“Our final race of the year was a non-championship event at the famous Monza Circuit in Italy. This had been a dream of mine to race here since I was a five-year-old boy, standing at the side of the track watching the Grand Prix back in 2000.

“There was a lot less track time this weekend compared to a UK championship event, so we only had 40 minutes of Free Practice before Qualifying.

“We had to bed-in new brake discs due to picking up damage at the last event, so we took advantage of bedding-in a brand-new set of RP-X pads at the same time.

“After a few laps, everything felt normal and as good as it had been all year with the 91´«Ã½ setup. At the end of the session, it turned out there was an issue with the UK-spec transponders, so nobody had any lap times to compare against. Even still, the car felt fast.

“Into Qualifying and it was a race to get out and start lapping, learning more and pushing braking points each lap. With the tow being so important in Caterham racing, and Monza having some of the longest straights of any circuit, it was really a case of pushing on every lap just in case you managed to pick up a good tow on one of the straights. As it happened, the tow wasn’t as effective as some UK circuits, just because of how fast we were going, and the ‘road car’ fifth gear not allowing the car to accelerate much more. This meant that finding time on the brakes was even more important, which was lucky as the RP-X pads were allowing me to brake even later than anybody else!

“We picked up pole position for both races (Race 2 grid being set by a driver’s second-fastest time).

“As we were sharing the track with the faster 420R-spec cars, our grid started further back which meant a longer run to Turn 1!

“With a missed gear after lights out, I dropped to fifth by the actual start line. This wasn’t a disaster though as it allowed me to pick up a good tow to bring me back to the lead group by the first chicane. As 54 cars queued up to get around T1, our grid caught the back of the faster cars in front. By the second chicane, we were mixing with the faster cars under brakes. Utilising the fantastic performance from cold of the RP-X pads, we soon climbed back up to P2, and by the end of Lap 1, we were leading the 1600 Class.

“Now right in the mix with the slower drivers from the 420R class, it allowed me to pull a gap to P2 as I was towed along all the long straights by the faster cars.

“By the half-way point, P2 had latched onto a 420R and was now closing me back in. With two laps to go, he finally got his nose in front down the main straight, but with the RP-X underneath me, I knew I could out-brake him and take the position back.

“As we came onto the last lap I had just enough gap to a 420R car in front that I could pick up a tow, but not close enough to trip up each other into the corners. Over the line we took the win with the fastest lap!”

“In Race 2, we made a better start, and even after leaving a larger gap to the 420R grid, still caught them up by T1. At the second chicane, while leading, I took a couple of the 420s on the brakes. This left me right in the middle of their pack exiting the chicane, as a couple of them came together. With nowhere to go, I hit a stray exhaust which launched the car into the air.

“I was still leading but immediately could feel some damage to the suspension. The car was bouncing uncontrollably in the straights, and when applying the brakes, the rear was moving from side to side!

“Again, there were two of us that had pulled away from the chasing pack, but this time I didn’t have the straight-line speed to overtake, as the car would begin bouncing aggressively. With about seven minutes of the 25 remaining, I had all but conceded the fact the only way I could win was a run to the line. But then, approaching the second chicane as I went to change into fifth gear, the gear lever jammed and I got stuck in fourth. At this moment, the chance of winning had vanished and it was now about holding onto second.

“The car was drivable everywhere except the two second-gear chicanes, where I had to dip the clutch to keep the revs up. It was a long couple of laps and I could smell the burning clutch at each chicane. Just when I considered pulling into the pits so as not to do anymore damage, the safety car boards were shown with approx. four minutes left, due to a lot of debris in the middle of the track! I stayed out knowing that the race could well finish under the safety car, and it did! It was red flagged a lap later and so we were classified second, with another fastest lap!

“After the race we saw the damage to the car was a snapped rear A-frame, which is supposed to hold the rear axle in place, so it certainly made it interesting to hang onto in the corners!

“Overall, a fantastic weekend to end the year on! The brakes were incredible, and even with lots of heavy braking zones, the RP-X pads and EBC fluid never showed any hint of fade!

“Huge thanks once again to 91´«Ã½ and Fulvia Classics for all the support this year.â€�

“After booking a motorcycle track day on a bit of a whim, I knew there was only one thing I had to do to my bike to get it ready: fit some EBC brake pads!

