David Lively tried the new track/race formula at his home circuit: Laguna Seca in California
Track enthusiast David Lively has been struggling to find brake pads that could keep up with his ever-increasing pace. His weapon of choice – a C7 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 – is notoriously hard on brakes when tracked; being ‘under-braked’ by weighing in at almost 3,600lbs and producing 650hp, meaning it puts a lot of the load on the pads to help make up for shortcomings.
As any track goer knows, as your times go down, your consumables typically go up. That means tyres, brake pads, rotors, and constant fluid flushes not only eating away at your chequebook, but also your free time. Initially, he was getting along just fine with his go-to pad, but as his times at California’s Laguna Seca started to drop down into the low 1:30s, he couldn’t even get a full day’s worth of sessions out of them before they gave up the ghost and crumbled apart. The pace and resultant heat were just too much for a typical track pad.
EBC Brakes Racing decided to reach out and see if we could help him regain some confidence in his brakes by providing our new SR-11™ sintered track/race pads. Being a road-based car, David drives to the track and back every day, so while not a deal breaker he definitely appreciates a pad with good street manners. He was blown away by how quiet and well behaved the pads were on his drive to and back from Laguna, proving that you don’t need to suffer on the street to rip around the track.
The braking torque was communicated as similar to what he had been used to in the past, with great feel and modulation. David was able to go out and lay down some new personal bests, running much longer sessions than he was able to with his previous pads. Pad wear was improved, living through a couple days of harder-than-normal track driving due to the ability to stay out longer and run harder.
At first, David expressed concerns that the rotor was wearing oddly, but after further investigation and discussion we were able to determine he was merely seeing the robust friction transfer layer that helps protect the rotor. The rotor actually had little to no wear at all!
EBC Brakes Racing will continue to support and work with David as he continues to grow as a driver, as we get just as much pleasure out of our customers having success as we do ripping around the track ourselves.
SR-11™ Race and Endurance Pads
The latest sintered race material from EBC will launch in spring 2022 and promises to eclipse most of today’s organic, semi-metallic, and carbon-based racing brake pads.
SR-21™ Race and Endurance Pads
A variation of SR-11™ that offers ultra-high friction and is targeted for the front and rear of race cars with bias controls only. SR™ bites harder and lasts longer.
