A drum brake car with the proper brake lining material will stop very well, repeatedly. Key words "proper lining material" which is not available at the autoparts store. Velvetouch and/or carbon metallic lining material should be used on all 4 corners. Velvetouch is hard to find theses days but it's out there.

A disc brake equipped car with the proper brake material will stop very well, repeatedly. Key words "proper lining material" which is not available at the autoparts store. Velvetouch and/or carbon metallic lining material should be used on all 4 corners. Velvetouch is hard to find theses days but it's out there.

Unless you want to put 17 inch wheels on your old cars there are mechanical limitations to what fits.

I have been running hot laps for the last 20+ years on the road course with mopar disc brakes on 15 & 16 inch wheels. I have not crashed [yet] from overheating the brakes while running some very hot laps.

The newest track ride is a big fat heavy 1970 Charger R/T. Top speed is limited 125mph on the straightaways because you need hp to push weight. It has the large rotors on the front with wilwood calipers, special compound wilwood pads, braided steel lines and high temp dot 4 fluid. On the rear is Dr Diff's set up for 15-16 inch wheels. 16x8 wheels. There is air ducted to the front brakes. There are no braking issues with the car.

There were no braking issues with my old but very wicked pos 70 'Cuda either that was set up in a similar fashion except the 'Cuda had 11 inch rear drums and ran much faster [130 mph]than the Charger. Sessions are 50 minutes, track distance is 3.4 miles. 15-20 laps depending how fast you are.
I think the brakes get tested.

If you feel the need to cut 5 seconds off your lap times on a 45 year old car larger brakes and more stiffening to the car would be required. The laps times are already very acceptable.

So there you have it, real world testing and results. The big fat Charger returns to Watkins Glen for more fun and adventure June 25-26, 2012.