1976 Chevrolet Camaro - Project g-28 Braking News

Back at California Speedway in Fontana, CA, our initial brake testing with the Baer binders got us down in the 145ft range (from 60 mph) with lock-up occurring in the right rear tire. Compared to the 216.9ft stopping distance of the stock car, that's a mighty improvement. But there was more in the setup...	The Baer GT system has no problem filling out our 18-inch Weld Pro-Star XP wheels, but good looks aren't the reason we got 'em, stopping power is our ultimate goal. So how'd we do?	Here, editor Hunkins adjusts the rear brake bias dial near the master cylinder. This adjustment was tweaked five or six times during the test session (the idea is to delay the onset of rear brake lock-up). On a non-ABS car, this will occur just prior to the fronts locking up.
It's pretty difficult to do a max-effort stop from 60 mph without locking up the brakes, but we were able to get that distance whittled down to 134.1 feet by using threshold braking technique and adjusting the rear brake bias. Right now, we're at a brick wall: the adhesion limit of the Falken touring tires.	The only way we're going to meet our 60-0 mph stopping goal of 120 feet is with sticky R-compound rubber. These new NT-555RII skins from Nitto measure 275/40ZR17 and are DOT legal. They have a treadwear rating of 100 so they're pretty soft, but at $149 each, they're affordable enough to run on a daily driver. Once we get some rims lined up, we'll head back to the track to retest braking, slalom and skidpad. Will they get us to our g-force goals? Keep watching!

NEW BAER MONOBLOCK CALIPERS COMING SOON

When we arrived at Baer Racing in Phoenix, we noticed a lot of work going on around a new product called the Monoblock caliper. The idea is to make a world-class six-piston racing caliper out of a single piece of aluminum billet, and build entire kits for less than what it costs to buy a single monoblock caliper from a competitor like Brembo. The Baer Monoblock will be offered in a street version (called 6S) and a race version (called 6R), with the primary difference being a bridge (or lack thereof) at the rear of the caliper for quick pad changes. Front Monoblock kits will be offered starting under $2,400 and rotor size will range from 13.5 inches to 15 inches. Like all Baer brake kits, the Monoblock kits will come complete with everything included for a carefree installation.