S2000 Competition Brake System Customer Review

Our first batch of S2000 Competition Brake Systems are now on customer cars, and tearing up tracks around the world. Our systems feature the finest components from AP Racing, and are designed to shrug off the abuse a racetrack can inflict. One of our customers recently installed our system on his 350whp, supercharged S2000. He's put the system to the test on several occasions, and has come away thrilled with the performance.

As far as S2000's go, this one is a 'worst case scenario' in terms of brake requirements. It has an additional 130 wheel hp over a stock S2000, sticky 275 tires at all four corners, and aero mods. Even though the AP Racing CP3862 disc we use in our system is only 299mm in diameter, it has no trouble handling the abuse from this car.

After his first day on the track with our system, here's what our customer had to say:

Trackday Sunday. I'm running Ferodo DSUNO pads in the front and DS1.11 in the rear. I found the combination to be very balanced with my setup. The first session was used to bed in the brakes. Even with the brakes cold, I could tell the pads were working very well. It didn’t take much pedal to slow the car down. After cooling off the system and getting on the brakes for the next session, I was very pleased by the results. I found myself braking later and giving the pedal a quick tap to set up my target speed. The time I spent on the brakes was much shorter. The feedback is instant and felt very solid. I actually had to firm my grip on the steering wheel as I was braking harder. Brake fade...well it wasn't there. My first outlap was like the last. The AP rotor is significantly thicker compared to stock, not to mention the # of cooling vanes. The rotors never over-heated, even with my supercharged setup. With the brake situation resolved, I could spend my time worrying about other things.

If you can afford the kit, buy it. We all know AP Racing (and Brembo) makes awesome brakes. The quality in the metalwork is evident and is a true racing kit. I removed my spare front rotors from my tool box and relieved that I don’t have to worry about cracking rotors trackside. I didn’t take a photo of the brake pads, but they are massively thick. With the cost savings between the pads & rotors, this is a no-brainer. I can see some people prefer the larger BBKs out there, perhaps for the visual appearance, but is really not necessary. If you can brake more efficiently using a smaller rotor, you’re going in the right direction. I also track motorcycles and they too are going towards smaller sized rotors.

Two weeks ago, our customer went back out to Buttonwillow. Afterwards he commented:

Nothing but impressed. This last trackday was at Buttonwillow again but in CW #1 config. This configuration is much harder on the brakes coming down the Star Mazda turn at a higher speed. If anyone knows the feeling of racing motorcycles and stomping on the front brakes right before a turn and getting the rear to lift a few mm off the ground, this is how it felt. After a few laps around the track I found an optimal braking marker where I was able to mash the brakes to the point right before ABS engagement and just shy of turn entry. This felt great every time going down the back straight. I'm running NT01 on a 275 square setup and had reached the point of threshold braking right before where the tire looses grip. It was tons of fun being able to dive deep and knowing the brakes were there to back me up without fade.

I hope to do another trackday before the weather turns wet as I'm really enjoying this new setup. I was also running the new tune on my blower which was making more midrange power than ever before. Car feels great!

Car Specs/Setup:

MY06, 275 NT01 square on 17x10, aero front/rear, 2900 lbs w/o driver, supercharged ~350 whp, Tein SRCs