[AndrewSS]

Ben, that sounds like a lot of fun, awesome give us pix of the setup

[BoostJunkie]

damn I wish I was in SoCal. I'd gladly shell out $300 for a day of unlimited track time.

[esemes]

pics ben..........

sounds INCREDIBLE to lose that much recip. mass.......

im intrigued, bigtime.....

ese

[CGMDan]

Now my guess is your running a HANS since you've got the seat and harness. With your overall set up, I'd hate to see you run a 2" harness with out one.

[KarlSTI]

Is there no end in sight? It just gets better and better....

[Nachos Libres]

Man, that has to be one really light STi.

[Ben]

CGMDan -- Yes, I am using the HANS device with the harnesses.

Ese -- I will post pics very soon. Unfortunately my camera still hasn't been replaced and my friend took his camera back! Mike (rdrcr) is going to be at the track tomorrow so I'll borrow his camera and take some pics.

KarlSTI -- There is no real end in sight, but there is some hint of where it's all going. The last few things I have on my immediate list are to get rid of the stock wing and trunk and replace it with a Spec C aluminum trunk (which is on its way from Japan now) and a carbon fiber wing. My only requirement would be that the wing create more downforce and less drag than the stock wing, which really isn't difficult. Some lighter wheels from Enkei are also on the way, but that's about it for now.

And as usual, I have more somewhat pointless numbers to share:

Stock front seat belts = 8 lbs (4 lbs per side).

[AndrewSS]

cant wait too see more pics, this is probably the most interesting project here

[fasterthanrayswrx]

Looking good Ben. Your former seats are doing well .

All this weight saving makes me wanna do some to mine. Mine's too fat. And I'll have to give those brakeman rotors a try when mine go down.

[Ben]

I'm glad you are enjoying the seats!

Mike forgot to bring his camera to the track yesterday which REALLY SUCKED. Everyone needs to send mike some PM's giving him ****...haha jk.

I think I can get my friend over here to lend me his camera so I'll try to get some pics up today. I need to find some useless cable that came with my camera before I can return it to costco and get a new one .

[LOLSTi]

awesome car! good luck at the track man!

[Ben]

Some observations of the new Brake Man Calipers after the track day:

1) Increased stopping power is fairly noticeable. The stopping power increase is not HUGE but they were able to lock up my R compounds at 135 mph which was previously impossible.
2) Much more predictable and consistent. When the Brembo's get hot, all kinds of unpredictable things happen. The bridge on the Brembo caliper is made out of aluminum and when aluminum reaches 300 degrees F it loses 50% of its rigidity. As such, when you get the Brembo's hot they flex. The Brakeman bridges are made of steel and solve this problem. Lap after lap, the same amount of pedal was needed for a particular turn; with the Brembo's (with the same rotors, pads, and fluid) the pedal and brake torque (stopping power) was inconsitent and would require more pedal some laps than others. This obviously was not so great for my confidence as I never really knew if I could brake at the last possible moment because the pedal could be solid one lap, and go to the floor the next.
3) Lighter is always better. The Brake Man calipers are almost 5 lbs lighter than the Brembos.
4) More pad for the money. The Brake Man #3 Race pads for the Brembo's are by far the best friction material I have ever used. Unfortunately, they cost about $230 for the front pads and last me about 2 long track days. The same friction material (#3 race pad) for the Brake Man calipers cost about $100 for the front and are twice as thick and last twice as long. In other words, you pay 4-5x less for pads with these calipers than you do with the Brembo's.
5) Much more "open" design. The Brake Man calipers are much more "open" than the Brembo's. By this I mean that there is much more room in the middle of the caliper which helps it breathe and cool better. It also is what allows for the pad to be twice as thick.
6) No more sticky brakes. Aside from the pad cost, this was my primary reason for buying these calipers. Because of the open design and the way these calipers cycle fluid, the brakes do not stick like the brembo's. Very often with the brembo's I would lift off the brakes and start accelerating through a turn but the brakes would actually stick and still be dragging the pads on the rotors. Other than slowing me down a bit, it would waste pads at an alarming rate and heat the rotors more than necessary. With the Brake Man Calipers the calipers release as soon as I lift off the pedal and I could actually feel a difference going in to turns.

In summary: Less weight, less cost, more stopping power, more consistency, and no more stick.

I can't really find any cons with these calipers. They just do everything better. Perhaps the only thing they don't do is look as pretty as the brembo's, although I'll post some pictures and that can be up for debate. They are definitely not UGLY by any means, but I think Brembo may win the beauty contest.

P.S. I am currently working with the Brake Man to get an initial group buy together for the calipers. We'll make a post about it soon.

[Deviancekicksin]

nice. good write up.

[Ben]

I almost forgot about the roll cage! Shame on me.

First, what I predicted:

I thought the car would be stiffer, obviously flex less, and have slightly better steering response. I also thought however, that it would create some unwanted oversteer and make the car a bit twitchy (make the rear end come around easier if you make a minor mistake).

Reality:

The car is definitely stiffer and flexes very little if at all. The steering response and turn in is definitely improved but most fascinating of all is that the car is not twitchy in the slightest. The car just feels much more stable and solid but the cage did not create any of the twitchiness or oversteer that I predicted. I am very pleased with the way the car reacts now and I had a couple people drive it. They all confirmed that the car felt much more stable than the GT3 through all the turns, especially turn 8 (135+ mph sweeper). In fact, one GT3 owner that drove my car said that he normally would never drive another person's car fast through turn 8 but the car felt so stable and comfortable that he couldn't resist. I went for a ride with him in both cars and he was going about 120-125 mph in his GT3 and about 130-135 mph in my car.

I can also tell you from my own experience that it is more stable and forgiving than a GT3 through the corners. I drove 3 GT3's with different suspension setups (including a stock one) and all of them started to feel very nervous at about 125-130 mph in turn 8. The STi never got upset even at 140 mph, although it did start to enter an all wheel drift at about 143 mph which was not intended.

[Ben]

Well, my friend came by with his camera and I took some good pretty nice pics. Unfortunately, after he left, I went to read the card and it was corrupted . A few pictures survived, and of course I lost the close ups of the calipers.

You can still see what the calipers look like pretty well in the last picture. I'm going to see if I can get my friend back over here real fast to take a quick picture of the calipers again though.