You may know this already, but you need to check your wheel cylinders for
signs that the seals have not been overheated.
Today, I had total brake failure at the end of the fast (7200 rpm, 3.9 diff)
front straight at Sandown. The corner there is usually about 5 or 6000 rpm
in 3rd and is a little off camber and down hill.
Both wheel cylinders were new at the last meeting, but both that meeting
(Mt Panorama, Bathurst) and this one are hard on brakes. The wheel
cylinders got too hot and the seal failed. When I hit the brakes, the pedal
went to the floor and wouldn't pump up. The failure was sudden - they
worked perfectly at the previous corners including Dandenong Rd
corner (again about 7000 in top down to a 2nd gear corner this time)
and the esses at the start of the straight.
If the brakes failed at either of those two places, the damage would
have been very severe. As it was, I was lucky - I threw it into the corner
and scrubbed off some speed before running off the track and along
the grass for maybe 200 yards. I stopped about 2 yards from the Armco
which I approached at about 30 degrees or so.
The brakes were totally non functional from then on (after the race I
cruised
back to the pits using the handbrake only (emergency brake).
So, as I said, maybe you check your wheel cylinders often, but if you don't
then maybe you should. I certainly will be from now on...
All it cost me seems to be some damage to my Dorian timing transmitter. It
should be OK as it still works, but the casing is damaged.
The amusing bit is that the failure happened as I pulled out to pass Fred
Douglas's MGBGT V8 on the inside under brakes (I had a tow up the straight).
Afterwards he came up to see what happened and said that his thought
at the time was "Damn, those midgets can brake late!"
Mike
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