Big Brakes

[Unka Bart]

Hi Larry,

>To simplify things, the bigger brakes can increase the RATE of the
>conversion of kinetic energy to heat, so POTENTIALLY, bigger brakes can
>stop a car faster. BUT, the limit is the actual frictional force that can
>be created at the tire/road interface. Alex was not speaking of locked
>wheel braking, in which the heat generated is mostly between the tire and
>the road, and then little brakes will do just fine, but of threshold
>braking, where there is essentially a static (but highly stressed)
>surface interface between tire and road.

Always nice to hear from you, your posts are always well thought-out,
comprehensive and informative; and thus in a word, interesting.  Thanks for
the thoughtful addition to the discussion.

>Now Bigger Brakes can dissapate the heat faster (not really, it just gets
>spread around more) hence they can keep up the RATE of braking longer
>without fade.

I'm not sure that I agree with this completely.  Larger brakes, by virtue
of their larger surface area, are able to radiate more heat per unit of
time, than the smaller ones with less surface area.  A minor nit, I'm sure
the difference is slight enough to be virtually unnoticible to the driver.

(yer kindly ol' Unka) Bart