slow from speed

[DeWitt Harrison <de@aztek-eng.com>]

On Mon, 15 Jun 1998 20:11:48 -0400, Kirby Smith wrote:

>" The thing to remember on German roads, is that if you are travelling at
>120mph, and a
>brit with a caravan doing 50 pulls out in front of you, it is the equivalent
>of stopping dead from 70mph."
>
>Not exactly!  Although the momentum change is the same, the kinetic energy
>that has to be absorbed, mostly by the brakes, is proprotional to the
>velocity squared.  Thus, the former case is 2.4 times worse.

Which goes a long way toward justifying big brake conversions for even
non-competitive track events.

DeWitt Harrison
Boulder, CO
88 5kcstq