Wow, I'd not seen the brakes up close before, at least not until those on PJ Jones car exploded. Those are thick pads on those cars. I had no idea they were that thick, even after half a race. I did notice his rotors weren't drilled though.

Yeah, the commentators have also been talking about Robby Gordon's brakes, but haven't said which manufacturer.

Looked like PJ's rotors had short curled slots vice straight.

Rotor diameter is severely limited by the 15" wheels they run, so as you can imagine to brake a 3400 lb car they run really thick rotors and a whole lot of pad.

I liked watching the pad and chunck of rotor off of the 4 car sit there and smoke.

They also stated the price of a brake set was $25,000 to 30,000 each race

Probably PFC, Alcon, and Brembo products...

Figuring 3,500 a caliper, and probably 1000 for a car set of pads, and 500 a rotor...yeah I could see how it could add up real quickly....not including masters, pedals, lines and fittings.

PFC calipers
http://www.hrpworld.com/index.cfm?form_cat...action=category
Alcon
http://www.hrpworld.com/index.cfm?form_cat...action=category
http://www.hrpworld.com/index.cfm?form_cat...action=category
Brembo
http://www.hrpworld.com/index.cfm?form_cat...action=category

Not sure which model of caliper they run....probably similar to the Alcon TA6 or Brembo GT+

I think I've seen them running Brembos, Wilwoods, and Alcons. Those pads were thick and hot! They also run fans in the brake ducts.

A lot of the bigger cars will run inline fans in the ducts to help cool on slower parts of the track. I don't know if its legal in cup or not but they might even be using water misters and spray bars for even more cooling but I don't know if they allow water cooled brakes.

I think the rotors on the road course cup cars are probably 40-44mm thick, pads are probably at least that on each side. Thats a freakin huge caliper.

I don't believe that any professional series allows water misting of the brakes anymore...except for the diesel truck guys. Something about failing rotors...

Also, the wheels can put bigger brakes then you think underneath. The steel wheel can provide more clearance then an alloy wheel. Steve can comment more on this as those are the same type of wheel he uses on his stock car. I imagine they are at least 13" rotors with large 6 piston calipers that are not "off the shelf" parts due to the thickness of pads they are running. They have custom caliper halfs with thick spacers between them to allow for the thick pad.

Anyone have a rulebook???

I know where the online F1 rule book is....but I haven't yet found one for the Cup guys.


You say its a special piece but 43+ teams needing on adverage probably 2 sets per car for both road courses and they probably use them on the short tracks, not counting the Busch guys....I would imagine the brake guys make that a standard part now. NASCAR is a big market...so I would assume that each one of the major brake companies markets a line of parts for them.

Somewher in the middle, you can see those big calipers and pads up close.

Glen 2002 album1

At the very end, shots of Boris Said's ride:

Glen 2002 album2

Wish my pads were that thick to start! Nice shots of the brakes! Amazing that they run 3 ducts to the front brakes, and 1 to the rear. I guess if we were going braking from 175-180mph entering the bus stop, we would need SERIOUS brakes too!

My 6 piston Wilwoods (which are nothing close to those) uses pads that are .800 inches thick. The Superlite 4 piston and the Superlite 6 piston both use a .800 thick pad. I was surprised when I saw the size of the pads for my current brakes, they are much thicker than anything I've used before.

well,even in a stripped down f-body on a track is still more weight than one of those nascars,and all that speed has to be stopped somewhere.

I believe Nascar has a minimum weight of 3600 lbs.

Am I remembering that correctly?

...they use inline fans....I rented the scanners at Sears this year....for my 14 year old brother in law ....and all the crews were reminding the drivers to "turn on the brake fans"....

The Brembo's in the photo beuke23 posted are about 9K new and 7K used, this was the price last year at http://www.prosystembrakes.com/

I think it's 3,400 lbs.

I swear if they ran 1/2 road courses I'd be addicted to NASCAR again.

It's 3400 lb minimum weight and that includes the driver. IRL of course doesn't include the driver and has raised plenty of controversy. Kinda of funny they do it with heavy cars and not lighter ones.