“I spoke to the team at EBC and after some advice on the best pad compound for my first day, I fitted some EPFA and Double-H pads to the front and rear of my Triumph Street Triple RX respectively.

“The pads were bedded-in nicely on the ride to Silverstone in the morning, ready for a day on circuit. From the first session, I didn’t have to think about the brakes, as the feedback and performance were spot-on straight away. This was perfect, and exactly what I wanted for the day so I could instead just focus on riding the bike.

“As the day progressed, I leaned harder and harder on the brakes while also trailing them deeper into the corner, gaining confidence with every lap. By the end of the day, I was still amazing myself with how late I could brake with no issues. At one point a small lapse in concentration meant I braked into Copse Corner almost at my Caterham braking point, but still to my surprise, the bike slowed without a worry!

“To know that I was nowhere near the limit of the brakes was really reassuring, and confirmed I had made the right decision to fit the EBC pads for the day.

“Thanks once again to 91´«Ã½ for helping me stop, whether it be on two or four wheels!â€�

“We entered the final round of the championship in third place overall, just one point shy of second.

“For this round, we decided to test EBC’s RP-1 and Bluestuff NDX pads, and make a decision on the best pad to use for racing.

“During Friday’s practice, the RP-1 pads were fantastic. The cooler conditions meant we had to work the brakes hard on warm-up, but they still came up to temperature within a lap. We were struggling with car balance throughout the day, changing setup more in one day than we had done all season, so we didn’t have time to try the Bluestuff back-to-back with the RP-1²õ.Ìý

“We ended the day fastest, and confident going into qualifying. We considered using some old RP-Xs just for the qualifying session, but I was enjoying the RP-1s so much throughout the day, we left them in!

“The biggest difference between the RP-X and RP-1 that we had to get used to was the pedal pressure needed to generate the same deceleration. The overall stopping power was very similar, but you had to work the RP-1 pedal harder to get there. This made it easier to modulate the pressure and prevent lock-ups.

“Qualifying started and we dropped right to the back of the pack to do our own laps away from the pack. Again, it was even cooler than Friday, but the brakes were still straight up to temperature before the tyres came in.

“After a couple of laps, we were straight under the pole time and trying to improve our times further. By the end, we had got pole by more than 0.4 seconds.

“We checked the pad life after qualifying (aware that we had done a few hundred kilometres now), but they still looked brand new!”

“We started Race 1 from pole, and knowing we only had a relatively short time to warm the brakes and tyres, I was really relying on the RP-1 pads to give me maximum braking from lights-out.

“From turn 1 on lap 1, we pulled a gap and never looked back. The brakes were spot-on from the start and didn’t hint at going off for half an hour of racing. With a few laps to go, I was shown the current fastest lap of the race, which was well within our capability.

“We pushed for a couple of laps to get the extra fastest lap point, and again, the brakes still felt like they were brand new!

“We won the race with a comfortable 13-second lead, and scored the maximum points available, which secured our second place in the championship!

“With nothing to lose, in the reverse grid Race 2, we wanted to go out on a high! After starting P10, we were P4 at the end of lap 1, again down to how quick we could get the RP-1 brakes working compared to the others.

“We took P3 at Island Bend on lap 2, but going into the banked Shell Oils Corner, the car just wanted to go straight. It turns out the front right wheel bearing had collapsed and so put the brakes on every time we turned right! On the exit of the corner, it felt like we had the brakes stuck on. The car behind mis-judged how slow we came out the corner and hit the side of our car. This bent the exhaust pipe and cut a huge amount of power. 

“At the next right-hander, the car felt like the suspension had collapsed, but felt ok around left-handers. With the bent exhaust, we were like a rolling-road block. Conceding the fact we couldn’t continue for another 25 minutes, and having already wrapped-up second overall, we pulled into the pits at the end of lap 2. 

“The overall pace of the second race was a lot slower and we were left thinking, what could have been, considering our pace all weekend. 

“Thankfully, we still comfortably held onto 2^nd overall in the championship after a great year.

“We have tried various compounds of EBC brake pads, and although they had their differences, they were all fantastic and allowed us to fight for race victories all season.

