braking contrast

[stewartwillsher]

Following the discussion on braking: just to contrast with the RCZ, and particularly the R brakes, the Zero has to be controlled with some degree of delicacy.
Like the power to weight ratio (approx 300bhp per ton) the braking ability to weight is, however that is measured, impressive.
With disks all round and no servo, feel through the pedals is amazing, but without care, one or more wheel will lock very easily.
Naturally in wet conditions dainty footwork is essential, but even in the dry, a dusty or loose surface can catch you out.
The car is perfectly balanced, though, and rarely steps out of line with straight line braking the norm.
Much of the car is a road/track compromise, including the Yokohama Parada tyres, which are excellent.
Silly, but necessary, driving attire, are narrow shoes, as the footwell is not wide and pedals close together.

http://www.greatbritishsportscars.co.uk/specifications/

 

[RCZIain]

My last couple of Peugeots have had brilliant brakes. My two 407s were ok but my 508 GT and RCZ stop superbly.
The 508 would literally stop in a second if you stamped on the brake pedal. The advantage of whopping discs I'd imagine.

Not so long ago I drove a FIAT Panda (a proper one) and first time I pressed the brake pedal I sailed past my stop point without really slowing down!
The downside of driving modern cars for so long is you forget how much better they stop.

Luckily it was in a quiet car park so no harm done!
My first car was a Panda too, and I don't recall the brakes being too bad at the time. Although I vaguely remember they didn't stop too well first go after a deep puddle.

 

[DKZ5745]

During my career in the Fire Service, I was a driver for all but the first five years. We had to learn in a manual vehicle, and take our HGV test in one, although all the actual appliances were automatics.

One fire call I remember was a call out to a downed aircraft. That was all the information we had, and although the location was into West’s Yorkshire (I was stationed in South Yorkshire) we were the closest station to the incident.
For all we knew, it could have been a commercial aircraft, so we had to get there rapid fashion.
That particular shift, our Mercedes Fire Engine had gone in for repair, and we had an old Dennis for the day.

I was driving, and although old, it could motor a bit once it got going.

The guys in the back were shouting out directions wherever I wasn’t 100% sure, and very close to the incident, there was a right turn that was hidden and almost completely back on ourselves. It appeared without warning, and to a crescendo of “here” I hit the brakes with as much force as I could manage. The effect was so minimal, everyone continued shouting at me, not realising I was now literally standing in the brake pedal.

The old Dennis had an archaic abs system, where you could feel the rapid on/off application through the pedal.

We were probably doing maybe 50 mph ish when I first applied the brakes. I reckon we managed to stop in @ 100 - 150 meters. It was downhill, and we did weigh 12.5 tonnes, but, really ?!

The downed aircraft turned out to be a glider that had just run out of thermals, the two occupants were leaning against a fence having a smoke, and seemed quite bemused at our arrival. I sent the message to return any West Yorkshire appliances that were en-route, but before it could be relayed to them, from the opposite direction to us appeared a convoy of blue lights of mammoth proportion. This included @ 4 Fire Engines, Control Unit, Emergency tenders, water bowsers etc etc.

I did pass comment to the pilot, if You were surprised when we turned up, have a look over there :shock:

There was of course a pre-arranged initial turnout for that type of reported incident, just in case there was a Boing 747 in pieces somewhere.

Needless to say, the Dennis was taken out of service the moment we returned to station, I had pointed out that all I was trying to do was slow down for a sharp turn, but what if it had been a school bus that pulled out in front of us!?

Technology has indeed progressed since then, which is one of the points used when arguing for speed limit increases.

 

[SilverGTi_6]

Sounds similar to my Elise Stewart - No servo or ABS, but big discs and calipers and a very low kerb weight. Requires much more delicacy than the Z, but the pedal feel is amazing.

I still rekon the best Pug brakes I experienced were on my GTI6. It would make your eyeballs pop out (although I may be looking back on it fondly). The Z definitely pulls up hastily when needed.

 

[DRTDVL]

I've found that so much depends on the pads. I've had massive variations of feel and initial bite with different pads in the same car.