE AP Racing brake discs to start their 2019?!?! Below is a brief survey about our brake kit. The survey is just a guideline, and you can write anything that you feel is relevant. For your entry to be valid you must include at least one good picture of our brake kit on your car. We encourage you to send a few. They can be action shots, paddock, etc., and we love those glowing disc pics! GT3 owners are welcome to just complete their review/survey here, or they can email it along with their pic to owners@essexparts.com. We'll be sharing these reviews and pics on our blog, social media, etc. Essex/AP Racing Team Jackets

We just took delivery of our new Essex/AP Racing team jackets. These jackets will only be available to those who own one of our brake kits. I'll be posting more details, and we'll be accepting orders soon. I've been wearing mine a couple of weeks and they are really sweet (getting lots of compliments). They'll be perfect for chilly morning driver meetings.









If you know us, then you know we like our specs and details! Here are the specs on the jackets from the manufacturer:

WATER-RESISTANT
WIND-RESISTANT
STRETCH
TONAL EMBOSSED O PATTERN
REFLECTIVE DETAILS

• 100% poly stretch shell bonded to textured grid fleece with a laminated film insert for wind and water resistance
• 3,000MM fabric waterproof rating
• 3,000G/M2 fabric breathability rating
• Waterproof center front zipper
• Articulated shaping for ease of movement
• Reflective OGIO Endurance heat transfer label for tag-free comfort
• Zip-through collar
• Reflective O heat transfer at back neck
• Embossed O pattern at shoulder
• Waterproof zippered chest pocket with textured welding details
• Lower front zippered pockets with textured welding details
• Set-in sleeves with shaped cuffs
• Reflective O heat transfer at left cuff
• Slight drop tail hem with reflective O Endurance heat transfer at back left hem

The OGIO® Endurance brand is a subset of the high quality performance brand OGIO®. OGIO® Endurance Products are innovative training and fitness gear that delivers unparalleled performance with functional technologies. Enhanced mobility. Layered integration. Dynamic detailing. For the athlete within. Driven to achieve more.Utah-based OGIO was created in 1987 by Mike Pratt a born thrill-seeker and frustrated inventor who needed an outlet for his ideas. His first innovation was a sport bag designed to look and work like a locker. It was a simple concept, yet something entirely new for a tired-looking industry.

In the years that followed, Pratt's newly-named OGIO powered out backpacks, duffel bags and apparel. The brand nailed its real traction when the founder and his new design team started pouring serious innovation into niche categories including motocross, snowboarding, golf, skate, and surf.

OGIO sponsors some of the world's finest extreme sports athletes, all of whom choose to use OGIO gear. They live to push the boundaries of extreme sports further than the competition, and to do that they ensure they only use the finest kit. OGIO is the gear bag of choice for these athletes and the forefront of bag design and innovation.

JRitt@essex

991 GT3 brake kit owners...a question for you: Has anyone cracked a disc yet? We launched our kit nearly a year ago, and I don't believe I've heard of anyone cracking a disc yet. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? You guys clearly aren't driving hard enough!

JRitt@essex

We're off to an amazing start in 2019 with our AP Radi-CAL brake kits for Porsches, as well as all other makes and models. Check out our blog for reviews, pics, and videos of our brakes in action. Cars with our kits have been winning everything from AutoX to endurance racing championships: https://www.essexparts.com/news-blog

Thanks for all the orders gents! Here are some fresh pics for your viewing pleasure.

Ascetic

These go on my car Tuesday! Beyond excited!

Izzone

Looking for s set of oem red caliper if you have them

JRitt@essex

Awesome, thanks so much for the support! You'll have a whole bunch more GT3, GT3 RS, and GT2 RS owners joining you very soon. We've been shipping quite a few of these kits out. Here's a nice pic and quote from one of them. We have a sweet GT2 RS that put our kit on this weekend as well.

This owner said, " First event with my AP Racing Radi-CAL brake kit. Just frigging awesome!"

Z06

I am interested in the BBK as well, have a 3RS.2 arriving soon, could you please pm me the price.

My main concern, a few people said they felt shuddering, which they felt was ABS activation. I watched a youtube with the Manthey package, not sure if it was the 2RS.2 or the 3RS.2, they had to put back the stock rear brake pads, apparently, aftermarket rear brake pads caused problems with the electronics?