“Our final race of the 2022 season is a non-championship race at Monza, which is well-known for braking performance, so we look forward to seeing how well the EBC range performs!

“Thanks as always to 91´«Ã½ and Fulvia Classics for their support all season.â€�

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“Rounds 8 and 9 were held on the full Silverstone GP circuit, so we were expecting a couple of very close races.

“Testing went well on the Friday; we tried the RP-X’s sister pad – RP-1 – for the first time for these sessions. The braking power was almost on par with RP-X, and the wear rate was even better, but you had to work the pedal harder – something which a lot of drivers like as it can give you more control. Throughout the day, we focused on doing our own laps away from the tow and the pack, to see where we sat with pace.

“For qualifying, I opted to run at the back of the pack, away from any other cars. After Brands Hatch and Snetterton qualifying, which were both very messy as people chased the tow, I knew we could do just as good a time if we nailed every corner on our own.

“We held provisional pole up until two laps from the end, when we were pipped by 0.08s. We were pretty happy considering we did that on our own, and everyone else was running with tows!

“I changed back to RP-X pads for the races. Knowing I could do the same times as the others but on my own, my plan was to try and get the lead and break away early. The plan worked exactly as I wanted; taking the lead on the brakes into Stowe, and pulling a 1.5-second gap over the rest of the lap.

“Unfortunately, the wind had changed direction since Friday, and we had a huge headwind into Stowe. This meant that the following pack managed to close the gap and take the lead just in the one straight. So, we accepted that pulling a gap was highly unlikely and that we would just have to make sure we were in the right place on the final lap.

“After 30 minutes of racing and late-braking moves, we found ourselves in P3 with half a lap remaining. Taking P2 at the F1 pits, the driver behind tried to hold around the outside which meant we both dropped a couple more car lengths from the leader than we would have liked. With a distant tow into Brooklands for the last time, I braked as late as I dared to close the gap, and we pulled right onto the back of the leader with one corner to go.

“With the extra corner speed we had, the leader went to take his normal line and left a small gap on the inside. Knowing we needed a win to keep the championship open, I dived to the inside. As I got alongside, he turned in and squeezed me onto the kerb. We made contact, dropping us both off the podium.

“After the race I was dropped back behind him, which meant the championship was all but over, but left us starting P5 on the reverse-grid second race.”

“With the wind dying down a little for Race 2, this allowed an opportunity for an early breakaway. After taking P2 into the first corner, I held back to make sure I took the lead into Stowe. The plan worked and we led the round until the first corner of the second lap. Here, I was happy to drop back to P2 to allow me to once again take the lead into Stowe. It worked again, but this time I had a slightly bigger gap. For the rest of the lap, I managed to build on it further while the others battled for second. This allowed me to open up a 1.6-second lead by the end of lap two, and 2.9 seconds by lap three.

“From here I had broken the tow and so had to settle down into a rhythm to not allow the others to catch. We lapped every lap within a second off my fastest, which meant the following pack couldn’t get near. The car and brakes were spot on for 25 minutes of flat-out racing, with no hint of fade or drop in performance.

“By the end of the race, we had built up a 13.5 second gap to take our first win in Caterhams.

“Thanks as always to 91´«Ã½ for their last-minute help on the Thursday night to get us some brakes for the weekend, and their continued support to make sure we have the best brakes on the grid!

“We now only have two races left in the Championship to try and fight for an overall second position.�

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“We arrived to round 3 at Snetterton 300 with a new car thanks to Fulvia Classics. The good news was that I would now be fighting in equally-paced machinery, but the bad news was I had a new car to get used to before qualifying!

“Free practice 1 was a bit of a mess, as we were still trying to find my comfortable seating position.

“Free practice 2 went better, and we were setting competitive lap times.
Then, we started with the new brake pad testing. The new car has different front brakes, and therefore new compounds to try from the ever-growing 91´«Ã½ Racing range!

“We began by bedding in the Bluestuff NDX pads and trying those (same compound as we ran in the old car). The car instantly felt familiar, with the nice progressive feel I was so accustomed to from the previous car. The times were the same as we had set in FP2, but the track had got slower for everyone else, so we were looking very good.

