Ever wonder what all goes into manufacturing the big, bad brake system meant to haul down one of the meanest cars on the planet? Well, tonight you can find out as the Science Channel’s long-running show “How It’s Made” [1] gives us an inside look at the Brembo SGL [2]Carbon Ceramic Brakes – the very same big blue binders and enormous black rotors peeking through the spokes of the ZR1.
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Carbon Ceramic Material (CCM) Brakes have been in use since the 70’s on aerospace vehicles, and started to make their way onto F1 Cars in the 80’s. Using CCM Brakes on a performance car shaves nearly 50% of the weight from a brake system, in addition to offering superior fade resistance and life span compared to common brake materials. The ZR1 has been equipped with its own giant 15-inch CCM Brakes with 6-piston calipers since its introduction in 2008, and its in some pretty good company sporting those behemoth carbon binders with the likes of Aston Martin, Porsche, Ferrari, and Lamborghini.
In 2004 the CCM brake system technology received the prestigious “Golden Compass” award in Europe for engineering design, and in 2009 Brembo teamed up with SGL Group (a leading European producer of carbon products) to produce Carbon Ceramic Brakes for use in sports cars. Tune into the Science Channel tonight (April 29th) at 9:00 p.m. (EDT) to get all the info on how Brembo makes these state-of-the-art brake systems to stop some of the fastest cars in the world. Check your local listings for channel number and time.