I have been doing DE's now for a bout 4 years. Until now I have been using my 1988 911 for these events, but this weekend I will take the S4 to Barber Motorsports Track in Alabama for it's first DE. One of the first things I was told (way back when) was not to set the parking brake after a track sessionbecause the brake pads could melt and stickto the very hot brake rotor. So when Ipark after a session on the track I slowly enter my parking spot in 1st gear and just turn off the engine to stop, no parking brake.

Now tomy question...... with a turbo charged car it is desireable to let the car run to cool the turbos, tolet the car sit and run you have to use the parking brake. So what do you guy's do about the hot brakes vs. the turbos? Is the cooldown lap enough to cool the turbos and/or the brakes? Is this not a problem with the Audi brakes? AmI needlesslyparanoid?

Thanks
Andrew

 

I don't know the answer to your brake question (if pad melt down is an issue - but I could imagine it being the case) - I've had mine get very hot on me (too hot too touch) with a sucession of high speed stops and starts and also when I ran the Dragon in October - but a cooldown lap or such should be more then enough time to cool them off I would think - same with the turbos. And yes you definatly want to run the car for a minute (or preferably more) to let the turbos cool down before shutting down - again you could do this moving or just idling - and you could always just stay in the car - but I think a bit of a gentle cruise around wouldn't hurt...

Have fun at Skip Barber - let us know how it turns out and how the S4 did!

 

It's going to be a HUGE eye opener going from a 911 to a S4. You will need to change the way you drive.

the brakes will fade faster, corner entry speeds will be slower, braking zones will be be much longer, and the S4 doesn't like trail braking so much.

Yes, on the ebrake, it keeps the hot pads out of contact with the rotor, and can keep the rotor from warping, or getting deposits on it.

YES, MOST definitely let the car cool down. Do your cool down lap, and let the car idle into the pits, and pop the hood and let it sit there for 3-5min.
Watch your oil temps, if they get much past 250, slow it down a bit.

 

That is a great track. Home of the Porsche Driving Experience. I have driven a Porsche on there, but would really like to drive my own S4 on it. Have fun.
As for you brake questions, when the brakes are hot the parking brake can make hot spot causing rotor warping, do to cooling at different rates. I'd try to let the car idle a few minutes before turning off. Let us know how the car is on that track.

 

Thanks for the replies.

I have a set of Power Slot rotors and Hawk Blue pads that I will install for the DE. I can't imagine the ubber soft street pads lasting very long on the track.

Any experience on track driving with ESP on or off?

Thanks
Andrew

 

A few more interesting details on the DE.

VW Drivers magazine is sponsoring this event. They have invited 32 owners of the VW R32 to the track for a one day driving school. (get it ....R32...32 drivers....those VW guys are so clever). Anyway, they needed help organizing and they needed driving instructors for the students, so they contacted the president of the Atlanta Audi Club (Cherokee Chapter)since he helpedorganize the National Audi event last year at Barber. He contacted the local membership for instructors, and the rest, as they say, is history. 16 of us fortunate folks that replied quicklyare guests of VW for a day at the track. We instruct for two sessions then have our our own solo session, repeat four times. It will be a busy day but , life doesn't get much better than that! VW Driver magazine will do a article on the event and VW will have the new R32 there for folks to look at (they haven't said anything about a drive unfortunately).

I just got a new miniture video camera too, so I hope to have in carvideos of the event.