Carbon fibre brakes are a health risk to drivers?

[ZfrkS62]

Originally Posted by |Nuno| ^^ The brakes are carbon (carbon pads and carbon disks). Anyway, I hope this is sorted. I wouldn't want to see F1 cars back to steel disks.

i thought the brake disc was ceramic. But now that i tink about it, i do recall an F1 mag article with Brembo, talking about their compounds :bah: oh well.

Steel brake disks would be an effective way of slowing the cars down, wouldn't it

[|Nuno|]

Originally Posted by ZfrkS62 Originally Posted by |Nuno| ^^ The brakes are carbon (carbon pads and carbon disks). Anyway, I hope this is sorted. I wouldn't want to see F1 cars back to steel disks. i thought the brake disc was ceramic. But now that i tink about it, i do recall an F1 mag article with Brembo, talking about their compounds :bah: oh well. Steel brake disks would be an effective way of slowing the cars down, wouldn't it

Actually, the main reason why carbon is used isn't stopping power by itself (though along with better fade resistance it's a big reason), but less unsprung weight. If I remember correctly, carbon disks weight about 1.6Kg less per disk than the equivalent steel disk. Quite an advantage, in terms of F1.


I forgot to mention... Carbon disks are used since 1984, so if the problems caused by it were such a big issue, we should know by now. Or then again maybe not...

[ZfrkS62]

Originally Posted by |Nuno| Originally Posted by ZfrkS62 Originally Posted by |Nuno| ^^ The brakes are carbon (carbon pads and carbon disks). Anyway, I hope this is sorted. I wouldn't want to see F1 cars back to steel disks. i thought the brake disc was ceramic. But now that i tink about it, i do recall an F1 mag article with Brembo, talking about their compounds :bah: oh well. Steel brake disks would be an effective way of slowing the cars down, wouldn't it Actually, the main reason why carbon is used isn't stopping power by itself (though along with better fade resistance it's a big reason), but less unsprung weight. If I remember correctly, carbon disks weight about 1.6Kg less per disk than the equivalent steel disk. Quite an advantage, in terms of F1. I forgot to mention... Carbon disks are used since 1984, so if the problems caused by it were such a big issue, we should know by now. Or then again maybe not...

You also have to look at heat dissipation. Carbon deals with heat much better than steel. With steel you risk glazing the pads and rotors if you over heat them. That happens and you may as well be braking on ball bearings

Problem with carbon discs (as Sato found out in Canada) is that if there is a problem with it's manufacturing, you run the risk of grenading the disc. Steel won't do that.

[|Nuno|]

You also have to look at heat dissipation. Carbon deals with heat much better than steel. With steel you risk glazing the pads and rotors if you over heat them. That happens and you may as well be braking on ball bearings

Yeah, indeed. Like I said, with carbon you shouldn't have fade troubles in a race distance - and when you have, usually the pads are the first to give up.

Other positive of steel is the "feel", which is much better than carbon; that and the less time (and money) it takes to manufacturer.

[|Nuno|]

Originally Posted by mrmojo77 Originally Posted by |Nuno| I forgot to mention... Carbon disks are used since 1984, so if the problems caused by it were such a big issue, we should know by now. Or then again maybe not... Like Mika Salo said that he is the first driver of hif age group who have had his lunges opened like this. Mika must have started his driving after 1984, so I think this is a new issue to everyone.

I see, but what I was trying to say is that if there was a serious risk (and I'm not saying that there isn't, just thinking out loud), the effects of this should have been shown already on older drivers. But on the other hand, Mika is one of the guys who was more time in F1, I think.

[mindgam3]

Originally Posted by ZfrkS62 Originally Posted by |Nuno| ^^ The brakes are carbon (carbon pads and carbon disks). Anyway, I hope this is sorted. I wouldn't want to see F1 cars back to steel disks. i thought the brake disc was ceramic. But now that i tink about it, i do recall an F1 mag article with Brembo, talking about their compounds :bah: oh well. Steel brake disks would be an effective way of slowing the cars down, wouldn't it

F1 brakes are carbon reinforced carbon fibre
High performance road brakes are silicone reinforced carbon fibre (carbon ceramic)

[szumszer]

essentially all particles that get trapped in lungs will cause some kind of immunological reaction as they are foreign antigens, and this process can lead to scar tissue formation in the lungs and some degree of restrictive lung disease, but it depends on degree of antigenicity and amount of material, existing lung disease in the driver, and other risk factors like smoking for example; obviously it is not known if carbon particles from brakes used in F1 are in fact carcinogenic, but that will remain to be seen, years down the line ... however, driver will most likely have the most significant exposure to these particles and perhaps FIA and F1 teams should look into ways of protecting drivers from this constant exposure, but I don't think this is as important issue as safe tyres for example, as they pose a more direct and immediate danger to drivers

[enks]

lets not wait to see if they get cancer from the dust. filters or respirator on their helmets sounds good