nhra/fia safer rules

[Turbobird1]

ok I had an incident today that for me realy throws a different slant on one of the recent "safety" rules we have had to adopt,
Carbon brakes...yes that old favourite

ok ill accept that they are a slightly better brake for high speed no chute short tracks...do we have any in Europe ?

but as I found out they are very lacking in another not so rare in pro mod type of falier.
Axle tube failer where the hub on a full floater separated from he axle housing for what ever reason
iv seen this numerous times on pro mods and in every case the steel brake rotor running in its calliper held the hub in place so the car could stop safely
I had it happen today my carbon rotor was ripped from the hub like it was made of chocolate at over 220 I had my hub and wheel running free and thank god I have close fitting wheel arches cause if I haddent or the body had failed that 1/8 thick carbon replica superbird body was all that saved my ass
the car was almost uncontrollable through the shut down area and it had to be recovers using wheel sleds
if it had had steel rotors the hub would have stayed in place and not tried to steer me and allow me to tow back to my pit ...
the other side of the "safety" rule

my 10 pence

gareths tmfc runs the same axle one of the strongest on the market he has carbon brakes and his body is miles away from the wheel.. that wheel and hub/half shaft could conceivably escape either into or out of the car
don't bare thinking about

Edited by Turbobird1 on Saturday 27th July 21:33

[Turn7]

Glad you and the car will live to fight again Graham...

Any idea what caused it or is it just ome of those things ?

[Turbobird1]

one of those things... its a fairly common failer

[dragfan85]

Wasn't there and never seen it but so glad u and the bird are safe mate British and European pro mod would not be the same without out u both.. must say I do love your 10cents worth on here ...

Haven't seen any times for the weekend mate u make any progress with the bird and anyone run anything decent ...

[Squating Neville]

Turbobird1 said:

one of those things... its a fairly common failer

If its a fairly common for this to fail have they tryed to re engineer it to make it better or just left it the same are these parts made in America or fabricated here.

[Turbobird1]

im sure they try to keep upgrading their parts as we upgrade our parts to make more power
these are almost always us made parts

[dorrisdormouse]

I guess it comes down to the level and types of stresses that the parts are under - not just those that are expected (in this case the forces from normal braking) but also the violent tire shake scenarios. I had read that carbon brakes were not so good on "lower MPH" cars (i say lower, realistically anything below top fuel and tad) - obviously I cant judge as so far i havent gone 200mph or used carbon brakes. Think i read it from the world of Nostalgia NHRA classes. Would be great to hear if thats the case?

Slightly off topic maybe but i still dont get why we follow the US on SFI recert life's when we dont get anywhere near the same amount of runs in a year? Would be great to hear from the tech guys why this is. Note that this is a genuine question, not me just thinking i know better or anything because I know that the guys involved have a lot more experience than i have.

[Turbobird1]

if we didn't use the cert life of the manufacturers (SFI) and an incident occurred someone would get their asses sued
and carbon brakes are worth something on a 240 mph heavyweight door car for sure its not just speed its weight therefore inertia than needs controlling with the brakes, iv seen boiled and busted callipers on steel braked care with chute failures but as stated the steel brakes will keep the wheels in place in the case of an axle component failure

Edited by Turbobird1 on Monday 5th August 12:25

[dorrisdormouse]

Ok thanks, I understand on both of those points.

[UgandaDave]

dorrisdormouse said:

Slightly off topic maybe but i still dont get why we follow the US on SFI recert life's when we dont get anywhere near the same amount of runs in a year? Would be great to hear from the tech guys why this is. Note that this is a genuine question, not me just thinking i know better or anything because I know that the guys involved have a lot more experience than i have.

Because if we were to go outside the date, then the "cert" is not valid, and that then puts the responsibility on the person who "made the call". And Like Graham said, someone would end up getting sued. Or possible someone could end up getting hurt or dead. I for one am not prepared to take that risk. So if the spec gives it a date, and its out of date, then it aint running.....Unless the race director allows it...but thats a whole different story