Welcome to EBC鈥檚 鈥楽uit Your Style鈥� blog series, where we match you up with the 91传媒 upgrades that complement particular driving requirements, ensuring you get the ideal components for your vehicle.

In today鈥檚 blog, we鈥檙e showcasing our range of tough and rugged brake pads built with heavy loads and towing in mind.

With heavier, more capable vehicles, it鈥檚 crucial to ensure your stopping power is up to standards, and luckily, 91传媒 has a range of pad upgrades that revolve around this ever-growing market.

Below are our top picks for towing/4x4s/trucks and the demanding lifestyles that come with them鈥�

Extra Duty ED+

Brake pads for light trucks, Jeeps, and SUVs. These pads are super grippy, high-friction, and designed for the extra braking demands of听towing, heavy loads, or trucks with lifted suspension and oversized tyres and wheels, where a standard ‘stock’ brake system can鈥檛 cope.

ED+ pads offer听medium-plus lifetime, but what these drivers really want is听fabulous brakes with stopping power that keeps them safe, and they鈥檙e听not concerned about changing pads every 7鈥�12,000 miles.

Greenstuff Elite

DP6000 Elite-series green pads from EBC are superb premium pads for SUVs and light trucks. They not only replace but also upgrade your stock pads, providing a more grippy, silent, smooth, and long-lasting brake setup. Carrying the prestigious Leaf Mark with the highest N rating, recognised for its superior environmental safety.

Yellowstuff

The first in a new range of ‘hybrid’ materials that can be safely and legally used on the world’s roads (being R90 approved), Yellowstuff is a high-friction, high-capability upgrade pad for various road and occassional track applications.

With its impressively broad skill set, Yellowstuff has been the flagship pad by EBC for over a decade and gives instant brake response, great feel and modulations with silky-smooth noise-free braking and was also improved in 2021 to be copper free and conform to all new legislations for the environment.

Expect strong, stable friction once bedded-in and very minimal rotor damage, whether used on road or track.

Bluestuff

A great all-round sport and race pad 鈥� just as comfortable on track as it is performing daily driving duties.

Bluestuff material exhibits a 0.52渭 stable friction once bedded, stable up to a slightly higher 550鈩�/1000鈩� than its sister compound Yellowstuff but with the benefit of a 30% longer lifespan.

New formula is copper free to conform to upcoming environmental legislations.

Availability

Available now. Please听听to find your local EBC stockist and see a full list of applications.

鈥淔ollowing our Blidinje success, we made our way to Croatia for the Croatia Challenge. While we didn鈥檛 clinch the top spot there, the event was truly remarkable and a testament to the fierce competition and camaraderie in the racing community.

鈥淲e want to extend a massive thank you to 91传媒 for your unwavering support. It鈥檚 because of your encouragement and belief in us that we were able to achieve this remarkable victory.

鈥淣ext up is The King of Portugal in October 鈥� we look forward to sharing more exciting updates with you soon!鈥�

Detailed Blidinje Challenge race report:

Detailed Croatia Challenge race report:

King of Portugal

鈥淐ar preparation for most events takes weeks to complete, but we only had four days to get Mistress battle-ready for King of Portugal 鈥� the final event and the jewel in the crown of the 2022 European Ultra 4 Championship.

鈥淐hris Abel flew home after co-driving at GRAF, and Michael Whitting flew in on the Monday to bolster the team and help with the preparation. So, a team of four tasked with changing gearboxes, differentials, removing rear winches, changing air intakes and straightening this girl鈥檚 battered body panels. Thomas and Brian, alongside Jim and James, worked late into the evenings and started early to be sure that everything was just right.

鈥淭hen on Wednesday morning, we left the workshops of 鈥楤y Toucas鈥� and Flavio Gnomes headed to Vimioso and King of Portugal!

Day 1

鈥淲e arrived to find an already-packed stadium where 65 teams would be based for the next three days of intense Ultra 4 race action. James Ayre flew in late that evening to join Jim as co-driver. The plan was simple: get out in front and stay there.

鈥淔irst up was the prologue. An 8km super stage that is fast, furious and with plenty of big jumps. Emmanuel Costa set the pace and we left the line nearly last in our class. Mistress was incredible, the thunder of her LS7 7 litre V8 engine, beefy Spidertrax axles and monster Fox shocks soaked up the punishing course with style. We crossed the line in a cloud of dust, park her and rush back to find out if we have done enough鈥�

鈥淲e had smashed it. Half a second faster than our nemesis Emmanuel Costa. It鈥檚 the perfect start to our campaign.鈥�

Day 2

鈥淭he sun was shining and promising high temps of up to 27掳C. It was going to be a long day, with five 38km laps and with three super tough special stages to contend with around the course.

鈥淲e had the honour of leading out the field and we roared to the line, 650bhp surging us on into the Portuguese terrain. Only 190km to go!

