We have developed these pads with Mintex for both road and track use. The standard Astra VXR pads are pretty good but once you start to use them repeatedly they get very hot and lose performance quite quickly. These Mintex pads have been designed to give greater overall performance, a much better consistency as higher speed braking and excellent resistance to fade. They must be fitted to both axles at the same time (you cant be all pikey and just fit them to the front).

We use Pagid RS29 on our Astra VXR race car, designed primarily for track work these are the ultimate performance pad for the chassis. They can be a little squeaky in town driving but there really is no better brake available. We use these on every race car we run and every high end conversion we develop – enough said. They must be fitted to both axles at the same time.

Changing the brake pads to higher specification items is always the first step in improving braking but things can be improved in the rest of the braking system just as effectively. The Astra VXR comes as standard with rubber brake lines, these deform and flex when in use which cause the brake fluid inside to heat up and reduce braking performance immediately. You hear of people saying the ‘boiled the brake fluid’ well this in part is due to brake lines flexing and heating up the fluid. Following extensive development on our own VXR Astra race car we have developed special braided brake lines for the car. Braided lines are hoses wrapped in a metal sheath that resists flex and thus reduces the heat build up for the fluid, it means braking consistency is maintained and you have full power braking for longer, especially in repeated braking. Price includes front and rear kits and fitting includes  the use of up rated AP Racing 5.1 racing brake fluid.

£549

Braking is also about two related effects - friction and heat. You need friction to slow the car but friction creates heat and heat drops brake performance - what a pain. There are a lot of different ways to lower heat but keep friction but the simplest way is to enlarge the size of pad/disk interface so that heat is dissipated faster and friction created over a wider area.

With the Astra VXR being front engined, front wheel drive car the front brakes will be doing nearly 90% of the work. As a result a good upgrade here will increase your fun regardless of whether you're a late braker or not.

There are two options for the Astra VXR; AP Racing or Alcon. Both are available in Red or Blue. They are lightweight and offer excellent braking feel and power. They are vastly different to the standard set up. We use the AP Racing setup on our championship winning Astra and Corsa SportMaxx race cars.

The Alcons are an upgrade we developed with them, carrying our own Thorney Motorsport branding they are the brakes we use on our flagship VXR-S and VXR-R models. The Alcons benefit from a Monobloc caliper design together with the wider discs than the AP's.