Have "motorcycle style" discrete brakes ever been utilized on a race car? | FerrariChat
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Have "motorcycle style" discrete brakes ever been utilized on a race car?

Discussion in 'Tracking & Driver Education' started by Aaya, Aug 13, 2009.

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  1. Aaya

    Aaya F1 Veteran

    Jul 12, 2007
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    Wu Tsai
    #1 Aaya, Aug 13, 2009
    A question that's been going through my head, has there ever been a race car that had separate brakes for the left and right side or the front and back? In a motorcycle you have different controls for the front and back that you use depending on the situation and I'm wondering if that has had any application to four wheeled vehicles.

    It wouldn't be that hard to make, split the normal brake pedal down the middle and have each side control a different set of brakes. Then the driver could rotate his foot to add bias whichever way he desired.

    If this hasn't been done would it in anyway benefit a driver to have more control over his brakes?
     
  2. Sareve

    Sareve F1 Rookie

    Oct 23, 2007
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    #2 Sareve, Aug 13, 2009
    Wasn't there this episode where Mclaren allowed the brakes on their F1 cars to be independently controlled by the driver?
     
  3. 2000YELLOW360

    2000YELLOW360 F1 World Champ

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    #3 2000YELLOW360, Aug 13, 2009
    You have devices on carts that allows you to change the balance. I really don't know how that would effect the handling if the brakes were biased towards one side or the other. If you were running on a banked oval, and needed to brake that might work, but if you turned both ways, I could see problems.

    Art
     
  4. AlexO91

    AlexO91 F1 Rookie

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    #4 AlexO91, Aug 13, 2009
    I'm not sure if it has been done or anything, like you said the principle is easy but i think the actual discs and calipers would have to be HUGE both front and back to be able to stop the mass of a car. Even if it were on an F1 car or something... they ONLY weigh 605kg(including driver), but you now have half the area stopping the car from 200mph. A big superbike on the other hand only weighs 60kg? So even an F1 car has about 10 times the mass of a bike..... I'd be supprised if it's possible to be honest.

    Good thought though.... would be cool in hindsight.
     
  5. AlexO91

    AlexO91 F1 Rookie

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    #5 AlexO91, Aug 13, 2009
    Also it would be good if you wanted to go round very sharp corners. Just apply the brakes on the side you want to turn carefully accelerate and the car again in hindsight would turn in it's own length like a tank.... sort of.
     
  6. enjoythemusic

    enjoythemusic F1 World Champ

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    #6 enjoythemusic, Aug 13, 2009
    Bias front and rear is easy with dual MCs and any proper race car has had that for decades... and sure you could also do right/left too but why???

    Technically, the moden upscale electronic ABS systems in cars do fully independant on ALL corners. This is part of the 'stability' package.
     
  7. beast

    beast F1 World Champ

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    #7 beast, Aug 13, 2009
    McLaren in 1997 had a system called "Fiddle Brakes"..

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLaren

    The Aug 2009 issue of Racecar Engineering has an article about the "Fiddle brake" system but I have yet to read it.
     
  8. mousecatcher

    mousecatcher Formula 3

    Dec 18, 2007
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    #8 mousecatcher, Aug 13, 2009
    Not sure if it's a huge benefit to have the driver control it (seems like it would be difficult in a car), but certainly there's a benefit to individual brake control as demonstrated by "active handling" type stability systems. Ferrari had an automatic system in their F1 cars that changed the bias over time, adding more rear bias as the brakes were still applied. I think it was deemed illegal.
     

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