Do you use your Hand Brake/eBrake?
Racer
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 377
Likes: 0
From: Houston, TX
You shouldn't use your e-brake immediately after a track session, but not for fear of warping the drum brake, which is pretty unlikely. The risk is fusing and/or damaging parts in contact by putting them under pressure while extremely hot. The other risk is that as the drum brake components go from hot to cool, they contract. A brake set while hot isn't holding as well when cool because the parts have contracted. In other words, if you set the e-brake while its hot to just enough clicks to prevent movement, chances are that you'll be able to push the car when it's cool. I've seen that happen.
Rennlist Member
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 1,429
Likes: 15
From: Southern California
That advice about not fusing the pads to the brake disk at track events always makes me twitch for some instruments. It isn't the pads of course, it would be the little shoes inside that mini-drum. I suspect that the disk assembly cools below the bonding temperature for the lining on that little shoe long before I park if I take a proper cool-down lap. I suspect it, but I don't care to find out the hard way, so lacking instruments to measure all that, I just go along with the decades-old advice and avoid using the parking brake at track events.
Gary
Banned
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 1,260
Likes: 0
From: Nashville, TN
I always use the ebrake and never leave it in first gear....ever.
When I was a kid my dad was doing a compression check on an old Toyota. He wanted me to turn the ignition during the test. I've done it dozens of times so no problem. Long story short....I didn't engage the clutch, my dad left it in first gear with the ebrake off and the starter drove the car through the garage wall. I just missed crushing my father as he was repositioning to the side of the car.
I believe the 911 has a switch on the clutch so I don't think you can start it unless the clutch is depressed. However, I will never take that for granted again. I always tripple check to make sure the car is in neutral before I start and turn off the car. Everybody in my family is trained the same way.
When I was a kid my dad was doing a compression check on an old Toyota. He wanted me to turn the ignition during the test. I've done it dozens of times so no problem. Long story short....I didn't engage the clutch, my dad left it in first gear with the ebrake off and the starter drove the car through the garage wall. I just missed crushing my father as he was repositioning to the side of the car.
I believe the 911 has a switch on the clutch so I don't think you can start it unless the clutch is depressed. However, I will never take that for granted again. I always tripple check to make sure the car is in neutral before I start and turn off the car. Everybody in my family is trained the same way.
Three Wheelin'
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 1,404
Likes: 2
From: North Carolina, '12 cls63 '14 S550V4, 07TT-gone, 07Targa4S-gone
I always use the ebrake and never leave it in first gear....ever.
When I was a kid my dad was doing a compression check on an old Toyota. He wanted me to turn the ignition during the test. I've done it dozens of times so no problem. Long story short....I didn't engage the clutch, my dad left it in first gear with the ebrake off and the starter drove the car through the garage wall. I just missed crushing my father as he was repositioning to the side of the car.
I believe the 911 has a switch on the clutch so I don't think you can start it unless the clutch is depressed. However, I will never take that for granted again. I always tripple check to make sure the car is in neutral before I start and turn off the car. Everybody in my family is trained the same way.
When I was a kid my dad was doing a compression check on an old Toyota. He wanted me to turn the ignition during the test. I've done it dozens of times so no problem. Long story short....I didn't engage the clutch, my dad left it in first gear with the ebrake off and the starter drove the car through the garage wall. I just missed crushing my father as he was repositioning to the side of the car.
I believe the 911 has a switch on the clutch so I don't think you can start it unless the clutch is depressed. However, I will never take that for granted again. I always tripple check to make sure the car is in neutral before I start and turn off the car. Everybody in my family is trained the same way.
Banned
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 1,260
Likes: 0
From: Nashville, TN
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Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 1,190
Likes: 5
From: The Great Midwest
I never set the ebrake unless I am on a significant incline in the 997.
Always put it in first gear.
Been doing this for many years without issue.
I do set the ebrake on my Jeep Wrangler as it is older and the clutch
is far from new. Plus, it's a Jeep, and nothing on a Jeep is designed to
work or last for very long.
Always put it in first gear.
Been doing this for many years without issue.
I do set the ebrake on my Jeep Wrangler as it is older and the clutch
is far from new. Plus, it's a Jeep, and nothing on a Jeep is designed to
work or last for very long.
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 241
Likes: 1
Track Day
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
Always use the e-brake when parked. I've had cars get bumped in parking lots and pop out of gear. I don't differentiate between inclines and flat, it's too complicated and this way I don't ever wonder if I forgot.
On automatic cars I never use the ebrake. But I have never and will never own an automatic Porsche so it doesn't matter here.
On automatic cars I never use the ebrake. But I have never and will never own an automatic Porsche so it doesn't matter here.
Drifting
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 2,612
Likes: 424
From: Raleigh, North Carolina
Always use it, and you should, too.
This seems to be a popular question. SlickyRick just asked a similar thing.
I use the PB in all of my vehicles whenever they are parked--even when they are running and I have to get out of the car for just a minute or two and leave it turned on.
On an automatic, the parking pawl is all that is holding the car in place. If you've ever seen a parking pawl, it's almost always a pretty insignifigant mechanism. If you saw it, you would never trust it to hold your vehicle unless your parking place was dead flat (99% of parking spaces are not). If a parking pawl was sufficient, most states wouldn't require parking brakes and automakers wouldn't install them. Not to mention the fact that it is possible to turn off an auto while it's still in gear (a manual would be either in neutral or the clutch engaged while stopped) so if you did that, the pawl wouldn't even engage.
On a manual, the only thing holding the vehicle in place when it's in gear is engine compression. I have seen enough manual cars slip out of gear that I would never trust the driveline to hold a car on any kind of incline, either.
The parking brake is there for a reason. Safe driving practices are learned through habituation. So, you should habitually use your parking brake no matter what vehicle you're driving.
By the way, I was taught that the proper procedure for parking a manual car on a hill is to put it in a forward gear when facing uphill and in reverse when facing downhill AND use your parking brake. Parking brakes can fail, too, which is why you use a combination of the driveline and the brake.
I use the PB in all of my vehicles whenever they are parked--even when they are running and I have to get out of the car for just a minute or two and leave it turned on.
On an automatic, the parking pawl is all that is holding the car in place. If you've ever seen a parking pawl, it's almost always a pretty insignifigant mechanism. If you saw it, you would never trust it to hold your vehicle unless your parking place was dead flat (99% of parking spaces are not). If a parking pawl was sufficient, most states wouldn't require parking brakes and automakers wouldn't install them. Not to mention the fact that it is possible to turn off an auto while it's still in gear (a manual would be either in neutral or the clutch engaged while stopped) so if you did that, the pawl wouldn't even engage.
On a manual, the only thing holding the vehicle in place when it's in gear is engine compression. I have seen enough manual cars slip out of gear that I would never trust the driveline to hold a car on any kind of incline, either.
The parking brake is there for a reason. Safe driving practices are learned through habituation. So, you should habitually use your parking brake no matter what vehicle you're driving.
By the way, I was taught that the proper procedure for parking a manual car on a hill is to put it in a forward gear when facing uphill and in reverse when facing downhill AND use your parking brake. Parking brakes can fail, too, which is why you use a combination of the driveline and the brake.
lol