We took the Chase Bays EK Civic to Barber for Power Brakes vs. Manual Brakes Testing!!

By Bryan Leonard, Pro Race Car Driver and Chase Bays Builds Manager
https://www.instagram.com/bryan_leonard_racing/

We were fortunate enough to be invited by some friends to a private track event at Barber motorsports park. Shout out to Kai Goddard and Laura Hayes with Thunder Bunny Racing. We brought an EK to a Supra GT4/ BMW GT4/ Porsche GT4 party.

The day started out pretty tough with a check valve and push rod issues on the OEMC system (yet another reason to ditch it). SO we spent hours trying to sort that problem. We did so successfully and were finally able to hit the track. The next snag we hit was ride heights. So we had to immediately come in and start increasing ride height. Assuming the car was balanced we increased each corner the same amount to try to retain that balance. Eventually, after testing, we added rake in the car, solving the ride height issues.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have a chance to realign the car or check the corner balance, so we didn’t have an optimized setup. With that said we were able to lay a baseline time down of 1:57.41. I would say the major issues I had driving was the brakes, having to be so gentle on them and also having a bit of inconsistency from previous turns. I just didn’t really have the consistency to make great laps. We made multiple laps in the 57 region.

Dustin and Landon jumped on the car immediately and swapped over to the Chase Bays DBBE. It took us longer to bleed the brakes than it did for the guys to swap components. Once that was complete, we hit the track again, I immediately hit a 1:51.37. Right out of the gate the car was much more of a pleasure to pilot. The brakes gave me way more control and confidence to be completely honest. Theoretical time was 1:46.911. That is with the generic 7 sectors of Barber via AIM. Overall huge success. Everyone at chasebays have put the right amount of time, effort, and energy into this product. This is the second car I have had success with, that is equipped with the Chase Bays DBBE. Will be great to properly spring the car, corner balance, and align to go out and see what it will do.