My day at Gurston Down hill climb school

[dern]

The day I booked at Gurston Down finally came around. A lot of prep saw me through the day without drama and I had a brilliant time. Video first, excuses after...

https://youtu.be/Mlm0mrZ1QNs

I wish I'd taken it on track before this as it was the first time I'd driven it off the public road with the new suspension set up. It's a lot more forgiving than it was which is very good for this sort of thing for me but I could have done with being more familiar with it.

The engine is awesome having been rebuilt and remapped last year and is behaving really well with a few miles on it now. At no point in the videos am I flat out. I must confess I found the narrowness of the hill a bit intimidating but it would have come with time.

Anyway, brilliant day and the food was terrific.

Have a list of things I want to do to the car now. Some will get done this winter, some sooner. Main things are that I have to get rid of this stone age gearbox. Going to convert it to a 6 speed from an rx8. I will also be binning the pedal box in favour of something newer that flexes less... any recommendations gratefully received.

Cheers,

Mark

[stylussprinter]

Mine never ' flexed ' on the standard pedal arrangement so not sure exactly what you mean Mark. The floor mounted that I've had since 2007/8 were made by Tim Benbow SSC as was. What's the gearbox right now -- standard Type 9 or CR Quaife like mine The standard T9 is rubbish for track but my T9 Quaife was built on the 2.8 box and out of a racing Caterham. Brian Hill has strengthened and improved the lubrication on it's rebuild a few years ago and it's a grteat box.

[dern]

The gearbox is from the same FC rx7 turbo as the engine. It's a strong box but the selector is all over the shop. The rx8 gearbox bolts straight on to the engine and I just need to figure out where the gear stick will emerge. My wife has an rx8 so I can measure from that. The rx8 box is a great box, really nice change to it. The ratios should be better too. I'll lose some off theoretical top speed (down to 150 so no loss) but I get 6 gears and a good range between them based on a gear calculator I've used. That's my winter project. I'll pull it all out and tidy up the chassis rails and wiring while it's out.

The pedal box is a OBP floor mounted box. I think it's from the lower end of their range although they don't appear to make them any more. It looks like this only a three pedal version...

https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/p/2- ... oCo1bw_wcB

The structure doesn't seem to have that much strength to it and the pedal arms are simple flats. I managed to bend one under hard braking and while it hasn't bent again once I'd heated it and got it back it doesn't insprire confidence. I'll replace it with something with a bit more strength so I can stand on the brakes with confidence. Should be a simple enough swap.

Cheers,

Mark

[stylussprinter]

I never need to ' stand ' on mine ----- what pads are you using HAWK or EBC and which ones

[dern]

Mintex 1144 in 4 pot hispec calipers.

I didn't stand on them as such but it didn't stop the pedal bending to one side.

Anyway, they look past their best, creak a bit and the fact that the pedal bent means that I'll be happier getting something new.

Cheers,

Mark

[stylussprinter]

Ah -- mintex 1144 , they're not great , hardly better than standard . Either Hawk DTC30 or EBC Yellow if they'll fit your HISPEC's. You'll really notice the difference

[CMA]

Got to disagree there Mintex M1144 are far better than standard. Mine had standard pads on when I got it and it was lethal. Ok they might not be the best track pad but for general road with occasional track they are pretty good.

But for pure track work there are better out there.

[dern]

They seem ok but i wouldn't defend them past that. I used to use them on my westfield and really liked them but they've not been quite so good on this car.

My choices from hispec with these calipers are...

EBC Srandard Road
EBC Greenstuff
EBC Redstuff
EBC Yellowstuff
Ferodo DS2500
Ferodo DS3000
Mintex 1144
Mintex 1155
Mintex 1166
Mintex F4

I've steered clear of EBC pads in recent years as I've never had happy experiences with them. I used to have yellow pads on my westfield and they took a while to get heat in to them... so much so that I had the rear of the car lock up before the front. Also had them in an impreza and they crumbled to bits.

Cheers,

Mark

[stylussprinter]

I also had rubbish experience using EBC years back but have recently tried them again because 1) they've revamped each pad to different spec's 2) a friend of mine tried them after using PERFORMANCE FRICTION which are awesome on heavy road cars and selected Yellow's to try----- he was very impressed. My road car , a 1.6 tonne Alfa 159ti is fitted with Yellows now and they are very good.
Your Stylus is around 600kgs so the Subaru isn't a good comparison , rather like tyres on diffeent weight cars. The spec is totally changed and once you've done 100 miles with careful breaking to rub the surface off the pads(put there for that purpose)they grip from cold . My first experience was their Greenstuff on the Stylus 15yrs ago and they were just like standard pads -- rubbish , so never tried any other EBC till now. Ferodo 2500 are well spoken of too but not used them myself.

[dern]

In that case I'll give them a go. It would be good to gave something that works from cold. My car is 800Kgs rather than 600Kg according to the corner weighting place.

Cheers,

Mark

[spegru]

Hi guys. While I've not had any problems with pedal flexing (I changed from top hinge to floor mount a few years ago) I do find the brakes a bit heavy. Yes it could be me being lazy but I'd appreciate advice on which pads for what is almost entirely a road car.

I wish I knew the weight but I've never had that checked, so the best weight oriented description I can give is standard Peter Powell body, road trim, factory rollover bar, live axle, Zetec 2litre, Type 9 & cast iron bell housing, std escort style M16 disc & drum brakes

Advice appreciated

[stylussprinter]

You can get your drum shoes relined with HAWK material at CAMBRIDGE MOTORSPORT , also ask them about fitment for either EBC Yellow or HAWK or FERODO 2500 . Hawk is always my choice but have EBC Yellow on my heavy deisel road car and they're very impressive.

[dern]

Did a day at Castle Combe on friday with the yellows. They worked fine and plenty of stopping power but I have to say that I didn't like the feel of them as much as what I had on before and I'm not finding they work that well without a bit of heat in them. I won't be throwing them away by any means but I'm not sure I'll get any more of them.

Always good to try things out though.

Thanks,

Mark

[stylussprinter]

Did a day at Castle Combe on friday with the yellows. They worked fine and plenty of stopping power but I have to say that I didn't like the feel of them as much as what I had on before and I'm not finding they work that well without a bit of heat in them. I won't be throwing them away by any means but I'm not sure I'll get any more of them.

Always good to try things out though.

Thanks,

Mark

Did you fit them just for that day Mark ? They do need normal braking and not too savage first to remove that rather odd surface treatment that EBC put on them --- normal road driving for around 100 miles before full braking power is available. Feel then changes quite a bit.

[dern]

Did you fit them just for that day Mark ? They do need normal braking and not too savage first to remove that rather odd surface treatment that EBC put on them --- normal road driving for around 100 miles before full braking power is available. Feel then changes quite a bit.

Ah, they did get a bit of road use but not 100 miles. Maybe that's the issue. I'll certainly stick with them and they're definitely up to the job... no question. I'll report back