Brakes

We all tend to get caught up in going fast. Be it in a straight line or sideways, in the heat of the moment, the red mist hazes the rational sections of the mind and forces you to focus on one thing: smashing the loud pedal. But what happens when you run out of track and need to bring the party back down to earth? Well, you damn well better hope that you have a decent set of brakes to match all that go.

It’s something that often gets looked over, because, if they work, they work, right? Well, not quite. You need to sort your brakes to match what the car will be used for, especially considering the better part of the Silvia range is now 20 years or older. To find out where to look and what to go for, we chewed the fat with Nick Chiew at North Shore Toyota.

“There’s plenty out there on offer, but with experience in Nascar, JGTC [All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship], WRX, V8 Supercars, WTCC [World Time Attack Challenge], Porsche GT3 Cup, plus numerous other classes that I don’t have the space to include, Project Mu is a go-to option for us when it comes to recommending brake packages for our customers. Be it a small pad upgrade for your daily-driver or weekend track-day car, pad and rotor upgrades for something that will see a decent amount of track time, or even right out to a full-forged caliper kit to suit all levels of motorsport, including endurance-racing use — you’ve got to think about where and how you’ll be using the car.”

“For a car mainly used on the road and maybe the odd weekend track-day fun, Project Mu B-Spec pads are a solid option. They are a medium-torque pad and work great when cold, wear well, and are kind on your rotors. If you are getting a little more serious, the Project Mu HC+ compound offers even more torque and has a high rotor temperature handling of 800°C. And for those wanting to try their hand at drifting, the Project Mu range offers a drifting-specific compound (D1 Spec) that works well from cold and can handle the high initial torque requirements of drifting.” North Shore Toyota // 09 444 8825 // facebook.com/NSToyotaParts