JRitt@essex

Here's an interesting article from Motor Authority in which a Porsche technical veteran confirms what we've been telling our track day and racing customers for years, that iron discs are better for track use than PCCB/Carbon Ceramic Discs.

https://www.motorauthority.com/news/...Rta6-soQxXsg8o

Randyc151

Carbon ceramics are great! They are great on track, don't spew dust, and don't give up. They also cost $28,000 a set, burn out quicker, and the calipers degrade from the heat and need to be replaced after a season or two. The easy solution is for Porsche to charge $1200 each for them like Corvette ceramic rotors cost, or else change to this AP Racing setup. Honestly, I blame this on Porsche. I'll be putting the APR setup on my GT2 RS when this first set of pads is shot.

JRitt@essex

When new brake components are installed on a car, the driver will inevitably need to re-calibrate their brake pedal force input. We see this with brake pads, brake lines, and our complete brake system that includes calipers. For example, different brake pads have different densities, since they are made from an incredibly wide range of differing materials. Some are made from organic materials, others have some metal in them (semi-metallic), and others are more or less pure metal (sintered). These different types of materials are all going to feel different underfoot as the pistons squeeze them against the discs. One may feel as hard as a rock, while another feels rubbery as it compresses when you stomp on the brake pedal. If you put a piece of soft pine wood in the caliper instead of a racing pad, it's going to feel squishy as the pistons dig into it.

A similar situation occurs when you swap out brake lines or calipers. Stainless steel brake lines remove some of the latency in the brake system because they reduce compliance. An incredibly stiff caliper like the AP Racing Radi-CAL does as well. Because there is less compliance, the time over which the work is completed drops as well (the pads being clamped against the disc). When you change any one of these components things feel different. When all of these variables are altered at the same time (pads, lines, and caliper), the difference in brake feel can be fairly dramatic. What happens with these changes is that your feedback loop requires some time to adjust. You press the pedal with X leg pressure, and the brakes respond with Y. Your brain absorbs that info, feeds it back to your leg, and you alter your future brake inputs to compensate.

With an experienced racer, the timeline of this feedback loop is compressed. They hop in a car that has had a brake component change, and they notice that change the very first time they press the brake pedal. Not only do they notice it, they’re able to compensate for the difference and use it to their advantage almost immediately. We see this all the time in pro racing. It reminds me of the first time the AP Radi-CAL calipers were introduced in NASCAR in August, 2007. A Radi-CAL was installed on Tony Stewart's car at a Watkins Glen test day. He went out for a lap and immediately came back in asking what was done to the brake system. The drivers at the elite level are incredibly dialed-in and sensitive to changes. It's one of the primary reasons they are at the top of the game. For someone who can feel a half pound difference in tire air pressures, changing out calipers and pads would be akin to adding 20 lbs. of tire pressure!

The typical club level driver or casual enthusiast requires more time to adapt to changes. They may know something is different, but they don't immediately know how to compensate for it. They have to feel it out for a while before they're able to adapt to that change and try to exploit it. When we have a customer try a new pad compound, we urge them to please not make a snap judgement. It takes a day or a weekend at the track before they regain their comfort and confidence behind the wheel with their new brake components. I personally just went through this about five times with our new Ferodo DS3.12 pad compound. The first session our customers try them they say, "These may be too sensitive." After a full track weekend however, they're writing us saying, "Wow, these pads are amazing!" What's also interesting is that sometimes a driver's feelings about a change don't mesh with the actual impact of that change. For example, the driver says, my ABS was coming on earlier and I wasn't able to brake as hard. Then you look at a data trace or their lap time, and find that they are actually using their brakes more efficiently and/or lapping a whole second faster than they were before! I've seen that happen many times over the years.

In summary, I think the majority of the concerns we had during the launch period of our GT3 brake kit were related to the adjustment period I described above. It's not a Porsche-specific issue, and we see similar responses when we introduce a brake kit into any new market. When we build these kits we do the math, we know what the OEM brake bias is, and we optimize our systems by platform to very closely mimic the OEM setup. That doesn't account for feel however, and the initial driver response is sometimes that their new brakes are bordering on overly sensitive. Once a driver adapts to the feel of our system however, they're spoiled and pretty much never want to go back to their old setup. They also inevitably find that the data validates their decision to make the switch (faster lap times, more confidence, lower running costs, etc.).

With all of the above said, it is true that different vehicles have brake systems with varying degrees of sensitivity. That has to do with the programming of the ABS system. We see similar discussions related to wheel/tire choice and active handling systems. I've been working with aftermarket brake systems since 2002, and during that time I would certainly say that ABS systems on a whole have become more sensitive (just as other driver aids have become far more complex and sensitive). I believe a lot of it boils down to manufacturers wanting tighter controls over what their customers do with the cars they produce, and they prefer those customer come back to them with their money rather than having them seek solutions elsewhere. That makes our job tougher, but it also eliminates some of the dabblers and fluffy products from the market, which probably isn't a bad thing.