The braking system on a racing kart has to work extremely hard, due to the fact the majority of classes within karting use only one brake disc, one caliper & all the braking is done on the rear axle. The brake system is exposed to all weather conditions, different tyre compounds and extreme loading when braking in race conditions with drivers also using plenty of curbs and run off areas to reduce lap times as much as possible.

The design of the braking system hasn’t really changed over the years and this is an area that needs some close attention.

TonyKart occupy approximately 70% to 80% of the market in the U.K. and produce a very good product that works extremely well in its standard form. The braking system has had some minor design changes over the last few years, but fundamentally has stayed the same with the new homologation being the BSD OTK system.

Due to its design & location on the kart it retains a lot of heat, & here lies the problem! If the braking system gets too hot problems such as binding & fade can occur, and if the brake pads are used below 50% this becomes more of an issue, generates more heat, more bind, more fade and so this continues… until the brake pads, brake fluid & caliper seals are replaced.

You could argue that if you replaced the brake pads on a regular basis this wouldn’t happen, but only using 50% of the brake pads at a cost of approximately £48 a set is an expensive way of not actually solving the cause of the problem, especially as some drivers are changing brake pads at every race meeting.

So, let’s solve the problem whilst increasing braking performance, braking confidence & save some money at the same time.

We’ve carried out extensive testing using the JP Brakes replacement piston for the standard TonyKart BSD brake system and we’ve hand some very impressive results.

Brake pad life is increased up to 300%
Increased brake confidence
Increased brake performance
No brake bind
No brake fade
Reduced heat generation