The hub let go as I turned into a tight right hander at about 50mph, there was no warning or vibration on the previous straight or while I was braking for the corner. I just kept the car going straight and buried it in the gravel trap.

Most of the damage came from the tire flailing around on the end of the brake line.





Safety crews at the track were excellent, the tow driver even stuck around to help get the car loaded on the trailer.

 

Ouch! Glad you (and your car for the most part) are o.k. Did you even have time to say, Oh Sh*t!??

 

Glad to hear you made it safe and sound, at the very least you have a great story to tell.

The blueing on the rotor, and whats left of the pads, make me think extreme heat perhaps played a part in its ultimate failure.

Isaac

 

Maybe I'm a rookie, but I've never seen a pad melt onto a rotor like that before.

 

it sucks, but its kind of a known problem on these cars. the racers either replace the hub with the sevens only or kc raceware, or inspect the rotor every event

 

Ha! Thats exactly what I said.

Road America is a killer on brakes, there are 3 straights each lap where I was up over 110 heading into 3rd gear corners. Im sure the fact that I was on $22 closeout priced rotors didnt help much either.

 

What Bill Cosby used to call a "first you say it, then you do it" moment.

Sorry for your damage, glad you're all right, hopeful the car can be repaired.

 

Good thing it failed where it did. Coulda been much worse. And now you have something to do with your spare time.

 

Thats not the pad, a piece of the fender liner landed on top of the pad and rotor in the gravel trap and the whole works melted together.

 

So the bearings stayed in place and the hub failed?

 

Yep. Bearings were fine, no signs of wear or heating.



As much as it hurt my wallet to order up the KC Raceware E-Prod 2 piece brakes, I REALLY don't want this to happen again.

Anyone have any good recipes for crow?

 

I know what you mean, they are pricey, but your experience helps me feel better about taking the plunge.

You will like them though, the weight reduction alone is worth it, imo, now I can also cite the additional safety factor.

 

You got your $22.00 worth from them rotors.

 

Oddly enough a bunch of Miatas had hub failures this weekend too. Flyin' Miata : News

 

You guys must be pullin some hellacious lateral Gs!!!!!!!!lol

 

Or cheap chinese rotors

 

+1 the 1st gen rotors are a bit weak in design, so casting QUALITY is important. IF you're racing.

for racing/track days the rotors MUST be inspected for cracks/replaced after every event.

 

So this the 2nd instance I've seen this happen online, and the first also happened to be an RX7. Haha.

 

I think its the vehicles immune system rejecting rotors that do not match the wankel DNA!!!!

 

Any chance you wouldn't mind sharing what the KC's set you back? Those things look sweet

 

never buying cheap rotors again

 

Who makes OEM non-Chinese rotors for our cars??

 

$800

 

Thats actually not bad at all. Made of high quality aluminum with bearing races installed? Sign me up!!!

I'm still used to paying 80% higher prices for pieces of metal that bolt onto cars with a Porsche badge. Its painful at best.

 

That includes OEM bearings as well, along with the races being installed.