F1 Braking System

[Mcl@ren]

with regards to braking, why do front wheel drive cars and rear wheel drive cars have the front wheel callipers on opposite sides of the rotor. ie front wheel, callipers are towards the front of the car, and rear wheel drive, the front wheel callipers are on the trailing side of the rotor ?

[Mcl@ren]

le posted pics of the other side in this thread:

Re: Another set of factory pics

Check the pic on the 3rd row.

Thanks Le Man

[Peloton25]

Originally Posted by Mcl@ren

with regards to braking, why do front wheel drive cars and rear wheel drive cars have the front wheel callipers on opposite sides of the rotor. ie front wheel, callipers are towards the front of the car, and rear wheel drive, the front wheel callipers are on the trailing side of the rotor ?

I can't imagine it has much to do with FWD -vs- RWD - the caliper is going to generate the same amount of clamping force no matter where it is grabbing the rotor.

I think what you are seeing is that on a lot of RWD cars, the engineers find it beneficial make the extra effort to locate the brake calipers closer to the center of the car. This ties in with what is often called "mass centralization" and likely aids in offering that "low polar moment of inertia" that Gordon speaks so fondly about.

One of the factors that may cause most manufacturers to put the caliper in the front is that typically the connection point on the hub where the steering rods connect is almost always behind the center point of the wheel. Having the caliper there too probably makes casting the hub more difficult to account for both in the same spot.

My anyway.

= = = = = =

Thanks for keying in on that photo Le Man posted - here it is:



I knew I had seen one somewhere - how sad that it was posted so recently and I had already forgotten about it.

Hopefully once Le Man is able to produce scan's from the negatives as he mentioned, it will provide us a clearer picture on that area of the car.

>8^)
ER

[Mcl@ren]

I just had both threads open at the same time....pur co-incidence or is there something funky going on here, some kinda conspiracy.....

[Mcl@ren]

I have a pic with the under tray off. Dunno how to upload it though.

Can't remember where i got it from but you can see all the cables for the handbrake system.

there are silver shielded lines just in front of the lower "A" Arms, looks like the hydraulic lines.

[Peloton25]

You can't upload a file direct to AutomotiveForums. You need to host it remotely using a site like Imagevenue or Photobucket and then paste the URL with [IMG] tags into your post.

If that process is unfamiliar to you, you can email the file to me and I will host it as soon as I can.

[email protected]

>8^)
ER

[NewyorkKopter]

Is the master cylinder visble in LeMan's pic?

[Peloton25]

I don't see anything in that shot I'd call a master cylinder.

That picture may have been taken a bit too soon for our purposes here; however, it is the best reference to that section of the car that I can recall seeing.

>8^)
ER

[Le Man]

Originally Posted by NewyorkKopter

Is the master cylinder visble in LeMan's pic?

Yes is the answer,..... Look at the front lower edge of the cast aluminium bulkhead. you will see three small cylinder projections. The two close together are the front and rear brake master cylinders. The other is the hydraulic clutch master cylinder (to the right in the pic) The pedals operate directly onto the master/cyl,s from the other side of the bulkhead.

When I get the negs sorted, hopefully the pic will be a lot clearer.

[Peloton25]

Wow - I didn't realize it was quite that direct. That's pretty impressive. Can't wait to see the clearer photo.

>8^)
ER

[carbuilder2002]

That's our Mr Murray, direct and to the point, why waste space and weight with linkages. Anyway it is common racing practice.

[Peloton25]

I was going to ask where the reserviors were in that photo as typically all the master cylinders I have seen have them mounted direct, but then I recalled the F1 has remote reserviors tucked into the left side of the front compartment.

This isn't the best photo of that area, but it was the best one I had handy at the moment. (added a close-up version now)




>8^)
ER

[NewyorkKopter]

oh wow that is impressive. The master cylinders look pretty small, do they still hold two pistons or do they have one? because the master cylinder in the F40 is like twice the size



or is it because the fluid resevoirs on the F40 are mounted right on top of it?

[Mcl@ren]

Here is a link. i found it on smugmug.

http://douging.smugmug.com/gallery/814285#36274161

oh wow that is impressive. The master cylinders look pretty small, do they still hold two pistons or do they have one? because the master cylinder in the F40 is like twice the size

Not all master cylinders look the same. i presume the ones you see in Le Mans pic are similar to what most racing cars would use. the ones on the F40 do look quite large but the actual master cylinder is just under the resovoir. Just under the resovoir you can see a yellow bolt. this is the mounting point of the master cylinder to what i believe is housing covering the linkage system. everything forward of that bolt would look much the same as the F1s master cylinder. although it looks like the F40 only has one master cylinder for the complete braking system.

In addition the F1 definatly has 2 master cylinders as both internal pics of the footwell and the pic Le Man has provided show this to be the case.

I have pic of a Alfa GTV preped for racing at home. I will email the pic to Peloton, he will maybe post it for me as i have yet to figure that out. the pic shows a similar setup but both master cylinders and the pedal are all in side the car.

Peloton>>> Ps. Busy checking out photobucket. will let you know if i don't come right.

[Le Man]

Originally Posted by Peloton25

Wow - I didn't realize it was quite that direct. That's pretty impressive. Can't wait to see the clearer photo.

>8^)
ER

Here you go!!

(clickable)

They are single piston master/cylinders on the McLaren F1, made by Brembo in alloy. The F40 has a tanderm cylinder which runs two pistons inline. This type can be used for front to rear split or diagonal circuit. The Ferrari one looks like a stock unit, Which are normally made of cast iron.