Disclaimer – these pads were used on the sister car to the 1LE, my beloved Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing. The brake system and weight of the car (3800 lb.) is so similar to the 1LE, that in my opinion it’s a valid way to compare between the 2 cars.
Several years ago, I’ve posted here about the Magic Pads (part 1) which were one of my favorite track pads for my 6Gen Camaro – Raybestos ST43. A lot have changed since then and Raybestos started to disappear from the track market.
As a background, I’ve been tracking various high horsepower / heavy cars in the past 10+ years and I’m currently running in the advance group with several organizations such as PCA and BMW.
A few months ago, I’ve seen a post about a new compound from EBC which claims to change the approach for track pads. They’ve created a pad using Sintered Technology, which is widely used in the motorcycle world, but have yet to be used for automobiles. This technology is supposed to increase pad life and to eliminate the bedding process (just drive 2 laps on the track and you are good to go).
In the past, I’ve used other track pads offered by EBC, but I’ve found them to be a better fit for lighter / lower HP cars.
I’ve been thru so many pads in the past years – from stock, Carbotech , Gloc, Ferodo , Pagid , PFC and more. These EBC SR series pads are THE NEW MAGIC PAD. I’ve chose to use the lower friction compound, SR11, which has a crazy linear torque curve (around 0.50 MU). These pads will smash your face into the windshield and are more than enough for aggressive street tires. If you are riding on slicks, you can try their SR21, but in my opinion, SR11 are already aggressive enough for 200TW tires and maybe even more. Modulation was pretty good for such high torque. It took me a couple of days of street driving to get used to it and I was good to go (in the Blackwing it’s better to set the brake pedal for track mode even for street driving).
Now – to the magic part: in the past, I would get no more than 4 days on a track pad. They would just get worn out / get tapered / create a bad rotor judder.
I’m happy to announce that after 3 hard days at VIR (very aggressive on pads), I’ve measured the pads and they lost anywhere from zero to 1 mm in thickness. My rotors lost 1-2 tenths of mm in thickness (similar to the wear I got after a track weekend with stock pads) and more than that – they didn’t even develop thin heat checks!
I’ve let a pro driver try these pads on my car for 1 session and he was pleasantly surprised.
All of this for a reasonable price of ~$300. I’m going to get a lifetime of these pads before they disappear…Please feel free to ask any question you might have.
The king is dead. Long live the new king!
PS- here's a little video with a few hot laps from the weekend
https://youtu.be/_whshb2Acws