Skip to main content

Reply to "Vintage racing brakes"

The cost of the Girling's is already known. The cost of the Lockhead's is not.

I suspect that the cost is going to be similar.


In looking at these brakes we are looking really at how the Pantera was raced in Europe at the time.
Girling brakes are on virtually every car made.

In the US, Panteras that were being raced were all privateers.

Here racers would take what was available to them and adapt them.


In the case of the Trans Am Mustangs, Kar Kraft was the development source of race parts.

What they did initially was source greater capacity brake systems that already existed that were available.

The '67 Thuderbird/big Ford system was a natural.

It gave each caliper 4 BIG pistons and the largest surface area pad available off of the shelf and gave bigger brake torque because of the 12" diameter rotors, greater cooling down rates because of the 1.25" vented iron rotors.

It was designed to stop a 6,500 pound car from 120 mph. Put it on a 3,000 pound car, IT HAS TO BE EFFECTIVE.

ALL off the shelf items and not priced like custom made parts like the Euro cars had. The way race cars go through brakes, this is a big help.


I saw a "vintage Trans Am Mustang" go through FOUR sets of rotors IN PRACTICE. What's your plan on your race Pantera? Find a Sugar Daddy"?


The reason I say all of this is simple, if I was racing a Pantera here then, I'd need all the financial breaks I could get.

I would go with a version of this Thunderbird brake system on the front, take the front Pantera stock calipers and put them in the back of the car.

To add interest to this thought, there is a "classic brake" company here in the US that is making new castings of these brake calipers.

ABOUT four years ago they were offering the calipers in ALUMINUM. In questioning them about the aluminum, they said that they had porosity problems with the castings and stopped selling them.

If you can connect the dots I've laid out here, you can see that to me it makes more sense to use the T-bird calipers, rotors and pads.

I need to make adapters for any of these calipers anyway and I'm not going to charge myself $1500 to make the adapter plates?

An ALUMINUM caliper instead of iron would just make me have an unlimited amount of unprovoked orgasms!


I have already seen pictures of three US Panteras that were heavily raced here in the US and all three had this "Trans Am" brake system on the front and the stock front Pantera calipers on the rear.

Oooops! Sorry. Just another unprovoked orgasm. I've got to get over that. Wifey is getting very jealous. Big Grin
×
×
×
×