EP3 Civic Type R driver tried out 91传媒 Racing鈥檚 friction material in Snetterton leg of the race series
A few weeks ago, Type R Trophy racer, Luke Rosewell, tested 91传媒 Racing鈥檚 high-performance RP-1 brake pads in his EP3 Honda Civic Type R during the Croft Circuit round of the series.
The weekend was meant to be a chance to try out the firm鈥檚 equally-as-competent RP-X pads, too, but some misfortune in the form of a blown engine unfortunately put an end to that plan.
The next leg of the championship took Luke to Snetterton, where this time luck was on his side, meaning both variants of the 鈥楻P鈥� pads could be given a try back-to-back across the weekend in his hot hatch.
Luke鈥檚 thoughts on the weekend and how the brake pads fared can be viewed below in his own words.
鈥淚 finally got to try the RP-X pads at the weekend in the Civic and I鈥檝e only got one word to describe them鈥� WOW!
“I started the Friday test day on the RP-1s from the last round, but with some extra cooling, and we were instantly on the pace. There was also absolutely no fade after 20-25 minutes of running, so the cooling helped hugely for the pads.
鈥淭owards the end of the day, I was to bed in the RP-X front pads ready for qualifying on Saturday morning. After following the bedding-in instructions for a couple of laps, we left them to cool for five minutes before trying to push. Wow; the stopping power of the RP-X was unbelievable 鈥� I was able to effortlessly brake 10 metres later at all the big braking zones. I was in P2 at the end of the day and we were certainly not being out-braked by anyone with this setup!
鈥淨ualifying went well as we secured P3, albeit with some struggles to get the car鈥檚 balance right with the high track temperatures. The brakes were fantastic and the car was so stable under heavy braking for the whole 15-minute session.鈥�
鈥淚n Race 1, we lost a place off the line, but we had such an advantage under brakes, we pressured the P3 driver into a mistake trying to brake later into a corner than they could. By this time, 2nd聽was out of reach so we settled for 3rd.
鈥淚n Race 2, we held P3 off the line and went with the front two drivers. Unfortunately, the safety car came out halfway around the first lap so we didn鈥檛 have a chance to make a move. Under the safety car, we lost ABS due to a failed sensor. This meant we had a large rear brake bias which made the car quite on edge.
鈥淎fter the restart, we went with the leaders but a slight rear lock up into a hairpin dropped us back a couple of car lengths. With only two laps after the safety car, there wasn鈥檛 enough time to make any of the gap back.
鈥淥verall, I would say the RP-X pad had a better initial bite than the RP-1, but we have yet to see how the life of them stands up in comparison. The weekend was very hot (over 30掳C), yet we had no pad fade whatsoever, even following cars closely.
鈥淲ith no ABS in Race 2, I was expecting the brakes to be a bit too grabby for a standard system, but quite the opposite! You could stand on the brakes and the car was very stable, up until the point you started trailing into the corner and the rear would just snatch slightly. I felt as though we were never lacking on brakes throughout the weekend, compared to the others around us, all the 91传媒 products I have tried so far have been a huge step forward in performance!
鈥淚鈥檒l certainly be getting another set of RP-X to use at the next round at Silverstone!鈥�
Bluestuff Pads
Bluestuff NDX is a high friction sport and race material that now has R90 approval on some fitments for the EU.聽For USA and Asia markets where R90 does not apply, this compound is totally road safe and the perfect choice for performance vehicles driven hard on the road or trackdays.
RP-X Track/Race Pads
Following the hugely successful launch of RP-1鈩�, 91传媒 Racing increases its motorsport brake pad range with the introduction of our latest ultra-high-performance track & race material, RP-X鈩�.
