NASCAR (and NASA) swiftly responds to James' brake failure!

[Al Fernandez]

http://www.nascar.com/2008/auto/cct/...ail/index.html

[AllZWay]

Funny you posted this... I hadn't seen it, but a co-worker was just telling me about it.

[Todd Covini]

Kidding aside, I really think we all need to have a "Safety Stand-down" with regard to brake failures. Over the past 5 years, I personally know of more than 5 of them (and there have likely been more that we don't know about in other series/regions.) That's a rate of at least 1 per year! Each of these brake failures had a different root cause.

+Breitenbach- brake line failure (in Calif.) due to tire abraision (most common)
+Mosty- brake line failure due to swaged fitting.
+Matus- brake pedal failure due to mechanical malfunction (non-hydraulic)
+Covini- brake line failure due to stressed copper washer after pad change (infamous Dropped Caliper Syndrome)
+Donovan- brake failure due to overwhelmed brakes (cooling, abuse, overtaxed, late brake one time too many, etc )
+ Proctor- brake pedal failure at clevis pin

All of these instances could have been more severe and luckily were not. They should serve as a reminder to all of us to regularly inspect our entire brake system from pedal, to master cylinder, to booster, to brake lines, to fittings, to calipers, to pads, to rotors.

I'll personally report back here once I've done that on my car and hope that each of you do the same once you've confirmed yours are A-OK as well!

-=- Todd

[AI#97]

Kidding aside, I really think we all need to have a "Safety Stand-down" with regard to brake failures. Over the past 5 years, I personally know of more than 5 of them (and there have likely been more that we don't know about in other series/regions.) That's a rate of at least 1 per year! Each of these brake failures had a different root cause.

+Breitenbach- brake line failure (in Calif.) due to tire abraision (most common)
+Mosty- brake line failure due to swaged fitting.
+Matus- brake pedal failure due to mechanical malfunction (non-hydraulic)
+Covini- brake line failure due to stressed copper washer after pad change (infamous Dropped Caliper Syndrome)
+Donovan- brake failure due to overwhelmed brakes (cooling, abuse, overtaxed, late brake one time too many, etc )
+ Proctor- brake pedal failure at clevis pin

All of these instances could have been more severe and luckily were not. They should serve as a reminder to all of us to regularly inspect our entire brake system from pedal, to master cylinder, to booster, to brake lines, to fittings, to calipers, to pads, to rotors.

I'll personally report back here once I've done that on my car and hope that each of you do the same once you've confirmed yours are A-OK as well!

-=- Todd

You can add my off in March 06 at little bend to that list...debris hitting brake line. It's smart to protect them as much as you can. A simple "sleeve" wire loom would have prevented my off and $1000 in damage.

[Todd Covini]

I made this one a sticky because I think it's important.

[David Love AI27]

Had a brake problem in 06 due to the vacuum hose coming off the back of carb... had boost for a brief couple of seconds... happened at MSRH at the entrance to pits threw the car sideways and slid to a crawl before proceeding into hot pits... Solution: Clamped vac hose to back of carb...

[Todd Covini]

OK...race day is T-4 days....who has fully inspected their brake system???

[David Love AI27]

OK...race day is T-4 days....who has fully inspected their brake system???

Car is back up on jacks.. new front rotors and pads, rears are good.. gonna stand on head and check pedals and connections...

[Todd Covini]

Adam....can we get the full NTSB report on your brake failure?
At the swage fitting?
Tire rub thru?
Occur at threshold braking?

-=- T

[AllZWay]

Did anyone see the Speed GT race from Sebring? Not really a spoiler here....but Eric Curren had a big brake failure that resulted in a destroyed Corvette.