
It came as no surprise that...

It came as no surprise that Baers ZO6 02 Corvette won the prize for the shortest stopping distance. The Vetter clamped down on Baer six-piston calipers to hunker down from 100 mph in a mere 318 feet.

Perhaps the biggest thrill...

Perhaps the biggest thrill of the event was Frank Gearins 69 big-block Nova. Its a drag racer so the 11.69/113-mph pass was no shock. But when Frank clamped on the stock brakes and pulled down a 438-foot stopping distance, he instantly went to the head of the class for this years overall 0-100-0.

Craig Boone supplied the thrill...

Craig Boone supplied the thrill of the event when at 100 mph, he locked up the rear brakes...

...and performed a perfect...

...and performed a perfect 360-degree...

...tire-smoking slide for...

...tire-smoking slide for life. A post-slide inspection revealed that the rear calipers were too large, and even completely backing off the rear proportioning valve couldnt cure the problem.

Brent Jackson also brought...

Brent Jackson also brought out his beautiful 69 big-block Camaro complete with a set of Baer brakes. But just a little too much rear brake plagued his car as well. Brent was able to crank down 100-to-0 in a respectable 451 feet, but the big Camaro is capable of sub-400-foot distances once its dialed in.

Brents Camaro features...

Brents Camaro features a 484ci Rat motor under the hood. I just threw this in until my new motor is ready, he said.

RK Sport represented the...

RK Sport represented the mini-car crowd with a nitrous- injected 2.4L Cavalier. The Cav promised some awesome stopping distances with its big Baer front discs but suffered ABS woes that allowed the rear brakes to prematurely lock up.

The RK Sport Cavalier 2.4L...

The RK Sport Cavalier 2.4L DOHC engine packed some punch that included a Nitrous Express system and an emissions-legal header. The Cav only pulled 92 mph in the quarter so we werent able to get 0-100-0 numbers on the car.

Tim Moores Chevelle...

Tim Moores Chevelle Baer brake system along with the Kumho P275/40ZR17 tires on all four corners made a huge difference in his stopping distance from his first test in 2000. The new setup knocked down an excellent 375-foot stopping distance.

The other Rat at the test...

The other Rat at the test occupied the engine compartment of Frank Gearins 69 Nova. Built by Brett Benson, the 481ci Rat sports 10:1 compression, an Engle cam, World Products iron oval-port heads, an 830-cfm Holley carb, and Hooker headers. Well do an in-depth feature on this unassuming Nova in an upcoming issue.

Brent Jackson had to walk...

Brent Jackson had to walk the six-speed Rat Camaro off the starting line because of the short sidewall P335/30ZR18 Michelin tires that didnt allow the car to hook on the LACR surface. The Camaro still blasted a 119-mph trap speed that stands as the top mph for our entire four-year test.

This is a printout of the...

This is a printout of the entire g-force curve on the ZO6 Corvette. Notice how the ABS system pulsates and the tires begin to lock up and the system reacts by releasing the brakes and then reapplying them. That lowest horizontal graph is 1g.

After his spin, Tim adjusted...