“For the final session, we bedded and ran the 91´«Ã½ Racing RP-X pad (keeping Bluestuff on the rear). RP-X was the same compound we had used successfully during the Honda Civic campaign in 2021. I was a little apprehensive about using such an aggressive pad on such a light car, but I was quickly proved wrong. They bedded in very quickly, and although they were easier to lock up than with the Bluestuff pads, when you got them up to temperature, they were absolutely fantastic! You could literally stop on a sixpence, albeit with a bit more modulation on the pedal!

“Entering qualifying, we stuck with the RP-X pads. The brakes warmed up straight away, and on our first lap we instantly went to the top of the table. Even with some silly ‘F1-esque’ queuing at the last corner ruining a couple of good laps, we managed to get a final quick lap in to secure pole position.

“For race 1, we started with our first pole position of the season, and although we knew we wouldn’t be able to pull away (as is always the case with Caterham racing), we were confident we could at least try and break up the group a bit.

“As it happens, we managed to get away with just two other cars, so we were left to sort out the podium places. With places swapping every other corner, and a different leader over the line each lap, it was all going to boil down to last lap tactics. We were so strong on the brakes, it felt as though we could overtake at will! I took the lead onto the final lap and knowing it was going to be a drag to the line, tried my hardest to stop their momentum out the last corner. Unfortunately, we were just pipped to the line by 0.049s, with third place only 0.019s behind us!

“It meant we started race 2 from P2, but again, I knew we just had to work as a group to try and get away from the chasing pack.

“With some late braking moves, the same three of us eventually created a gap with about five minutes to go, so once again, I started planning my final laps. At one point, I came out of the final corner second and rehearsed a drag to the line, just pipping the leader.

“Knowing where I wanted to be exiting the final corner, I sat comfortably in second, a couple of car lengths back as we came round to start the final lap. Although it wasn’t… I had miscounted, and a ‘last lap’ board hadn’t been shown as it had been in race 1, so I was too far back on run to the line. Second again…

“As it happened, third place also thought we were on the penultimate lap, so he wasn’t putting me under pressure for second either!”

“The third race of the weekend was a reverse top 10 from race 2, so I lined up 9th. This was my final chance to try and take our first win of the season, but I would have to do it from further back!

“Starting so far back, we really relied on the RP-X pads, and they worked perfectly from the opening lap. We could brake later than anybody else, without a worry of running wide! By the end of the first lap, we were 5th, and by lap 3 we were in the lead!

“Once again, the same two cars latched onto the back of us and we started working together to pull a gap.

“I took the lead onto the final lap, but onto the back straight, tried to let second place through. He knew exactly what I was doing and wouldn’t take the bait!

“By this point, we had slowed so much that 4th place was now in our group. Concerned that any more games could leave me off the podium, I pushed hard into the final sector to try and get a gap. Exiting the last corner, I had more of a gap than race 1, but it still wasn’t enough. We lost the win by 0.036s.

“I was absolutely gutted to lose out in all three races by virtually nothing, but it showed that with the new car and the EBC RP-X pads, we are definitely a contender for the final two rounds of the championship.

“A big thanks to Fulvia Classics for helping us get hold of the new car, and EBC for their hard work in providing us the very best brakes we could ask for!�

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“Round 2 took place on the fantastic Brands Hatch GP circuit, supporting the World GT Challenge in front of 60,000 spectators. It isn’t often you get the opportunity to drive the circuit, let alone race it, so we were really looking forward to it.

“Unfortunately, due to work commitments, I wasn’t able to make the track day on the GP circuit on the Thursday, so we only tested on the Indy layout on the Friday.

“Knowing that this setup only offered three of the corners we would be using when racing on the full circuit, we really focussed on the car setup through Paddock Hill Bend, as this was the most similar to the corners on the GP loop.

“We ran through some setup options throughout the day, bedded some new front and rear pads ready for the weekend, and found a very good car balance through high and low speed corners. We also finished the day with lap times that were very competitive, albeit on the smaller Indy track.

“On Friday evening, we walked the track, picking out reference points we could use when first hitting the track for qualifying the next morning.

