Andrie's review of the RE-71R is up:

Bridgestone

Verdict: It's faster (just barely) than the NT01!

Some photos from Laguna Seca last weekend:

https://aceface.smugmug.com/photos/i...-JCg9mFH-M.jpg
https://aceface.smugmug.com/photos/i...-dxn5fD6-M.jpg
https://aceface.smugmug.com/photos/i...-dhVZwMM-M.jpg

Well, I've got several track days coming up and my brakes are shot, so time to swap in fresh pads:

http://i.imgur.com/ZlAgs5k.jpg

6 track days on the old pads.

http://i.imgur.com/ioa0XN3.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/wAu6RLh.jpg

Here's one of the titanium heat shields. This is the side facing the pistons. Notice the gold color with slight bits of purple. This means that the backing plates on the pads (e.g. caliper side) are reaching approximately 750F (400C). Also notice the uncolored circular regions where the pistons are making contact. I didn't take a picture of the reverse (pad side), but it is solid gold in color with significant purple stripes.

http://i.imgur.com/ihU1VFD.jpg

...and done!

daaaamn bro what a huge pics hahah!! i cant appreciate the pics :/

BTW what brakes pads are you using now?

Damn, they looked fine on the phone! I just resized them...sorry about that. :(

Still running Carbotech XP10/XP8 -- served me well so far!

Hhahaha! dont worry now i can see the pics a lot better!

When i was searching for my brake setup Carbotech was on my list... but i buy the EBC USR Slotted Rotors and decide to go with the EBC yellow stuff brake pads to make the match... But for sure my next brake pads setup are going to be the Carbotech :tup:

Had a two day event last weekend at Buttonwillow with SpeedDistrict. I managed 2:10 on Saturday before improving that to 2:09.52 (video coming soon). Unfortunately, this happened:



http://i.imgur.com/9hTOtBH.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/lOmyFts.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/LkkfPby.jpg

The engine threw a rod. 220 miles and 6 hours later, the car arrived at Z Car Garage, where it remains while we draw up a repair plan. A word of caution for those spending lots of time at the track: we believe fuel-starvation was the culprit in this case -- it's not just bad for lap times, but bad for the engine too. We'll be including phunk's Road Race Pump as part of the repair plan and I'll document the effort as we make progress!

You think the motor was running lean for a long time because of fuel starve? Any signs of detonation? Could you hear the pinging?

I didn't hear much besides the fact that it was not running well right at the end, as evident in the video. That section of the track, from the hairpin to cotton corners to grapevine, has three turns out of four that can trigger fuel cut even with 16 gallons, and I was getting it pretty bad at that point.

I was getting detonation, you can see the CEL flashing in the tach, which is the EcuTek knock warning.

Damn bro i hope you can fix car soon :( Are you 100% sure that was the fuel starve? if was that, i think that in my next track day im going to run the Z with 3/4 or full tank of gas to make sure that this dont happen to me.


Anyway my friend my best wishes on your engine build! i know you are going to do a great job in the engine to make sure they work a lot better :tup:

After they got a look at it in the shop, that was their diagnosis and I had independently reached the same conclusion after watching the video and replaying that moment in my mind. There's a hard fuel cut right after the hairpin, where the 911 passes me in the video. I can get this fuel cut with only 3 gallons from a full tank, so my recommendation would be to top off every session!

I've been talking with Rob at Z Car and he has some cool ideas about what we can do with the car. Will post up details soon!

What thickness shims are you using? 0.5mm? 1.0mm?

0.5mm. Fitting 1.0mm shims in with a new set of pads would be tough. I have a caliper spreader that makes things easier, but I'm happy with 0.5mm. If you wanted to go thicker, it might be better to get two sets of 0.5mm shims and simply put in the second set once you've worn the pads a bit.

Thanks. I was looking at picking-up a set but was concerned that the 1.0 would be too thick with new pads.

Hey ban. You going to tear down the old motor? For ***** and giggles. Check the condition of the oil pump. And check the piston tops and combustion chamber for signs of detonation. Might see areas of missing metal in those areas. If it was bad enough. Some of the piston tops might look like silly putty that got hard. :eek: