hey guys, how long would a set of drum brakes last on a track like calder park, which is a low braking circuit except at the end of the main straight, anyone know?? will tell you why i wanna know soon

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Potato

About 1432 metres mate.

ok, but im dumb remember, well u all say i am, so how many laps average can you do before brakes are over heated and you need to cool them down??

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Potato

You would probably get a few laps before the brakes started going away, it really depends on how ahrd you are on them, some could go around all day and not have to worry but others could stuff them in a couple of laps, how long was that piece of string

Jon

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Roundies and Clubbies(except vans) are both ugly that is why I have Midas and a van
1293 Mini Midas Bronze,1275 Clubman van

hehe, wouldnt be pushing too hard, they lasted all day long at the driver ed day, so we will see, i spose if they heat up u could pull in the pits..

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Potato

Just a tip, try driving around without braking at all for about five laps. Start off slow and work your way up to speed without braking. It is a good lesson in control when thing go wrong! You will learn how to throw the car at a corner to scrub off speed and catch it with the throttle when you want to straighten up and go again.
Another thing to learn is stopping the car with the gears and handbrake (and I don't mean spinning the car to stop) Just in case the brakes ever go completely.

ok cheers, i will take all of this into account, thanks for your help guys.

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Potato

Using your gears to slow down is a good habit IMO not so much for just around town driving etc (but it does help) but it will save your brakes on a long decent and spirited driving especially for drum brakes The number of people you see riding thier brakes on a descent of ~600-700m down several kms long is scary people treat thier brakes a fail proof and immortal.

On a lighter note a friend told me in his surfy(fair while ago) days he had to select reverse to stop his combie

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Roads need more corners
A Deluxe(CG13DE), 2 Clubbies(998 and 1275) and 2 Morris 1100Ss

lol good old kombies, i think they had worse drums then minis and they weigh twice as much, hehe, yer, i will use the gears anyway, need to learn all this for when i get racing

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Potato

My brother was going up Mt Victoria pass (in the Blue Mountains NSW) in a Kombi and he had to go back from third gear to second gear and got reverse! They stop quick when you do that!

Reminds me when I was learning to drive in our (Dads) old yellow ute. I was changing up from 3rd to 4th and got reverse

What amazed me was it didn't crunch and the first I knew about it was when the back wheels started skidding I quickly shoved the clutch back in and we keep going There has never been a problem with that gearbox and it is still going no problems.

OK it was on a gravel road and it was a ute so the back wheels were pretty light which probably went some way to saving the gear box. That ute is/was a great ute but was flat chat at 120 km/h

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Roads need more corners
A Deluxe(CG13DE), 2 Clubbies(998 and 1275) and 2 Morris 1100Ss

brakes are used for slowing, not your gearbox!!!!

I can see that you have never raced a car with drum brakes!

So if you are going down a mountain pass you are saying that you should go down in 4th gear? I would throw it back to third (or second) and save the brakes till they are needed.

hey this wont damage my gearbox will it?? cos i dont wanna screw in my car experimenting with stopping.

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Potato

I won't do it any good that for sure, but that's racing. You can bet on lowering the life expectancy of the clutch and synchros by going down through the gears, however that's the price to pay if you are going to take a car on the track and push it to its limits. Don't expect to take a car on the track and not have the bills that will go with it - its the law of motor racing and there is no escaping it.

You will need to learn these these skills sooner or later - I had no brakes in an Mx-5 at Oran Park at the end of the straight after only 3 laps, and it was the gears / scrubbing of the tyres that managed to brings things to a stop.

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One should never skimp on the zip ties.