After his spin, Tim adjusted his rear brake proportioning valve counterclockwise to compensate for the taller rear tire and eventually tuned up his brake system to perform admirably. The key is to start with the valve adjusted all the way out and increase rear brake pressure until the tires start to lock upthen back them off slightly.
The more we run cars on the unforgiving asphalt dragstrips, the more it becomes clear that tuning is the key to performance perfection. We burn up a ton of space in this magazine waving the horsepower flag. But theres also another form of powerthe power of a good set of brakes. In the giant game of go-whoa, tuning your car doesnt end with carburetors, heads, horsepower, and torque. There are just as many variables in the deceleration game that can make or brake your efforts to be a hero.
The six cars that we invited this year offered plenty of hero potential, but only a couple of cars had the right stuff to play the game at both ends of the track. Again, the great folks at Baer offered to travel to Los Angeles from their home turf in Phoenix to help us out. This year Baer staffers Dan Palmer and Chan Martinez brought their Stalker radar gun and a brake-tuned 02 ZO6 Corvette to wring out as well. With monster Baer six-piston front calipers, EradiSpeed rotors, and ABS electronics, the Vette promised to set the negative g mark for this crowd of great brakers.
We also invited a pair of Pro Touring 69 CamarosCraig Boones small-block powered F-car (Ground Control, Nov. 01, page 24) and the 488ci Rat-powered Camaro with monster brakes and 18-inch wheels and tires owned and driven by Brent Jackson. Frank Gearin brought his 481ci 69 Nova that looked to be the quickest of the bunch along with veteran participant and CHP contributor Tim Moore and his 67 Chevelle (Deluxe Accommodations, Feb. 02, page 58). RK Sport rounded out the field with a nitrous-injected Cavalier fitted with 13-inch front Baer brakes and flyweight status that looked like it could easily stop short.
Once the track was cleaned and ready to go, we immediately launched into test mode. The first car down the track was Craig Boones small-block, five-speed Camaro that ran a high-13-second pass. That was the easy part. When Craig hit the brakes, the rear tires immediately locked up sending Craig into a spin that eventually led to a full 360-degree, tire-smoking roundabout. The good news is that he managed to keep the Camaro off the guardrail and the only damage was to his ego. After he calmed down, Craig adjusted the rear disc-brake proportioning valve out as far as it would go and promised to go easy on the second pass. Unfortunately, Craig never got a good braking run, because he couldnt reduce the rear brake pressure enough to eliminate the rear brake lockup problem. He discovered that when he spun a second time! He eventually traced the problem to a too-large Ford Explorer rear brake caliper. Needless to say, Craigs test day ended with a long slide.
The next car in line was Tim Moores 67 Chevelle. The Chevelles first pass had nitrous problems, but that was a minor setback compared to his tire-smoking spin of the morning when his rear tires also locked up. Tim revealed that he had carefully trimmed the proportioning valve for the shorter street rear tires. The taller, stickier M/T E.T. Street tires dramatically changed the rear braking efficiency. For his next pass, Tim also pulled the brake prop valve all the way out to reduce the rear brake pressure and then slowly tested the valve with more rear brake pressure.
The next few passes with the remaining cars were uneventful and the Corvette easily took top honors in the braking department. The surprise performer was Frank Gearins Nova.
Not only did this unassuming Rat-powered Nova thump with a lowest e.t. of the day, a corrected 11.69/113.70, but the stock front disc/rear drum brakes performed admirably to anchor a solid 438-foot stopping distance. The Novas overall performance would prove unbeatable even by the Corvette. The ideal pass would have combined the Novas acceleration run up to 100 mph with the Corvettes eyeball-flattening decel back to zero.
Tim Moore came back to make a couple of good runs in his Chevelle and dialed in the proper brake pressure balance to prevent the rear brakes from locking. Tim pulled out his best overall pass of 12.78/108.96 combined with an impressive 375-foot stopping distance from 100 mph. Brent Jackson also sported a set of big Baer Track brakes on his Camaro, but his stiff sidewall rear tires prevented any kind of a decent launch. The Camaro blasted a 12.67 at an amazing 119.41 mph, but braking limited the nose-heavy Camaro to a best of 452 feet.
The Cavalier had promised to perform well under braking, but it never achieved 0-100-0 mph numbers because the little nitrousd mini-car never made it to 100 mph. Even with its problems, the little RK Sport Cavalier still knocked down a decent 15.10 at almost 92 mph with the help of a Nitrous Express fast gas kit.
This test was the most revealing of all weve done since only two cars didnt suffer rear brake lockup problems, and they were the two cars that performed the best. The ZO6 took top braking honors while Franks Nova took low e.t. up to 100 mph. This year Baer also gave us an interesting look at each cars performance based on acceleration and braking g-force, which was very revealing. It sounds simple, but very few cars can achieve consistent acceleration and deceleration curves. The braking curve is the most intriguing, because you are trying to maintain the highest negative g-force possible for the entire time the car is moving. Thats tough to achieve.
As usual, we had a blast with this years 0-100-0 slam dance. Nobody broke anything, they kept em off the guardrails, and we learned that most enthusiasts know much more about how to go fast than they do about how to stop. If we learned one thing, its that you can get great performance out of even stock systems if you know what youre doing. Its all in the tune-up. And remember, dont spin out.