鈥淓verything was going well for the first 36km, and we had pulled out an eight-minute lead over the chasing pack. 鈥淛ames, I have lost throttle response鈥� I say over the radio as Mistress rolls to the side of the track. It鈥檚 a bitter blow when everything was going so well. But we never surrender and as I pulled her apart looking for the fault, James is already sprinting to the pits to get parts. An hour later and a new throttle body fitted, we were back on track and hauling. But two laps later it came to a halt again as the transfer case decided it didn鈥檛 want to stay attached to the gearbox. So, with only three of five laps completed, we had to retire with heavy hearts. Back in the pits the guys soon tore down Mistress and start making the repairs so we could be ready for the final day.鈥�

Day 3

鈥淭he scores were not good. After the disastrous previous day, we were languishing down in 29^th position. But we also knew we had a pace that few could match, and I couldn鈥檛 wait to get started.

鈥淭he cars left the line in 30-second intervals, and we had five 27km laps ahead of us, but this time it got really serious with the monstrous dinosaur eggs and two special zones to test our skills. It was going to be a tough day.

鈥淲e left the line and Mistress felt fantastic! It wasn鈥檛 not long before we were carving through the field and making fast decisive overtakes on quality opposition. At the dinosaur eggs, we had already caught cars in the top ten. but couldn鈥檛 find the bypass line and had to sit in traffic wasting 20 valuable minutes. Once again, Mistress delivered and we passed another four cars on the massive boulders. We crossed the line to finish lap one and we had made up 18 places! It was a great start and we powered into the dust clouds.

鈥淥n lap two, we passed another four cars in the first 5km on the slower, technical rocks. For the next four laps Mistress delivered and we kept up a continuous pace.

鈥淲e reached the finish line and crossed it in physical third place, having passed everyone left us pondering what would have been, if we had not had the problems that we did.

鈥淭he prize ceremony at King of Portugal is always exceptional. With over a thousand people in attendance, the local town pulled out all the stops, providing food, wine and entertainment. Who knew bagpipes were a Portuguese invention?!

鈥淭he scores were announced and we were 7^th overall for the event, which is a great comeback after starting the final day in 29^th position.

鈥淏ut the prizegiving was not over, as this race was the championship decider for Ultra 4 European Championship. 鈥淚n second place, in the Championship, Jim Marsden and Gigglepin Racing!鈥� What a shock, what a surprise and what a team. The months of hard work had paid off, but sadly we couldn鈥檛 celebrate for long as we had to leave at 4am to catch a ferry back to the UK.鈥�

鈥淪o, it鈥檚 a huge thank-you to our team at home and at the race track. They are Staci Reeson, James Ayre, Helder da Rocha, Chris Abel, Michael Whitting, Thomas Tanti, Brian Aguis, Jack and Tom Saunders and the James鈥檚. Then it鈥檚 a huge shout out to our sponsors and partners that work so hard behind the scenes to make this all happen.

鈥淣ow it鈥檚 time to strip down, rebuild and get ready for a new season and new adventures!鈥�

Saturday

鈥淭he sun is still with us and the whole team is smiles as we line up for another day of racing.鈥�

Heat 1

鈥淭his time, we are leading out and make the most of the clear track to deliver another first place.

Heat 2:

鈥淲e are not having it our own way this time and the boys from Blackbird steal the heat win away from us by nine seconds as we get caught in lap traffic. This race is on! And only the final to go.

鈥淣ow it鈥檚 really racing; two laps back-to-back and everyone lined up behind Bad Penny hoping that we make a mistake.

听

Sunday

鈥淭he sun is shining once again and it鈥檚 time to get the party started.鈥�

Heat 1:

鈥淲e start sixth and battle hard, finishing first on adjusted time and it鈥檚 just the start we need.鈥�

Heat 2:

鈥淎gain, we start in sixth and pick up the pace to fight through the pack to be first on adjusted time.鈥�

Heat 3:

鈥淎nd we are flying! Bad Penny is chewing up the miles and we make it a clean sweep of first-place runs after some great battles out on track with some tough winching required.

鈥淲e thunder off the line, our 6.2-litre V8 engine howling as Fox shocks soaking up the terrain as our Maxxis Trepador tyres find the grip to carry us she hammers the Welsh hills. Alex is working like the pro he is and has us clear of the winch sections before anyone can challenge us, and we stay hammer-down into the final lap. Bad Penny is a car like no other and she sprints to the finish to take the win at the very first TORR race against a skilled driver line up.

鈥淚t鈥檚 fantastic to be back on the top step and winning again.

鈥淎 massive thank you to everyone that turned up to support this event. A bigger 鈥楾hank you鈥� to the event staff and marshals for making it happen.鈥�

鈥淎nd a huge 鈥楬ell Yeah!鈥� to our sponsors and supporters for always believing in us and giving us the tools we need. Plus, our families at home that support us and allow us to race hard.

鈥淏ut most importantly, this one is for a special friend that Jim started off-roading with over 25 years ago. The man who sadly left us recently. Ben Sugden we miss you every day and wish you could have seen us fly, how you would have laughed and smiled. That win was for you.

鈥淣ow it鈥檚 time to get our new car, 鈥楳istress鈥� ready for the Ultra4 King of Poland. We鈥檒l see you there鈥︹��