Comparable vehicles. Completely different missions. Very totally different gear.
The brakes for each the highway and race variations of the most recent Ford GT are provided by the identical firm, however their specs range. Vastly.
The road automotive’s brakes should carry out at a excessive degree whereas additionally remaining civil—no noise, no discomfort. Those on the race automotive have a narrower function: to assist win races. Each function on the straightforward premise of changing kinetic power into warmth, however parsing how each meets its particular engineering challenges is a deeper dive than you would possibly think about.
Road Brakes
Even a machine as unique as the most recent Ford GT—the model’s half-million-dollar, 660-horsepower supercar—remains to be primarily designed for avenue use. It’s quick, sure, “however 99% of the time, it’s a highway automotive,” notes Benjamin Pohl, Brembo North America’s senior program supervisor for authentic gear. “Noise, put on, mud: Customers care quite a bit about these issues.”
How the brakes really feel can be crucial to the tip person, he continues: “They don’t wish to really feel brake judder on their drive to work.”
On the identical time, these brakes should be capable of deal with observe use that Pohl characterizes as short-duration, restricted and nonprofessional—mainly a observe day, with drivers tapping possibly 80% of the automotive’s functionality.
Brake {photograph} courtesy Brembo, GT {photograph} courtesy Ford
1. Pad Life
The 10mm-thick pads discovered on the entrance of the road Ford GT ought to final 30,000–40,000 miles, in line with our supply at Brembo.
2. Piston Dimension
Each the race and avenue brake calipers function six pistons up entrance and 4 pistons out again. Piston dimension differs, although. Federal laws state that, ought to the ability help fail, the road automotive nonetheless should sluggish at a sure price at a sure pedal stress. That sometimes dictates bigger pistons.
3. Anti-Rattle Clips
The road calipers get anti-rattle clips to maintain issues quieter and management the retraction of the pad.
4. Caliper Life
A avenue caliper is designed to ship a whole bunch of 1000’s of cycles over years of service, in some circumstances the complete lifetime of the car. “That may drive a caliper to be heavier,” Pohl says. On this case, a cast-aluminum caliper met the fee and operational objectives.
5. Caliper Seals
Because the pads put on, rubber accordion mud boots preserve overseas particles off the caliper pistons.
6. ABS
The road Ford GT, like each different road-going car offered in the present day, options ABS.
7. Rotors
The manufacturing model of the Ford GT fills its 20-inch wheels with two-piece carbon ceramic brake rotors: 394×36mm fronts, 360×28mm rears. In line with Brembo, these rotors weigh 50% lower than conventional cast-iron items.
8. Friction Materials
The pads should function below a variety of temperatures whereas remaining quiet, civil and comparatively dust-free. Federal requirements are at present phasing out copper and different heavy metals from brake pads.
9. Weight
A completely loaded, cast-aluminum entrance caliper for the road Ford GT weighs about 16 kilos. “Racing guys have the chance to take away weight the place we will’t,” says Pohl.
10. Cooling
The highway automotive is without doubt one of the few avenue fashions delivered from the manufacturing facility with caliper ducts.
11. Value
Ford initially promised to construct 1000 copies of the Ford GT over 4 mannequin years. “Even 250 models per yr, that’s a whole lot of models,” explains Pohl. “Now we have to design a caliper for high-volume manufacturing.”
Brake Points?
“9 occasions out of 10, it comes again to cooling,” explains Mike Messina, supervisor of racing at Brembo North America. “Take no matter you assume you want and double it.”
Racing Brakes
The factory-backed Ford GT race effort landed with a splash, successful huge at its Le Mans debut in 2016 as a part of a 1-3-4 end. Then the success got here stateside, with class wins at Daytona for 2017 and 2018.
“Now we have extra freedom to make precisely what is required for the meant use,” explains Mike Messina, supervisor of racing at Brembo North America. “In some methods it’s simpler. I don’t have to fret about how loud it’s.”
Brembo’s solely mission when creating the brakes for the race automotive? Successful races. Another concern, together with value, was secondary. Messina used a tire analogy to clarify these brakes: “We’re making racing slicks.”
Brake {photograph} courtesy Brembo, GT race rar {photograph} courtesy Ford
1. Pad Life
The entrance calipers are constructed round 30mm-thick pads, sufficient materials for 18 to twenty hours at Daytona. Some groups have run all 24 hours at Le Mans on a single set of pads. “I don’t suggest it,” says Messina, “nevertheless it’s been finished.” Every 1mm in pad width requires 2mm in caliper width. “All of this provides up,” Messina continues, noting {that a} race caliper can wind up being significantly wider than its road-going counterpart.
2. Piston Dimension
Racing calipers are likely to function smaller-diameter pistons, as these yield extra driver management. “Drivers prefer to really feel one thing that’s very mechanical,” explains Messina.
3. Anti-Rattle Clips
The race automotive doesn’t get these.
4. Caliper Life
Race calipers are rebuilt between races.
5. Caliper Seals
The road automotive’s accordion seals would soften below competitors situations, so the race calipers simply get a major seal.
6. ABS
No ABS for the race automotive.
7. Rotors
The IMSA and WEC homologation specs for the race automotive name the pictures right here, requiring 18-inch wheels and cast-iron rotors: 380×35mm fronts, 355×32mm rears. As on the road automotive, the two-piece rotors function an aluminum heart hat.
8. Friction Materials
On observe, the brakes function inside a slender temperature window and don’t must hassle with avenue manners. “The race automotive might be a lot extra targeted on a slender vary of operations,” says Messina. “Most race pads don’t get up till 300 levels Celsius.”
9. Weight
Because of the five-axis machining work, which provides to the manufacturing value, the entrance calipers for the race model of the Ford GT weigh 7.25 kilos.
10. Cooling
“A lot consideration paid to cooling on the highway automotive helped the race automotive,” explains Messina. “Within the case of the Ford, it was a reasonably straight shot. All we needed to do was adapt what was there on the highway automotive.”
11. Value
Brembo says that the race caliper would retail for 3 to 5 occasions as a lot as the road caliper.
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