Braking brakes

Last weekend the 13th, I did 2 runs at Tsukuba. The first session, I had just rotated my front left/right tire so I was getting huge oversteer for most of the 1st hairpin until I'd shaped the fronts into their new positions. Likewise, I was under-steering around the right handers. The 2nd session, I felt more confident that the tires were working a bit better again so I set out to do a fast lap or two.

Needless to say all didn't go well but it wasn't the tires. I locked brakes into the 2nd hairpin for a brief period and after that braking was a bit of a gamble. When braking hard, I'd push down on the brake but instead of the peddle sinking down, it would sometimes remain hard under my foot and not sink to its usual depth. This was very disconcerting arriving at a hairpin at around 130kmph and wondering if your brakes would work or not. I peeled into the pits and had a look at my tire pressures and the brakes. Front pads seemed ok - a little slim but no problem. The rears as always were hard to see but with my helmet on, they seemed like they had meat. I decided to take it easy for the rest of the session and just work on tire shaping and bring the car home alive.

Asked a few people about the problem. They suggested fluid. But I'd recently had a fluid change and the peddle feeling was actually fine. I know what it feels like when I've got some air in the pipes. Somebody else suggested the brake booster which makes sense when you think about it, but I think it was more than just extra effort to brake. Something else perhaps. Someone else suggested piston problems but braking seems fine now as it did when it wasn't acting up on the track also.

Today I had some free time to play with the car a little even though it was pissing rain all day. I finally took a look at the rear pads and although they do have meat on them they are looking rather slim. I wonder what the inside pads look like??? So I decided to buy some new rear pads (MazdaSpeed) and will install them the next sunny day and take it from there. Hope this will resolve the issue!