[alfa] Racing & brakes

["Allen Mitchell" <allenom@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I seem to recall that Mario Andretti was credited with saying something
about how many race car drivers are under the mistaken impression that
the brakes are used to slow the car down.  I agree with Richard that more
experienced drivers use their brakes differently, but unlike Mario, I
still use them to slow down!  I have found myself moving away from the
"get your braking done in a straight line," school, however. When you
finally start to go faster, the available "straight line" area gets kind
of short. 

It took me a couple of years to get the car fast enough to start fading
the brakes.  I was both pleased and horrified simultaneously to discover
at Road Atlanta that a) I was going 20mph faster all over the track, and
b) my brakes were fading at then end of the long back straight.  You
know, the one just before the 90 degree left hand turn 10; with the big
gravel trap at the end of it.  I managed to stay out of the kitty litter,
but I started paying a lot more attention to the stiffness of my brake
pedal.  That's when I added the front brake ducts.

I know a lot of people are down on the Brembo front calipers, but when
compared to other cars in my class, they are really quite excellent.  The
240Z in particular, has pretty scary fronts, apparently.  I also think it
is neat that Alfa was using Brembos before Brembos "were cool."

BTW:

What kind of brake fluid does everybody here use?

-Al Mitchell

 
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