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Wow, you pay for what you get.


maddmaxx

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Back in the day I ran almost 200 mph in a funny car and had 1 parachute and rear wheel brakes. (normal brakes)  Today the have to stop from 325 mph and have 2 parachutes and 4 wheel disc brakes.

The rotors and pads are carbon fiber.  1000 dollars per rotor and 250 per pad, 2 pads per wheel.  That's 6 grand for rotors and pads before you even think about calipers and hydraulics.  Their lifespan is a few runs.  Stopping from 325, priceless.

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1 minute ago, maddmaxx said:

Back in the day I ran almost 200 mph in a funny car and had 1 parachute and rear wheel brakes. (normal brakes)  Today the have to stop from 325 mph and have 2 parachutes and 4 wheel disc brakes. 

The rotors and pads are carbon fiber.  1000 dollars per rotor and 250 per pad, 2 pads per wheel.  That's 6 grand for rotors and pads before you even think about calipers and hydraulics.  Their lifespan is a few runs.  Stopping from 325, priceless. 

I saw some dude going for the sound barrier in a car.  Can't imagine what brakes he needs!

 

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24 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

I saw some dude going for the sound barrier in a car.  Can't imagine what brakes he needs!

 

If you have a preflight checklist it might not be a car.

The dude didn't have a belt on.  Who wears pleated khaki pants without a belt? 

#lackscredibility

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He also had miles to accelerate and miles to stop.  His first chute is just to make the car go straight.

Note,  Most quarter mile dragstrips have little more than a quarter mile to stop.  There's a chance they can stop on the brakes without the chutes but it's iffy.  Those big low pressure slicks have so much traction that when you hit the brakes really hard because the chutes have failed to deploy they bunch up and release in cycles that start the back end of the car bouncing.  Once you are bouncing the brakes are almost useless.  That's what the sand trap and aircraft carrier quality barriers are for.

The chutes are important.  They keep the back end of the car in back and they apply about 3 g of initial deceleration when they open.  Then you can use the brakes in a smoother manner.  They still glow red though.

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6 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

He also had miles to accelerate and miles to stop.  His first chute is just to make the car go straight.

Note,  Most quarter mile dragstrips have little more than a quarter mile to stop.  There's a chance they can stop on the brakes without the chutes but it's iffy.  Those big low pressure slicks have so much traction that when you hit the brakes really hard because the chutes have failed to deploy they bunch up and release in cycles that start the back end of the car bouncing.  Once you are bouncing the brakes are almost useless.  That's what the sand trap and aircraft carrier quality barriers are for.

The chutes are important.  They keep the back end of the car in back and they apply about 3 g of initial deceleration when they open.  Then you can use the brakes in a smoother manner.  They still glow red though.

this sounds crazy fun.

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25 minutes ago, Parr8hed said:

this sounds crazy fun.

It is/was.  I have no doubt that much fun would stop my heart today.  I used to be almost incapacitated when I got out of the car.  Unlike the drivers I see today I didn't bounce out the hatch on top of the car.  I waited for the crew to arrive, lift the body, reach in and help me unstrap then put me in my reclining beach chair in the back of the pickup while someone else drove back down the return road under tow.  Eventually someone would hand be a lit cigarette and I would begin to wind down.  Bear in mind though that I would get so hyper during a run that I could see the filaments of the bulbs in the christmas tree glow before the bulb lit and I could identify small rocks on the track at 150+ and remember enough to tell the track crew to go clean them up.  Most race days ended with a massive headache on the trip home.  I probably could have mainlined adrenaline for the same effect.

The only time I ever got out fast was the time I fireballed at the finish line and lost the chutes in the fire.  When I stopped I was out the window in seconds and dancing around like a mad man shedding driver suit parts when the crew arrived.  We wore those space suit looking aluminized suits back in the day and although it protected me from the fire, it was trying to boil me in my own juices after I got out.

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2 hours ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

Acceleration is nuts!  That was one of the.best parts of kart racing, being pushed back in your seat. The cornering g forces were fun too!

I saw this for the first time yesterday at Foxwoods Casino here in CT.  It looked pretty wild for an indoor facility using electric carts.  Some of the video's I've seen make the carts look slow but there was only one cart on the track yesterday and it seemed to be zipping right around.  Perhaps there are different levels of performance.......or maybe just different levels of drivers.  The folks in this picture don't appear to be wearing the drivers suits I saw yesterday, nor are they carrying around expensive personal helmets.

Image result for cart track at foxwoods

 

 

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15 hours ago, maddmaxx said:

The rotors and pads are carbon fiber.  1000 dollars per rotor and 250 per pad, 2 pads per wheel.  That's 6 grand for rotors and pads before you even think about calipers and hydraulics.  Their lifespan is a few runs.  Stopping from 325, priceless.

So I can tell my wife that $1169 is a genuine value. ;)

Brakes are next on the list.

https://www.flyinmiata.com/fm-nd-four-wheel-little-big-brake-kit.html

ND-Big-Brakes.jpg

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37 minutes ago, wilbur said:

We pay $70,000 per brake assembly and they are carbon brakes as well.  There are 4 assemblies on the aircraft and they last about 1000 landings.  

 

15 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

You win 

It's nice to be able to stop fast.  Aircraft are the king of the mountain.

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42 minutes ago, wilbur said:

Oh no.  The price per stop is much higher in Maxx's example.  We only burn up $280 per major brake effort.  Funny cars are much higher.  :) 

I can't quite picture the force required to stop that much weight.

But then, there are carrier landings.

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18 hours ago, maddmaxx said:

Back in the day I ran almost 200 mph in a funny car and had 1 parachute and rear wheel brakes. (normal brakes)  Today the have to stop from 325 mph and have 2 parachutes and 4 wheel disc brakes.

The rotors and pads are carbon fiber.  1000 dollars per rotor and 250 per pad, 2 pads per wheel.  That's 6 grand for rotors and pads before you even think about calipers and hydraulics.  Their lifespan is a few runs.  Stopping from 325, priceless.

How much of that CF stuff is about weight over performance?  Could you get similar performance but add a few pounds with steel rotors?

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Never mind brakes, the tires on my Bugatti are killing me.  If you own a Bugatti Veyron – which I'm sure most of you do – then you know all too well how much it costs to operate. An annual service will set you back $20,000, while a fresh set of tires will cost you anywhere from $30,000 to $42,000, and need to be replaced every 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers). 

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3 hours ago, maddmaxx said:

 

It's nice to be able to stop fast.  Aircraft are the king of the mountain.

I worked on a jet aircraft (C-140A the military version of the old Lockheed JetStar) that had 4 sets of brakes, 4 thrust reversers, and a drag chute. About the only winged aircraft that could stop faster was a Harrier or something with a tail hook hitting the cable. Pilots had to do an emergency stop as part of their training and when the word got out, there was a crowd.

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2 hours ago, jsharr said:

How much of that CF stuff is about weight over performance?  Could you get similar performance but add a few pounds with steel rotors?

99% because of the heat it can withstand.  Steel rotors loose braking performance when too hot.  They get "slippery".  Steel rotors wouldn't last long at 1000 degf which is the temp many racing brakes are designed to hit.

On the other hand, carbon brakes don't work as well when they are cold.  They are not an effective system for a street car.

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10 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

99% because of the heat it can withstand.  Steel rotors loose braking performance when too hot.  They get "slippery".  Steel rotors wouldn't last long at 1000 degf which is the temp many racing brakes are designed to hit.

On the other hand, carbon brakes don't work as well when they are cold.  They are not an effective system for a street car.

See, I just learned something.  Thank you. 

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