Locking 'Em Up

[TBR151J]

I know I have been guilty of this a few times and been next to someone who has locked them up on me (the last time it was so bad they rolled the trucks thinking they scattered the motor next to me). I have seen and been the one to get warnings (usually my warning came AFTER I lost the round) and have seen one time in all of my years racing where someone got tossed. I will be the first to say I try not to race this way and hate when people race that way next to me...

That being said I think it boils down to two things-type of brake system you use, and how you drive. I know in my bracket car I have factory discs up front, factory drums out back, and if I am to heavy on the brake pedal it will fry the front tires. Conversely, my brother drove a stocker years ago with Wilwoods front and rear, just rubbed the pedal at the stripe in a time shot to get a feel for things and dropped 10 mph quick without locking the brakes up. It all depends on the brake system you use, how it's adjusted, and the way the suspenson is set up (seen cars lock up the tires with no suspension drop and then the nose dig a hole with the tires still rolling). It all boils down to physics...if you have enough forward momentum you can drive through the stopping resistance no matter how hard you hit the brakes.

Second it's driving style...you can rub the brakes, stab the brakes at the stripe and be OK, but when you throw it into an "oh s**t" panic stop that's when you see people get into trouble locking them up more often than not. But this is all just my 2 cents, which is probably worth me owing $100 bucks with the decline in my portfolio