Stepped Black
Cylindrical Orange
4
Cylindrical Black
Cylindrical Black
3
Cylindrical Black
Cylindrical Orange
2
Cylindrical Orange
Cylindrical Orange
1
This pedal set has the ability to replicate the pedal firmness of
various styles of race cars. There are many factors that affect
the way a pedal should feel based on the type of car being
simulated. In a white paper titled
“
Brake Systems and
Upgrade Selection
”
published by Stephen Ruiz, Engineering
Manager and Carroll Smith, Consulting Engineer at StopTech
LLC, all aspects of a high performance racing brake system are
discussed. The full document is available at:
http://www.stoptech.com/technical-support/technical-
white-papers/brake-system-and-upgrade-selection
For our purposes, we are only interested in the section about
brake firmness and modulation. Here is an excerpt as it
applies to racing simulators:
BRAKE PEDAL FIRMNESS AND MODULATION
The human brain/body system modulates most effectively by force,
not by displacement. The side control sticks on current fighter aircraft
hardly move. The feel of the brake pedal should approach the firmness
and consistency of a brick. There are several factors at work here:
1) Brake hoses: Optimum pedal firmness cannot be achieved with the
stock fabric reinforced rubber flexible hoses which swell under
pressure - decreasing pedal firmness while increasing both pedal travel
and brake system reaction time. The first step in upgrading the
braking system of any vehicle is to replace the OEM flexible hoses
with. . .
2) Master cylinders and Caliper piston diameters: While it is true that
the most effective master cylinder arrangement is the twin cylinder
with adjustable bias bar that is universal in racing, replacing the OEM
master cylinder on a road going car is simply not practical. When
selecting an aftermarket system, make sure that the caliper bores are
designed for the specific application.
3) Disc run out and thickness variation: Run out in excess of six
thousandths of an inch (0.006") can be felt by the driver as can more
than 0.001" of thickness variation and any amount of material transfer
from overheated pads. Run out is caused by poor design of either
vanes or the junction between the friction surfaces and the mounting
bell, by poor machining, by thermal stress or by any combination of
the three.
4) Caliper and caliper mounting stiffness: Clamping force tries to open
the opposing sides of the calipers - resulting in a longer than optimum
pedal travel and uneven pad wear. The only solution is optimal
mechanical design and material selection - there is no effective
development fix for "soft" calipers. . .
