Hi
A year ago I had a 100% brake failure at the end of a straight going into a 190 degree hairpin. I left the track and hit the wall. Although I was unhurt, this was an experience I did not want to repeat.
My kart was less than a year old and the brakes had been raced for 18 hours. The fluid had been changed 3 times at 5 hour intervals. This far exceeds the recommended maintenance periods. When I stripped down the brake system, it was full of air. So why did my brakes fail?????
I am a Professional Engineer, so I investigated the cause of the failure. The mechanical failure occurred as a result of poor design. The pistons and calipers are anodized aluminium. The anodizing looks good but it does not wear well. The pistons and cylinders galled. This is common when aluminium rubs against aluminium. The heat conducted by the pistons cooked the o-ring seals and the brake fluid. The absence of dust seals allowed dirt to enter between the piston and cylinder scratching the surfaces. All of these are design deficiencies that collectively caused my brakes to fail.
I rebuilt the calipers by boring out the cylinders to remove wear and scratches. I had the cylinders hard anodized (very hard glass like coating). I made new stainless steel (SS) pistons. The combination of hard anodizing and SS pistons will not gall. SS is a poor conductor which reduces heat transfer to the seals and brake fluid. I am a lot more comfortable about the safety of these brakes. In my opinion, the original design was inadequate, unsafe and destined to fail.
I then studied the CIK technical regulations to find out if these brakes were legal. Given that CIK is affiliated with FIA (the FIA has a very good technical safety and development programme), I expected to see strict standards of design, testing and manufacture. I was shocked to find just the opposite. The CIK rules do not define any quantifiable standards for design, specifications, performance, reliability, quality or safety for brakes. The CIK rules on air filters are much better defined than the rules for brakes.
The brake system is arguably the most important safety system on a kart. It is the one system that should be closely regulated to ensure driver safety. If the CIK rules were properly written, then the serious deficiencies in my brakes would have been eliminated, and I would not have crashed. Since the crash, I have looked at other kart brakes and the features that caused my brakes to fail can be found on many of them.
If a domestic car maker sold brakes that only lasted 18 hours on the road, they would be sued out of existence. The kart manufacturers make poor quality brakes because they can get away with it. The only practical way to improve kart brakes is to get the CIK regulations changed.
I would like to see the CIK regulations changed to impose proper standards for engineering design, quality, performance, reliability, testing, certification and safety. I know I can't do it by myself. I am hoping to get support from drivers and administrators out there that have sufficient influence to make a change.
Is anyone out there??
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