Not a lot to write home about on the SCCA PDX. I found the program to be much less organized and less formal than NASA’s HPDE school, was to be expected. The PDX was a lot easier to just hop in the car and go, many times even without an instructor, though that was mainly due to shortage in instructors.

I made the mistake of not recording my first session, which would ultimately turn out to be my fastest. I started off strong, but as the brakes built up heat, by the end of the short 15 minute session, I boiled the fluid. It’s clear that I generated much, much more heat than I had the last time I was out here. I’m not sure what happened, but the brakes didn’t feel right and they haven’t felt right since the first track day I did. I’ve bled gallons of fluid out, and finally ended with changing the brake master cylinder, all to no avail.

After the first session, I came out with brakes that smoked so bad I had to go take a few laps around the street to get them to cool off. The brake calipers in the rear looked fine, but the fronts finally completed their transformation into Brownbos – especially the front right. I discovered that both brake air guides under the car were in bad shape, but the passenger’s side, which ended up the worst, had the air guide completely broken off. It’s possible this is the reason that side ended up browner than the driver’s side.

I bled during the second session and just made it out to the 3rd, but the brakes felt worse than ever yet. I limped around the course, and while I took video, it’s not really worth posting. Next item to replace will be calipers. Either the seals or pistons failed after that first track day, and it’s practically the only thing left to replace here. If it ends up not being the calipers, I’m really not sure at all what it could be. It has to be the calipers on account of everything else I’ve replaced, but at this point I’m wary since nothing I’ve done to fix the brakes has worked. That said, I did install the Grimmspeed Master Cylinder Brace while the strut tower brace, throttle body, and battery were out of the car, and they did firm up the brake pedal to a degree, but at this point there is simply something wrong with the brakes, most likely the calipers.