[Fot] automotive design

[Herald948 at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/6/2008 4:42:57 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
standardtriumph at btinternet.com writes:

I'm  surmising here - and I'm sure Paul Richardson would confirm from the 
extensive  records he has 
from his late father, Ken - that TR3 heavy braking with  drum brakes on the 
European Alpine rallies 
of the early 1950's led to  serious brake fade and possible boiling of fluid? 
Although it wasn't a 
TR,  my own bug-eye Sprite had terrifyingly inadequate front drum brakes 
(through  fade) when used on 
those same roads. Needless to say, the Sprite wasn't  being driven nearly as 
fast as a TR but the 
lack of effective braking was  a good alternative to an effective laxative!


==AM==
Wonderfully phrased as always, John! :-)
 
I don't have any of my Triumph books handy at the moment, but I do recall  
accounts of various disc brake setups (Dunlop and Lockheed, as well as Girling)  
being tried out on the Le Mans cars, circa 1955.
 
And yes, Triumph definitely was NOT the first to use disc brakes; to be  
painfully correct, I think TR3s were the first volume, series-production  British 
car to use them, and possibly the first volume, series-production car in  the 
world to introduce and stay with front disc brakes. (I recall reading  
somewhere that there were experimental front brakes on some Chrysler Imperials  or 
some such car around 1951, but that very, very few cars were so  equipped, 
possibly due to problems with the brakes.)  

--Andy   Mace

*Mrs Irrelevant: Oh, is it a jet?
*Man: Well, no ... It's not  so  much of a jet, it's more your, er, Triumph 
Herald engine with  wings.
-- Cut-price Airlines Sketch, Monty Python's Flying Circus   (22)

Check out the North American Triumph Sports 6 (Vitesse 6) and  Triumph Herald 
Database: _http://triumph-herald.us_ (http://triumph-herald.us/) 




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