I was racing at Laguna a couple of weeks ago.
On the warm up lap, I was chuffing happily along a short straight at about
60 mph behind a Lotus 7 when....
IT JUST STOPPED, with lots of smoke from a the left front..
Sure woke me up.
Turned out he had been dabbing the brakes to warm em up, when a front brake
caliper lug on the caliper casting broke off.
The braking torque forced the caliper assembly to rotate until it jammed
into the inside of the front wheel rim, hence the lock up.
Later, out of curiosity, I chatted to the mechanic for the Lotus who told me
that he had crack tested all the suspension components last winter, but
never dreamed of a caliper casting breaking.
Something else for the winter check list.
Also seems like a good idea to be awake during the warm up lap!
Malcolm Cox, very red MGA
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