Was just wondering that on many cars there have been huge developments in braking quality over the years with the development of discs, ABS and now all sorts of Emergency Brake Assist.
Is there further development out there to make cars stop even quicker or are we now at the stage that they are going to be as good as they get?
Will we ever get to the stage that cars will be able to basically come to a halt within a couple of car lengths even at high speeds? Or will the g forces encountered be too severe (albeit they may be better than the forces incurred in hitting something)
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No matter what happens, there's a limit for decelaration set by the coefficient of friction between the tyre and the road. At high speeds downforce from large spoilers can be used to effectively increase this coeffiecient, until tyre technoology improves to make the tyres stickier but still have a useful life then braking performance won't get much better.
EBA and ABS won't make a huge amount of difference to an excellent driver in good conditions, though are useful features for most drivers, especially when conditions are less than optimal.
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I read often, only post occasionally
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With really soft treadless or almost treadless tyres (e.g. F1 racing tyres) you get shearing of the rubber rather than relying on friction between tyre and the ground. So F1 cars can achieve a deceleration of greater than 1g ~ well, in the dry at least. Possibly even in the wet.
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L\'escargot.
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So F1 cars can achieve a deceleration of greater than 1g ~ well, in the dry at least. Possibly even in the wet.
F1 cars can achieve a deceleration of much greater than 1g, wet or dry. Road cars can achieve 1g.
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Future developments will include ever improving dynamics ensuring the wheels are accurately on the road, ever improving tyres, getting closer to the fine line between grip and lock up, taking the human out of it and allowing computers to use all of the resources at their disposal to ensure that the vehicle does not hit another object.
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Ceramic discs are the way forward,but they are very expensive at the moment.Maybe in the future they will come down to an affordable level?
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Ceramic discs are the way forward,but they are very expensive at the moment.Maybe in the future they will come down to an affordable level?
Ceramic discs have a limited range of temperature at which they are effective therefore they are no good 100 yards from home on a cold frosty winters morning if a child runs across the road.
Also once they are working OK, up to temp, their capabilities exceed that of most road car tyres.
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mercedes seem to have got them to work ok,even if they are a very expensive option.
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Expensive is not the word. Porsche offer ceramic discs, and claim that they last the life of the car. They now seem to be working well, but early versions were prone to cracking on track when in the hands of (allegedly) less able drivers - i.e. most of us.
Some owners of the early ones were quoted £25,000 to replace the four discs.
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Some owners of the early ones were quoted £25,000 to replace the four discs.
sounds nearly as bad as a set of tyres for a Porch!
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sounds nearly as bad as a set of tyres for a Porch!
No tyres needed for a Porch as it generally stays attached to the house ;-)
As for the Porsche, the two new tyres went on about an hour ago. Less than £12,500, thank heavens. Should I see it as £12,000 saved, perhaps?
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No tyres needed for a Porch as it generally stays attached to the house ;-)
Phew! He's gonna keep it at home :)
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Mercedes have got them to work... of a fashion.
I'm lucky to have sampled an SLR, in which the carbon and ceramic brakes were nothing...nothing...nothing...getting a bit warmer now...STOP in nature. It was almost impossible to modulate the rate of deceleration as much as it is with conventional pads and cast iron disk.
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