Why It’s Almost Impossible to Stop From 200 MPH in 3 Seconds

I've always been fascinated by the brakes in Formula 1 cars. They're able to stop from over 200 MPH in under four seconds, and when you see clips of these cars going into the braking zones it almost looks like a glitch.
I wanted to learn more about how the brakes in Formula 1 cars worked, and race cars in general. What makes them different to standard brakes on road cars, and would it be possible to stop even faster?

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[truantray]

The F1 brake explanation is out dated. Since 2014, F1 uses brake by wire with load cells and a computer controller to balance rear braking with energy harvesting.

[elebeu]

It's actually very easy to decelerate within those parameters, if you aren't concerned with the condition of the vehicle afterwards... ask any bridge abutment.

[rs]

In 2019 I watched the German at the Track. Even the 'little' breaking zone for the Sachskurve was pretty insane. They came in easily 100kph faster than the Porsche Cup running just before, and still applied the brakes 40-50m later.
Keep up the good work :)

[ROOKAT]

1:09 700Gs????

You would cease to exist

[Kamidesu_Kun]

Bro said 700 G’s??.. 700 would turn your insides into juice. You’d be blended. Try going for 5 to 8. And 10-30 at a instant stop crash. Maybe just 50 if it’s rlly bad.

[Real]

I have a concrete wall that argues it can stop something going 200mph in less than a second.


Are you from Ohio? That reference to Millennium Force is really... specific.

[cjsawinski]

1:47… F1 drivers adjust their brake bias multiple times per lap. And they actually only run a front bias on 1 or 2 turns per track (hair pins or very tight turns like that). Most drivers actually use a slight rear brake bias most of the time, a rear bias actually helps slow the car faster than a front bias, it’s easier on the front tires, better for weight transfer, helps with rotation, and lastly helps with trail braking.
I only know this because I’m a racing (and F1) nerd, grew up at the race track following dad around on his race weekends, and spent a handful of years karting and 4 years in SCCA and club racing (Formula Ford, spec Miata, group G in a Porsche 993 race car, and one season in a Porsche GT3 Cup Car).

[Jay_The_Cat]

As you say, it is possible to make an F1 car brake more effectively than current regulations allow but at that point we're pretty much approaching the limits of human endurance.

I remember Alex Zanardi's second stint in F1 with Williams back in the late 90's: he was struggling to adjust to such an extent that the team gave him steel brakes at one race - with a weight penalty of 1kg per wheel. 👀

[johnandan]

So the real reason we can't brake faster is because we would literally kill the driver if formula 1 decelerated faster

[fabianrudzewski]

There is a guy on YouTube, that engineered an RC car with huge amounts of downforce. At the moment he's at 10g peak deceleration at 70mph and thats with Aero developed at home. So without rules, an actual F1 team should be able to achieve pretty staggering deceleration values.

[solsol]

Excellent video. One small point about the lighter weight of carbon brakes, is that it's unsprung weight, so very important from a suspension POV. Also less kinetic energy in the rotation of the wheels which also helps braking.

[ThePhiliposophy]

Besides the human strength the other major limiting factor on braking is grip. The brakes only need to be as strong as the maximum available grip. And adding more grip to decrease the braking distance comes with a lot of trade offs. Either in terms of added rolling resistance, increased aerodynamic drag, rate of tire degradation etc. The difficulty in making brakes for racing isn't their strength but rather their durability and consistency.

[deimosphob]

No abs actually stops faster on dirt as rolling prevents the tires from digging or skidding which uses more than rolling grip. Try it, it's one of the first things you learn in offroad racing and even just riding off road.

[assettobam]

Awesome video! Really enjoyed watching it!

[tookitogo]

3:22 Cast iron is actually a very poor conductor of heat, as far as metals go. It’s its high thermal mass that makes it useful: it _holds_ lots of heat.

[church]

"Not always" rotating wheels stop faster. On loose pavement, eg. gravel road, or snow, where braking distance can be shorter with blocked wheels due gravel/snow building up in front of blocked wheel

[jacoblittle]

Yup, I went to the Long Beach Grand Prix last year and was standing at the inside of a 90 degree left turn. Most cars took that turn so fast it lifted the front left wheel off the ground and I saw one guy apparently forget about the turn and went straight. Watching him hit the brakes and stop before hitting the barricade was amazing

[becool]

If you try to lift 50 pounds more, remember that you always have a 10-pound head.
So, in total, you're actually trying to lift 60 pounds instead of 10 pounds.
That's six times more, which means 6G :-)

[wanderingbufoon]

"it's impossible to stop from 200 mph in 3 seconds"
I've seen dumb teenagers do it faster for less time.

[thomasbezencon]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but by adding 50 lbs you were already simulating 6g. You have 10 lbs of head and an additional 50 lbs of weight. So the required 60 lbs in total.