“As we took to the track, we were in a group of quick cars, which was the complete opposite to Donington Park at round 1! As it happened, the group was fighting too much, so nobody was getting a clean lap in. After dropping out the group to get one last chance at a clear lap, we crossed the line in P7.

“It was disappointing as the car felt like we could have gone a lot quicker, but we were just in a messy situation.

“Things got worse after we were told they were deleting my fastest lap due to a track limit infringement. Knowing this wasn’t right, we reviewed the video and it was clear they had deleted the wrong lap. Frustratingly, you can’t appeal those decisions, so we ended up dropping to 9^th.

“Race 1 started steady, slowly making up a few positions over the first 10 minutes. With the lack of power on the straights, all the moves were coming on the brakes. The confidence the 91´«Ã½ pads gave me made all the difference. We could brake later at every corner than anybody else, and we kept climbing up the order.
Eventually, we got a turn at the front, but three cars drove past us on the straight like we were stood still.

“Knowing we were going to really struggle when leading the pack, I was happy to hang around 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th, while staying within touching distance of the lead. With two laps to go, I moved into 2^nd, and was just on the tail of the leader. Onto the final lap, there was a group of three cars for the win, with us holding second.

“After the long straight, I had to defend 2^nd heavily, allowing the leader to pull a small gap. I was confident that around the GP loop, nobody could catch us if I kept a clean line. Trying to chase the leader for one last attempt, I bounced off the kerb with three corners to go, and dropped down to 3^rd. Straight away, I had already planned to make my move at the penultimate corner, confident we were the best on the brakes there all race long.

“As soon as I saw the brake lights from the car in front, I dived to the inside, hoping the EBC brakes could stop me in time. Without any hint of a lock up, the car stopped on a sixpence, after 25 minutes of hard braking efforts. Out of the final corner, we were a sitting duck to the more powerful 3^rd place car, but we held onto second place by 0.03s.

“Reverse grid saw us start race 2 in P8. This time around, we were a lot more aggressive on the opening laps, really relying on the brakes to make moves. We finished the first lap in P3, and were in the lead by lap two. As the race went on, I was swapping places between 1^st and 2^nd, hoping for a gap to develop behind.

“Eventually, we formed a three-car race for the lead, and built up a gap to the chasing pack. The lead swapped multiple times per lap for the next few laps, all while each trying not to hold ourselves up.

“Starting the last lap in 3^rd, I made a late lunge on the brakes into the second corner to take 2^nd. On the tail of the leader and knowing how important the run onto the back straight would be, I set up a deep entrance, but struggled to change down to 3^rd and ran wide.

“With the leader now comfortably in front, my eyes were just on defending 2^nd place. Going around the GP loop, I held on under brakes, but again knew I would be out-dragged to the line. Coming into the last corner, I slowed the car more than usual, so I could use my shorter third gear to try and punch out the corner. It still couldn’t overcome the extra power of the newer car behind, and this time I lost out by 0.06s.

“To be fighting in an older car, up against the newer more powerful variants, shows just how good it is on the brakes to make up the time lost on straights. Without the consistency and power of the EBC brakes, we wouldn’t have been able to hang in the lead group for so long, so a big thank you to them once again for the support.

“Hopefully we can go a step further at the next round!”

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“Donington Park was the host of Round 1, using the National circuit layout. On Friday, we only managed to get booked onto two morning sessions to test before the weekend, due to session availability.

“We weren’t in the ‘Caterham’ group, so traffic was bad, and we had no idea on pace due to not being on track with anyone we were going to be racing!

“The first session was used to just get back up to speed with the car and track, and even with the very low temperatures (approximately 4°C!) we still managed to set our best time we’ve recorded around Donington National.

“Session two was used to bed in a new set of pads and a pair of tyres ready for qualifying the following morning. The brakes came in very quickly, despite the cold conditions, but then the red flag was shown, and that was the end of the day.

“Coming into qualifying, we didn’t know how fast we could really go with four new tyres, as we had never had the opportunity to try them. Without knowing who would be quick, we ended up just trying to do our own lap and not chasing a tow. We ended up getting caught in a group that we were comfortably quicker than, which meant we weren’t able to get a tow around the whole lap.

“This was a big disadvantage, as we were often up on our best time, only to catch the group of cars before the end of the lap.

