Maximizing your brake performance in Assetto Corsa Competizione

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Ever wondered what all those Brake settings are in Assetto Corsa Competizione, and how they affect your setup? You came to the right place!

Here you’re gonna find out the main 2 things to set up for the brakes and why it is important to get them right.

We’re not talking about Brake Bias though, as this setting is more related to driving style.

Brake pads

The first and most important step is to choose your brake pads, so it’s absolutely key to memorize which is which.

There are 4 types of brake pads you can use in ACC (Assetto Corsa Competizione), and you should go for the best ones depending on the situation.

Pads 1: more aggressive pads, highest temperature sensitivity and less durability, but highest performance. Ideal for qualifying and races up to 90min.

Keep in mind, however, that they are not suited for GT4 cars, as the braking systems of these cars are not very good and make it very easy to lock up the tyres. The same applies to TCX and probably CHL classes. With CUP and ST you can probably use them getting the same benefits as with GT3.

Pads 2: Best overall pads, suited for long stints up to 12h and also good for wet conditions, as the temperature range is wider (allows lower and higher temperatures than pads 1) and they don’t “bite” as hard as Pads 1. They’re the pads to go for GT4, TCX and CHL in qualifying and shorter races too.

Pads 3: Optimized pads for wet conditions.  They feel very wooden though and should only be used in extremely wet conditions. For normal wet conditions stick to pads 2

Pads 4: These are basically Pads 1 with exaggerated wear to simulate how brake pads 1 compound feels when very worn. Do not use it in the race, only use it for testing purposes.

Brake ducts

As well as tyres, brakes have also an optimum operating range and here’s some tips on how to ensure that they’re always in the correct window.

In ACC, controlling brake temperatures are just as important during a race as controlling your tyre temperatures. Ensuring that your brakes stay in the optimum window will provide good consistency throughout a race stint. When it comes to peak temperatures, you want to aim for 650 degrees and under for your front brakes and 450 degrees and under for your rear brakes.

They can occasionally peak over that (no more than 700c on the front and 500c on the rear) however consistently reaching that peak will cause overheating and accelerated wear. For some tracks and conditions, you may need to make a compromise between tyre temperature and brake temperature. As you know, the optimum temperature range of dry tyres is 70 – 90°C. The best thing to do is check out the data using MoTec and adjust the brake ducts based on this.

The higher the value for brake ducts, the more cooling the brakes and indirectly the tyres will get. That way, if your brakes are getting too hot, you may want to open the ducts, and if your tyres are staying too cold, you may want to close them.

Here are some examples of MoTec data in some different conditions. For Barcelona, we had to open the brake ducts more in order to cool off the tyres, whereas it wasn’t necessary for Kyalami.

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Car: McLaren 720S GT3
Track & Conditions: Barcelona, optimum with Tamb = 26°C
Brake ducts rear / front: 4/5 (Pads 2)
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Car: McLaren 720S GT3
Track & Conditions: Kyalami, optimum with Tamb = 22°C
Brake ducts rear / front: 3/3 (Pads 1)
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