View additional titles by mousing over any of the links below
Northstar Develops a Spring Safety Equipment Checklist
Northstar Motorsports Attends OMP Worldwide Dealer Meeting in Italy
Northstar Customers Qualify Well for Races at Daytona
Northstar's John Ruther to Speak at Winter Bench Racing Session at VFC Engineering
Northstar Provides Pagid Brake Pads and other Equipment to several teams running in the 2008 Rolex 24 at Daytona
Northstar Motorsports to Sponsor Golf Outing with Michael Andretti to Benefit the Homeless
Northstar Motorsports Provides Safety Equipment for Stunt Drivers in New Batman Movie
Northstar Motorsports Sponsors SCCAs June Sprints
Not All New Models of SA2010 Auto Racing Helmets Are Available Yet
Price Reduced on all HANS Device Sport Models
Update on Impact Racing Product Decertification by SFI
SFI Foundation Decertifies Certain Products Manufactured and/or Distributed by Impact Racing
Get an Early Jump on the Racing Season - Buy a Racing Simulator
Northstar has Produced its Own In-Car Videos of the Countries Best Road Courses
What's the Difference Between Major Brands of Racing Brake Fluids?
Hans Device Probably Saves F-1 Drivers Life
What's the Difference Between a 5-Point and a 6-Point Competition Belt?
Mounting Race Seats as Low as Possible
Hans Device only works if worn.
The Young Gun Has Won! Vettel's Title Winning Season
Why Tyre Size Matters - Bridgestone Explains
What Lewis Hamilton Drives Everyday?
MTM Audi TT RS Packs Up To 424 Horsepower, 185 mph Top Speed
Another Day, Another Racing 911: Introducing the Porsche GT3 R
Ferrari Preparing Hardcore 599 GTO?
Car and Driver Runs Porsche Panamera turbo in The 24 Hours of Dayton
Seven New Porsche Models Reportedly Due Over Next Four Years...Could There Be More?
BMW M3 GTS is Unveiled!
Evidence Mounting That 2010 Audi S4 is Underrated
Porsche 911 GT3 RS Reportedly Laps the
From the Prancing Horse's Mouth: Montezemolo Reportedly Confirms Ferrari 458 Spider
Porsche Unveils 2010 911 GT3 Cup Racecar Ahead of Frankfurt Auto Show Debut
Porsche Unveils Sportier 2010 911 GT3RS
First Images of Gemballa's Mistrale Modified Porsche Panamera Surface
GM Reveals Details on New Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GT2 for ALMS
Ruf Updates Its Lineup With the 685 HP RT12S
In Car Navigation Systems Set To Go 3D?
2010 Ford Mustang GT500 Production Limited to 2,000 Units
BMW Considering Offering M3 GT4 to Gentlemen Racers
BMW Readies It's New M5 To Arrive Sometime in 2011 or 2012
Porsche Driving Pointers With and Without ABS
Jaguar UK Launches a New Police Package for XF
Audi Dropping 3.2 Liter V6 From 2010 A3, A4 and TT
2010 Porsche 911 GT3 runs the 'Ring in 7:40
BMW M3 GT4 to Campaign in Nurburgring 24-Hour Enduro
Homewood, AL Has a Porsche 930 Turbo As Its Latest Police Car
Audi Releases More Details on the R15 TDI
Porsche Unveils the New 2010 GT3 at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show
Porsche Unveils Updated 911GT3 for 2010
New Porsche Museum Opens This Week in Stuttgart
Porsche Unveils its Latest GT3 RSR
Spy Shots of New Porsche 911 GT3 RS
Audi Motorsport Announces New R8 LMS GT3 Customer Racecar
American LeMans Series Consolidates Racing Classes for 2010
Ayrton Senna Documentary Starts Rolling
Porsche's Legendary 917 Hits the Big 4-0! Happy Birthday!
Ferrari World Abu Dhabi Gears Up For Grand Opening in 2010
Which Car Holds the Official Nurburgring Lap Time Record for Production Automobiles?
Martini Girl Messes up F1 Racers in Monaco
Enjoying Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
GingerMan Raceway and Visiting the Nearby Towns.
What's the Difference Between Major Brands of Racing Brake Fluids?
John Ruther
Last Updated: 2010-12-01 12:06:10
Racing brake fluids come in all different colors and temerature ratings. What is the best one for your application depends on several factors such as : How heavy the car is; How fast the car is?, What size are the brakes relative to the weight and speed of the car; How much air flow gets to the brakes; and last but not least, How much money you want to spend?
Let's see if we can sort this all out. Let's say you have a 3,000 lb. with 250 hp and relatively small brakes (i.e. stock) and you don't have additional brake ducting. Even if you are using the best racing brake pads made (i.e. Pagid) you still need to be using a racing brake fluid if you drive your car on the track. Most racing brake fluids are rated DOT 4 and they publish a Dry and a Wet Boiling Point for each fluid. The Dry boiling point is actually more of a theoretical or laboratory boiling point since all brake systems, even though they are sealed, have a certain amount of moisture in them. So the "Real World" number you should be looking at is the Wet boiling point. The following table will give you exactly what is available from the major manufacturers of racing brake fluid:
Ate Super Blue Racing (1 Ltr.) Dry-536F Wet-392F Cost-$15.00
Ate Typ 200 (1 Ltr.) Dry-536F Wet-392F Cost-$15.00
Motul RBF600 (1/2 Ltr.) Dry-594F Wet-421F Cost-$19.80
Castrol SRF (1 Ltr.) Dry-590F Wet-518F Cost-$84.95
What can we learn from this chart. The best value is clearly one of the ATE fluids. If your car is still under factory warranty and you are tracking your car and are trying to fly "under the radar" at your dealership you might want to consider ATE Typ 200 since it is amber (just like your o.e. brake fluid) rather than using Super Blue which is Navy Blue and will certainly tip off your service technician that this car is driven a little harder than just to the grocery store. Other than the color these two racing brake fluids are identical in performance.
Motul RBF 600 has a cost/ltr. of over double that of either the ATE fluids and has a Wet boiling point of 29F greater.
And then there is Castrol SRF. Clearly this is the "Gold Standard" of racing brake fluids. Its Wet boiling point is 126F higher than either of the ATE fluids and 97F higher than Motul RBF 600 but it also costs over 5 times per Liter more than either of the ATE fluids and 2.4 times per Liter more than Motul RBF 600.
Unless you absolutely must have the performance of the Castrol 518F Wet boiling point, I would go with either of the ATE fluids or the Motul RBF 600. The other thing you should do is add some brake ducting to your front brakes to keep them as cool as possible. This will go along way toward keeping your brake fluid from boiling. You might ask what do I use in our Northstar Motorsports Porsche GT3RS? The sticker next to the brake fluid reservoir says "use only Castrol SRF" - and that's what we do.





