Does your race car have an e-brake?

About 2 years ago we picked up a '95 Neon ACR from the old Neon Challenge series. We've been (very) slowly working towards running it in ChumpCar. Our experience is minimal so we're trying our best to make sure we make our mistakes now rather than when we're at the track. Our car, which after running in the Neon series spent it's life regional racing, does not have an e-brake. Is this typical of race cars like this? My thinking is it would be somewhat comforting to have a back up, manually operated braking system if there was a issue with the pedal going soft or even a more serious problem. Am I overthinking this?

I've never owned a car where the ebrake would stop the car before the next turn on a track, never mind the time lost figuring out what's going on

E-brake is a bit of a misnomer, kind of like "freeze plugs". It's a parking brake, nothing more, nothing less. It's used for holding the car in place when parked. Not for stopping the car in an emergency. And with them being on the rear of the car, if they had any sort of stopping capacity, they would likely just throw you into a spin.

Mine is gone. It keeps you from setting it while the brakes are still somewhat hot.

Nope. It's just extra weight in the rear wheels and something else in the cabin to whack an elbow on in a wreck. It went in the trash bin long ago.

Well, track racing may not need it, but I'd like to see you rotate that fwd on a rally course after several hairpins that slow your momentum.

I would say it depends. And I do think an e brake could help on track during brake failure, but you would be better off taking the grass or sand and compression braking instead.

If failure occurs pre corner and you've overcooked it, well, you're in for a "Senna" moment.

In that scenario an e brake would be the option to rotate the ass end around and hit backwards into whatever you are heading toward. That would require cat reflexes though.

Trackmouse wrote: Well, track racing may not need it, but I'd like to see you rotate that fwd on a rally course after several hairpins that slow your momentum. I would say it depends. And I do think an e brake could help on track during brake failure, but you would be better off taking the grass or sand and compression braking instead. If failure occurs pre corner and you've overcooked it, well, you're in for a "Senna" moment.

For rotating wrong wheel and AWD drive cars in dirt or around cones, yes.

For a no brakes situation on a race track - no. The last thing I want is to take my hand off the wheel when I don't have much time to plot an exit strategy and scrub as much speed sideways as I can. Dragging a parking brake will lock the rear as soon as you touch the grass if your panic didn't already do it on the asphalt. Avoiding a crash with no brakes and two locked rear wheels is bad joo joo.

My race car has no E-brake. I even replaced the caliper piston with a plain one and plugged the hole in the caliper where the mechanical E-brake shaft entered. I brazed the plug over so it will never leak. Makes brake caliper removal easy, brake pad changes easy as well. Just push the piston back in and install new pads. No screwing the piston back in.

And I agree with all of the above about how the e-brake is useless other then as a parking brake. It may stop a car as slow speed but on a race track who goes slow?

I had one on my Neon Circle Racer.

I thought it would help loosen the car up if I needed.

I yanked on the sucker as hard as I could trying to get the car to quit pushing, no joy.

Never touched it again after that.

I have always thought of them as parking brakes, IMO emergency brake is a complete misnomer.

I have yet to drive a car with a hand brake P-brake that is strong enough to work as a Rally grade hand brake in anything but snow or wet grass.

The real question is, should the hydraulic hand brake have it's own calipers, or be plumbed inline with the main brake system.

NickD wrote: E-brake is a bit of a misnomer, kind of like "freeze plugs". It's a parking brake, nothing more, nothing less. It's used for holding the car in place when parked. Not for stopping the car in an emergency. And with them being on the rear of the car, if they had any sort of stopping capacity, they would likely just throw you into a spin.

It kinda was an emergency brake from 1967 on back when cars only had single circuit brakes and they all had drums in the back. Still pretty useless on a race track though.

Yes, but its only purpose is to help keep the car from rolling away when unloading the car from the trailer.

Mine still has the e brake, as did the last two. I find it extremely handy when moving the car around the shop and loading/unloading. I often push the car off the trailer while steering and workimg the brake through the window. Way easier than crawling in. I dont know what the brake assembly weighs but since I have 200 pounds of lead behind the seat anyway i dont care.

Check the rules to see if it's required.

(SCCA Rallycross requires it, I think the wording is cable operate brake must be present)

Thanks for everyone's input. While I did call it an "e-brake" I had never really considered it that in the past. When I saw it was removed it just occurred to me that it might be an extra piece of mind we would appreciate but it sounds like it's unnecessary, unless the rules require it to be there. I'll check into that for sure.

I found not having one to be a nuisance in my old auto-x car.

Also a real pain in the arse to not have one when jacking the front of the car up. I find it has used in various scenarios, doesn't have much weight, it's low in the chassis anyways. I'd rather have it and not use it, then not have it and "Senna" myself.

In reply to Trackmouse:

Shouldnt need an e-brake to jack the car up and if it moves, use a block on a tire.

I can U-turn a Saturn on a two-lane road without using the shoulder if the ebrake still works.

No e-brake in the race car but have had others that did. Unless there's a big reason to remove I never did.

Trackmouse wrote: Also a real pain in the arse to not have one when jacking the front of the car up. I find it has used in various scenarios, doesn't have much weight, it's low in the chassis anyways. I'd rather have it and not use it, then not have it and "Senna" myself.

Definitely handy for that purpose. I've been known to put the Jeep in 4wd to lock the front wheels as well when jacking only 1 end. Having the ability to make a car self-chocking to at least some degree can come in handy if you suddenly need to fix it under sub-optimal conditions.

Stampie in his best 8 year old boy voice said: How else are you supposed to drift the race car.

LuxInterior wrote: Yes, but its only purpose is to help keep the car from rolling away when unloading the car from the trailer.

This is why we keep them in our race cars.