“In the end, we managed P4, but our ‘ideal’ lap time was quite a lot under the pole time, so we were very happy.

“In Race 1, we had a good start and settled into the leading group. In what was one of the most frantic races I’ve competed in for many years, we were happily sat in 4^th place, letting the chaos ensue around us. We found our way up to 3^rd, and with a move getting our nose into P2, we were lost out in the tow, so we slotted back into 3^rd. All of a sudden, we were facing backwards down the flat-out Craner Curves, and then heading towards the wall. We managed to scrub enough speed off, and keep the wheels away from the wall, but unfortunately the head on impact punctured the radiator, so we were out of the race.

“Back in the paddock, we assessed the damage, and it didn’t look good. We were then summoned to the Stewards to decipher what happened. The following car, who made contact with us, was given a time penalty to add to his race, but unfortunately it didn’t help us. We were left with a big damage bill, and a P23 starting position for Race 2.

“Race 2 was the following day and we managed to get the car back ready to go (just about!).

“We were starting dead last and had 25 minutes of racing to make our way back through.

“We had a good start and managed to climb up to 14^th by the end of the opening lap. By lap 5, we were in 6^th, and a couple laps later, we were up to 5^th. As is the way with Caterham racing (or so we have found out this weekend), the tow is everything!

“The top three were well clear at this point, and 4^th was in no-man’s land. We spent three laps closing down 4^th place by a second per lap, dragging along a group of cars behind us. Just as we got within touching distance, I locked up into T1 and went wide. This dropped us to 6^th, and right back into a group of cars. From this moment on, we were in a fight from 4^th to 10^th place.

“We fought hard to stay towards the front of the group, but with our older spec car, we were 10bhp down, and ran out of revs and gears while in the tow. This meant we had to make up time and positions on the brakes, which we did on a number of occasions. Not once did I feel like I lacked braking performance to anybody else on track, and they never faded.

“We only managed P8 in the end, but considering our starting position, we were happy enough with the result.

“Overall, it was a tough weekend and we learnt a lot in a short space of time about Caterham racing. We now know where our advantages and disadvantages lie with our older car, and the 91´«Ã½ give us heaps of confidence to make the moves when we need them. Knowing we can go for 30 minutes, in the tow of other cars, and the brakes don’t even hint at fading also puts us in a great position for later in the races.

“We now have three weeks to repair the car properly, ready for Brands Hatch GP. Hopefully we can put everything we learnt from Round 1 into fighting for a podium at Round 2.�

“I tried some 91´«Ã½ pads in my new Caterham race car during a good back-to-back test recently at Donington Park Circuit (GP), against another manufacturer’s products that most use in the class.

“I started the day with the rival pads, which I had originally driven the car with so I was familiar with how they felt. I went for a 20-minute run and set a decent reference lap to compare against.

“I then swapped to the EBC Bluestuff NDX front pads, and Yellowstuff rear pads. After four laps of following the bed-in procedure and getting them gently up to operating temperature, I came in and let them cool over lunch.

“After lunch, I targeted a 30-minute run to really test the pads. Initially, I had a lot more feel in the pedal which I preferred, especially with the two hairpins as it allowed me to release the brake a lot more accurately and keep the car balanced on entry.

“As it was a track day, it was very difficult to get complete clean laps, but the delta on my lap timer kept going negative throughout the lap, until traffic slowed me down. Eventually, I managed an almost completely clean lap, and was able to improve on the reference time by 0.4 seconds.

“Unfortunately, a red flag cut the run at about 22 minutes, but with no hint of fade at all up to that point, I was confident they would have been able to go to 30 minutes with no problems whatsoever.

“After a cool down in the pits, I went out again but this time with a passenger, to further try and push the pads to their limit.

“Again, after approximately 20 minutes, the red flag was shown, but to my surprise, there was still no fade even when carrying around an extra 80kg+ passenger.

“I completed around 130 kilometres on the pads throughout the afternoon, and the ultimate braking performance didn’t feel like it had dropped off at all.

“I am looking forward to using them at our first race weekend on the 2-3 April, once again at Donington Park, albeit on the National circuit this time, which isn’t as hard on the brakes!â€