Stopping a V8 Supercar
Brakes are something that we take for granted everyday. We use them up to 100 times even on a 5 minute journey. They are the primary feature, along with our tyres that help us to operate a vehicle safely.
With our road cars, we are only concerned with stopping in a safe distance to avoid hitting obstacles, other vehicles, and living things, but the requirements for V8 Supercars are significantly different. A V8 Supercar needs to stop very quickly, dissipate the heat from that very hard stop and then be ready to stop at the same rate of efficiency for the next corner.
While pulling up heavily in the dry for a set of lights at an intersection, you might generate 50 to 150 pounds of pressure in the braking system and generate about 100 degrees of temperature to the braking system. Then accelerate away from the lights, where your next stop maybe over 1 kilometre away, giving ample time for the brakes to cool and be ready for the next stop.
At Barbagallo Raceway in WA, we come down the main straight at 255 kph and slow to 75 kph in around 3 seconds. We have to generate pressures of 1100 pounds and see temperatures rise to 750 degrees C. Then 400 metres later it’s the same thing again. Lap after lap. Under these conditions road going cars brakes literally melt!!
Unlike our road cars we are not interested in how long a set of brake rotors will last or how much wear our brake pads have to get to the next service. It’s all about performance!
To dissipate the heat generated we need big ventilated discs that have vanes inside that act like air pumps to push the air through the disc rotor and get rid of the heat. Likewise with the brake callipers and brake pads. Big callipers and thick pads to absorb and get rid of the extreme temperatures to maintain maximum braking efficiency throughout a race.
At a 20,000 km service your car may require some disc machining and a new set of brake pads at a total of $150-00 .
Unlike road cars V8 Supercars will consume at least one pair of front brake disc rotors and pads every race weekend at a cost of around $1,800-00 over a distance of 600 km for the weekend. Food for thought!!!
Richo. |
