Some of you may know that there is an E30 Racing Series in Australia, in Victoria.
Like the UK Production BMW Cup, US Spec E30, and NZ BMW E30 Series, we are allowed to upgrade other areas of the brakes (lines, master cylinder, guide bolts), but we are only allowed to use original size brake pads & brake discs (260x22mm front).
Those of you who drive, track, or race E30s will know that there is not a lot of choice out there if you want to run original size brake discs. ATE, Brembo, RDA etc make slotted or drilled variants of what are normal brake discs, not really designed for motorsport/high load use. Anyone who as seriously punished a set of brakes will know that most aftermarket designs don't have anywhere near the longevity as proper performance discs.
And that leads me to the the focus of this topic.
I had a discussion today with the Sales & Marketing Director of Disc Brakes Australia (http://www.dba.com.au). DBA make a number of different variants of brake discs for all sorts of different cars, and make motorsport versions (4000 & 5000 Series) to suit factory applications on specific vehicles. They are the control brake disc supplier to the Yokohama V8 Ute Series in both Australia and New Zealand, and these manage to pull up an 1800kg V8 beast!
http://www.dba.com.au/2006/products_4000.asp
http://www.dba.com.au/2006/products_5000.asp
DBA has recently been expanding into the USA, and now Europe, opening themselves up to more and more vehicle specific fitments. DBA currently has a number of products meeting TUV approval standards. You can read testimonials from all over the world on their website: http://www.dba.com.au/2006/testimonials.asp
DBA currently offers a standard or slotted front brake disc for the 1983-1991 E30 318-325. They do not currently make a 4000 (single piece) or 5000 (2-piece) series disc in our application.
My contact at DBA advised me that at 2 years ago, at an automobile show in Europe, he received some interest from some owners of Alfa Romeo Montreals. They were seeking performance discs after Brembo had discontinued that line of products. Once enough information had spread, and enough interest was generated amongst Montreal owners for DBA to produce a 4000 series disc to their specifications, and DBA now continues to produce and supply that disc around the world. So this means that if enough worldwide interest can be generated, DBA can produce discs for that interest profitably.
So let's all (AUS, NZ, UK & USA) generate that interest for our cars - and never have to worry about front disc supply again. Let's get a proper, motorsport specific brake disc made for our cars - because we all know the E30s are worth it!
The DBA minimum production run for a 4000 series 6x6 Slot E30 front disc would be 100 sets i.e. 100 left discs and 100 right discs. You don't need to order them, just display significant interest that the product should be made.
To this end, I have setup an email address where you can send an email specifically requesting that DBA produce these discs:
dba4000rotorsfore30s@hotmail.com
I will make these emails available to DBA to demonstrate how much demand there is for a product like this.
So please, let people around the world know through other forums, club meetings, chat rooms, Facebook/Myspace, however you can, and tell them to get emailling!
Cheers guys, and hopefully we can see some discs turn up soon!
