Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Good morning all.

We have some very technically savvy folks in here, this question is posed at them. (I'm not one of them, btw)

Every weekend I read about brake failure. "lost his brakes on lap 8" and the like. Just saw 2 instances on the main Hoseheads.com page just now.

Is it more commonplace than before, say 20 years ago? What is the most common cause of brake failure?

Obviously driving with brakes is an effective cornering technique; are the drivers losing 100% of brake function or a percentage?

Thank you for any input; I see it so often in print and my gut reaction as a non-driver is "wow, how do they stop for a red? Just kill the motor early? Gear is so low it slows you down? How do they set up for the corner other than a jolt of the steering wheel?"

Member of this message board since 1997

A lot of failures are due to guys using an aluminum fitting going from the line to the caliper. Some guys use a rock guard to protect this fitting, but a big enough rock or clod can break them both.

(I saw Sammy a few years ago at Nats leading and then start to fade. He had alum fittings on his supershox to the gas canister and one was broke. The line was just hanging.)

When ti rotors caught favor, they almost grabbed too good and would rip the mounting ears off the side of the rear end.

Another deal is if there is a little damage to the rotor from rocks, improper installation, or unseen crash damage. This can cause the caliper to shoot the pads out, although this is less common nowadays as manufacturers have put a few more bolts behind the pads (bridge bolts) to keep them in.

Of course there's other scenarios.

www.Numbersusa.com