Vorshlag has offered "ducted hose" style brake cooling backing plates, inlet ducts, and brake cooling hoses for a number of cars for over a dozen of years - and we still do. This is how everyone cooled the brakes for track use for many decades. Well there are issues doing that, namely the corrugated hose has some serious flow restrictions and wider tires and wheels can rub holes in them. But there is another way...
If you followed our buildup, testing and competition in our 2006 Corvette above you will note a common theme - we were unhappy with the brakes for a long time. We changed from Base to Z51 to Z06 calipers and rotors, stock ABS to Mk60 ABS, multiple pad brands and compounds, different rotors (drilled and smooth), and tried various brake cooling upgrades. The last version of the brake cooling we did to this C6 unlocked a LOT of potential. It was a game changer, taking this C6 from a "one lap wonder" to a "beat on it all day" braking setup.
This last step included our brake "deflector" cooling kit for the C6 Corvette, which works on any of the factory C6 iron based brakes - Base (JL6), Z51 (J55) and Z06 (J56), using the same type of technology used on the C6 ZR1 and by other car makers like Porsche. It is basically an elaborate catchers mitt that deflects air into the middle of the brake rotor, which then pumps the air out of the vanes and cools everything.
We have proven this type of brake cooling to be MORE effective than ducted hoses and it has NONE of the downsides of that type (namely - the horrible flow properties of corrugated hose and their propensity to be crushed in use). There are no longer any wear items to replace in your brake cooling system.
This data above was from our 12th dedicated track test with this C6, not counting any of the competition events (20+). This was when we finally made this car capable of sustained braking, lap after lap. And we did it all with a piece of bent aluminum.
Just like GM did with the ZR1, we took the same method for cooling brakes that Porsche came up with in the 1980s and applied it to the C6 chassis without the need for special ZR1 control arms. As we have seen on the other chassis where we have brought this brake cooling solution to, high brake pad and rotor wear rates went down, even accelerated hub wear goes down. And these are all issues that plague the C6 Corvette when used on track for any amount of time. Short stints can now become long stints, rotor wear no longer can be tracked in "laps" but more like a dozen+ weekends.
How do this work? Well the factory made brake cooling airflow inlets at the front of the car, which points it towards the general area of the front suspension, but a pitifully small amount makes it to the insides of the rotors to do any cooling. Most of it just passes the rotor by, as shown above...
Our brake cooling deflector redirects the existing brake cooling airstream to the inside of the brake rotors. That's it!
This design uses both incoming airflow from the factory brake inlet ducts and turbulence from under the car feed air to these air deflectors, which then push the air inside the rotor hat. This massive volume of air flows (and cools) around the front spindle and hubs, then goes into the "hat" of the rotor and out through the vanes of the vented rotors - which pull air through like an air pump. The cooled rotor also cools the pads and keeps heat away from the brake fluid inside the calipers.
It works surprisingly well. On our S550 Mustang with a similar deflector design, in track testing this design worked better than our 4" ducted hose brake backing plate cooling. Remember: There are no 3" or 4" corrugated "consumable" brake cooling hoses needed. Brake cooling hoses can get smashed by tires while near steering lock, and have to be replaced regularly. They are also terrible at flowing air, due to the "boundary layer" flow restrictions inside these hoses.
These deflectors are built 100% in-house here at Vorshlag. This our 6th revision is made with several bends that are critical to fit the control arms and confines of the brakes, and are checked on a production fixture. The aluminum has a brushed finish and features both a mounting hole and a location "tang", which touches the control arm to show the correct rotation. This kit is less costly than our ducted backing plate + hose kits that we (used to) make for this chassis.
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
Installing the Vorshlag C6 front brake deflector cooling kit is easy if you have the factory lower control arms and swaybar end links. We designed this on a car with the factory 14" diameter rotor Z06 brakes, but it works on any C6 that uses the factory front control arm and a swaybar endlink.
It just bolts under the nut for the endlink, as shown. The tank aligns with the arm to get the rotation correct. There is a left and a right, but that's it. Not complicated.
If you have anything that would in any way block the factory brake cooling inlets at the front of the car, then you need to resolve that situation. We had a "carbon splitter" (above) that blocked the inlets and it BADLY affected brake temps. We had to cut a pair of big holes in that, then added these little scoops to help get airflow back to the inside of the front fender - which then deflects off this cooling kit and goes through the rotors. If you don't have a splitter, don't stress it.
