Adequate Brakes???

[racergeo]

  The rule book says all cars must have adequate brakes. On a lakester, would a rotor on the diff. pinion with two calipers on it be considered  adequate. I have 2 parachutes for my main braking. Any ideas?   Thanks George

[Dr Goggles]

......if it slows the car it would fit the "spirit of the rules" , we have only passive drums on the back of the tank and without suspension they are in the realm of "vestigal" but they are legal, really they are all we need because pulling the car up from first gear speeds is the only job they are called upon to do,usually.

If you are planning on running tarmac I'd be going for something that really worked, with the ignition off and both feet on the pedal a hundred mph seems really fast when the airstrip that they're still using ...that crosses the one your on is fast approaching........( not that that happened to anyone we know...... )

hope yr well GEO..........

[Glen]

What happens if the pinion shaft breaks, and it has happened. I  have seen a couple of cars with pinion mounted systems.

[mkilger]

how fast do you plan to run??   our roadster has 13in rotors and big 4 piston calbers by stanless steel brakes, this should stop the car at El mo if we happen to lose the chutes, bonneville unless we are headed for the tower or the dike we should be ok with the chutes.

[The wonderful One]

Anyone remember when Hover had no chute at the lakes in a liner. Good brakes help. My openion is that all cars that can run 275 + should have carbon. Consider that cast iron starts to flow at about 1400 degrees. TWO

[DallasV]

My interpretation of the rule: It's your arse in the car, if something goes wrong what is adequate to you? Remember clinching your cheeks don't slow the car down any, trust me I've tried

[McRat]

I've found is that velocity is cruel.  My trucks have huge brakes which work excellent for 50,000mi+ when slowing down 20,000lb plus at 70mph (towing trailers).  But at 130mph unladen, the rotors will turn purple and get radial cracks, something I haven't seen towing.  Since weight isn't much of a handicap, I'd be reluctant to skimp on them.

The main concern with me would be a fire situation.  I would want to get stopped very rapidly so I would have time to run to the pits and get a bag of marshmellows and a stick before it goes out.  Parachute + good brakes should haul me down far quicker than a chute alone.

[jl222]

My interpretation of the rule: It's your arse in the car, if something goes wrong what is adequate to you? Remember clinching your cheeks don't slow the car down any, trust me I've tried

 The 222 car has 4 wheel brakes which came in handy once when the cylinder head melted into a water jacket and blew a water hose off [ supercharging wrong part of engine]
This resulted in instant fogging of window and me not seeing a thing at 265mph. I pulled both chutes and slammed on brakes, the course steward  said he couldn't believe how fast I stopped.
As I've posted before my cousins had rear only brakes on their solid suspension Studebaker and Ed applied the brakes once and '' hell their not working'' they were working but just sliding.
Try stopping a bike fast with rear brakes only.

     JL222

[fredvance]

On the salt I used transmission and "air brakes" mostly and at Goliad mostly front brakes.

[John Burk]

Don't use cast ductile iron rotors on the pinion . Their burst rpm is in the mid 4000s .

[Jonny Hotnuts]

For ultra high speed vehicles anyone ever experiment or consider a fluid breaking system?


Seems like someone could have something like a dry torque converter type device attached to a drive component unit that when pumped with fluid would cause progressive resistance slowing the vehicle without locking and shouldn't melt at any speed.


I know this might be crazy....just seems to work in my head.

~JH

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Wouldn't the energy show up as heat in the fluid?  And therefore -- sorta -- the system could "melt" by reaching such a high temperature that the fluid becomes so thin that it won't offer much resistance.

Another idea -- how about the magnetic resistance braking system that Ed Shadle is using on the N A Eagle?  No physical matter of any type.  That seems pretty good.

[DallasV]

How about JATO bottles mounted backwards?



"this is an attempt at humor for those of you breaking out the rule book"

[DallasV]

Or a big reverse pitched prop?  (That one is for you Noonan)

[Peter Jack]

You'd have to fire them at just the right time or you might find yourself backing up as fast as you were going forward.

Pete