Road and track pads

Right, fellow porkers, I have just pulled the trigger on a very nice 996, which I will introduce when I collect it in a couple of weeks. Today’s question is: For those of you who venture on track in your 996 C2’s, which pads would you recommend? Motul 660 will be employed, as will the GT3 ducts, but I’d like a set of fit and forget pads to suit both road and the odd track day. Not going to be using slicks, just good road tyres, and won’t be flogging it on the road, just enjoying it. Pagid RS and EBC Yellow seem available, but any other suggestions based on experience? Cheers!!

Aren’t all the brands made by the same company now, tmd friction? I’d love to find some new old stock OE from years ago when the material was allowed to be hazardous to your health/environment, they just worked so much better.

I used castrol SRF for my brake fluid, excellent stuff. For road and trackday pads I found Pagid RS42' s to be the best as they did not squeak when used on the road but lasted barely 2 track days. I changed to Pagid RS14's at about £160 a set which lasted 6 trackdays but after a week of normal road use squealed to high heaven. However 1/2 a lap at Befrord and they were silent. They did not fade after a long 6 or 7 laps of the full circuit and could have gone on longer but the driver had reached his limit for a session. So my recommendation would be a Pagid RS14

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How long ago was this? RS14’s are astronomical at 911Design - £400+ per axle!

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£400!!!!!!! Mmmmmmmmmm, yes it has been a while............9 years at least, but you only need the front ones

Shopped around and matched them up for less than 500 front and back. Still expensive, but hopefully worth it in the long run.

I fitted Ferodo DS2500 on my car, they are great and not crazy expensive. Part code is FRP3051H Only downside is that you can't fitted a brake pad wear sensor. Also fit braided brake lines, not expensive.

Track pads cost a lot of money but then you don't need to replace them all the time (unlike street pads which might last half a day on a circuit); you do need to replace discs as they wear faster. And decent fluid every two years. But if you like to stop... I did both front and rear pads with the same compound by the way, as on a 911, the rear brakes are doing about 45% of the work.

A friend has an mx5 that I’ve been looking after/drinving, that is almost specifically for track. Munches through pads, but had a rear calliper piston fail to retract this year, which cooked the pads - and it’s very evident that the rear does a fair bit of the braking… was a hairy moment!

depends on how much tracking you will do, noting brake cooling is also important Pagid Street+ give a bit more without compromising road use PAGID Street+ Pads for Street Use parts.911uk.com

Aside from pads, track driving can also pose some questions of your engine. The M96 is known to have issues with long bends, particularly left handers, leading to oil starvation. You can buy baffled sumps (and slightly deeper) to help prevent this. And the M97 oil return tubes help. The other weak point is the AOS. Mine let go on the main straight at Silverstone, leading to a smokey trial and a black flag. Fortunately it wasn't a serious failure and it hadn't fully let go bit it ended my day. Companies here will sell you a motorsport solution derived from the M97 AOS to eliminate this but its over £3k fitted. Instead you can buy the Ultimate AOS from the US and fit (or get that fitted) to eliminate the issue once and for all. Its ~£200 plus shipping/taxes and fitting. There's a good thread on Rennlist around this.

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Thanks Rob, Good points - fortunately some of them covered already. The car is a 4.1 Hartech rebuild, and it’s currently having a Hartech sump fitted. Reading and following Slakker Racing, I note that Brandon did a video on this subject a month or so ago, and the sump, heavier oil and attention to the fill level should be sufficient to avoid starvation. The AOS, however, is something to think about. I priced up having an x51 scavenger pump and return but that’s another 3k including fitting!! I’m only running road tyres, and the car is a Targa, so not a track weapon per se, just a nice car that I want to use nearer it’s potential than I can on the road, from time to time….

I track mine a bit (3.4 C2) - usually a big euro trip every year to the Ring and Spa, occasionally a UK track thrown in as well. I've run PFC 08 before, which I found good. Did a number of track days and lasted a few years, rusted/fell apart before they ran out. They also squealed like crazy on the road but it doesnt bother me too much. The last couple of times Ive run Pagid RSL29. I think I prefer these, stopping power seems similar to the PFC if not slightly better but I prefer the feel of the Pagids. These gave generally been much quieter on the road. They can squeal, but if they've had a good track session Ive found they stay quiet for months. I have got some carbotech xp8s to try next. Downside of the track pads is they are expensive, but ive found them critical, as well as fluid. I run standard pagid discs from ECP. Used to run SRF - mega but pricey. Experimenting with motul rbf600/660 recently and seems good, much cheaper than the castrol. Other track precautions I havebraided lines, gt3 ducts, a low temp thermostat, x51 sump, centre radiator and I run thicker oil. I have been using Millers 10w50, but ive still seen oil pressure instability after a hard ~20min session at spa. This year i switched to 10w60 which seemed to help

I've similar experience; Ferodo DS2500 were OK, more of an upgraded street pad than a track pad (my friends swear by the DS3000); EBC Bluestuff also OK (but not Yellow or Red, which fall apart); and Performance Friction were good. We run Carbotech XP8s and they're great, and last forever. No need to go to XP10. I've got the Pagid RS29s in the 997 and they've been wonderful, and like you, I don't worry about the noise on a noisy car - plus they're pedestrian friendly when pedestrians are either glued to a screen or deaf with headphones which can lead to some interesting interactions and some WTF moments from behind the wheel.