Drum brakes were the first type of speed reduction on an automobile (apart from engine braking). The design came from the clasp brake that railway locomotives used - the difference being that a clasp brake applies pressure on the outside of the wheel and the drum brake applies it on the inside of the mechanism. It is a very simple design and concept, to reduce speed, the brake … [Read more...]
Flywheels
One topic that I discussed on my earlier blog was the concept of using the flywheel of an engine to be more efficient. Well, as you would imagine, things have moved on quite a bit in the past 3 or 4 years. When I first wrote about this topic, KERS was not yet in Formula 1 and the technology had just had another breakthrough in design and efficiency. Firstly let's revisit the … [Read more...]