[evanescent03]

Thanks for the input guys!

Bottom line ... new car, new track, always lessons to be learned - the brake duct covers seems like something I definitely should've removed prior to the track day! I didn't do my due-diligence. hopefully someone can learn from my mistakes. I will say that there was ZERO fade at any point which would have triggered me to think something was going on with overheating. i've had nannies kick on with other cars and overheat breaks and inducing fade... made me investigate and turn stuff off. the 3CS was running so well i didn't suspect anything amiss.

Originally Posted by Gottagofast

Did remove the cooling duct covers?

Sure didn't. I didn't expect to do a whole weekend but figured i could get through a day "as-is" ... oops. I'm guessing the brake ducts would've helped a lot.

Originally Posted by beamlord

Regardless of the event, this is unusual. There's two ways you can completely wear down your pads to bare metal (since you mentioned damage to rotors):
- you're driving at a gt4 level endurance race
- complete opposite, your braking/racing needs a lot of improvement
(Not to sound like an expert, my own braking is far from perfect and I am constantly working on that).
Or your pads were already half-way through? The wear accelerates exponentially due to reduced mass. Hence always better to use a separate fresh set of pads before each full-day event.

1 of 4 front pads was down to the metal (drivers side interior pad). the other 3 were down to about 3mm. rears are all about 4-5mm. i'm thinking the lack of opening ducts along with that front left being a hotter corner (as indicated by tire wear) was a vicious cycle in destroying the pads.

I'm definitely not a GT4 level guy. But i don't think i'm the complete opposite either. I too realize I have a lot to learn. Are you aware of certain braking styles that you think would cause this? I believe folks who drag the brakes and have an excessively long braking zone tend to inject more heat into the system. a compressed braking zone, afaik, actually helps reduce brake wear.

Originally Posted by forcefed

So you didn't learn anything from your previous 3 experiences?

I've asked a ton of people at the track (drivers, race mechanics/"brake guys", etc) and have had a hard time pinning down the answer. And everyone I've talked to has been a lot more helpful than you, thankfully. thanks for the contribution

Originally Posted by BEAR-AvHistory

What was the mileage on the pads before you started the day?

about 2,000 miles of normal street driving.

Originally Posted by Needsdecaf

Apex vaporized a set of pads in 10 taxi laps on the Ring. Switching to endless they got 100. They then added additional cooling and got over 170.

Change pads, open the ducts, add additional cooling.

the ducts alone i'm guessing would've helped a lot, wish i would've RTFM on that one. ambient temps were ~90* but not 110* like I encountered at thunderhill in the past.

Originally Posted by BMWRacer523

This doesn't track (pardon the pun). I'm quite familiar with SP Main and you shouldn't be destroying front brakes there, especially in the intermediate group. As someone else asked, did you remove the vent covers? How much pad depth did you have prior to the event? I've got about 4 track days on a set of OEM pads/rotors and they still have a couple days on them. I did need to replace the rear pads before the last event.

nailed the pun! vent covers are definitely the big thing I should've thought of. kinda crazy to think that would make such a big difference but honestly, it probably would've been super helpful. side note that i'm sure you're aware of .. if you're replacing the rears before the fronts, that probably means the nannies are kicking in and wearing them down, yeah? which settings are you running? I enjoyed SP! I haven't ever driven there although I did run Jefferson about 13 years ago. I was hitting 140s-150 at the end of the straight and i think my best time was 1:23.99 per Garmin. i'm not hot-shoe so it takes me a while to learn a new track. I'll be going there more often in the coming years because i'll be moving closer.