quote:The Can-Am cars had huge brakes, reduced weight, and huge horsepower engines, for their era. 600hp then was not obtainable by everyone. Now more than that is in street cars.
The formula didn't work. They ran off the tracks in the corners and into any obstruction they could find.
Not sure I would describe the brakes on CanAm cars as massive. My McLaren M12 came standard from Mclaren with only a 12" vented rotors front and rear with Girling 16-3-LA Calipers. These relatively modest rotors and calipers had a huge advantage in their application...the M12 weighed in at ONLY 1300-1400 pounds total...so you didn't need such huge brakes. The CanAm car had the same wheel size limitations we do as they ran 15" wheels and tires. Can't comment on what the Lola's or Shadows or other CanAm cars were running for brakes but since the McLarens dominated from 66-72 when the turbo Panzers came on the scene, it's safe to assume that the McLarens had the best of the best.
As far as the Can Am formula not working??? HUH? So today's F1 formula doesn't work also because they run off corners and hit tire barriers too? The CanAm cars were on the edge of so many major break through's in automotive design...this one series probably advanced automotive engineering more than any series (IMO). It was unlimited in design restrictions. The reason they went off the track is because they were at the edge of aerodynamic stability. Read about problems caused by "wake turbulence" while running behind another car, it moved cars across the track...it's wasn't a braking problem. Or they would use too much throttle over a rise on a high speed section of the track causing the nose to lift 1/2 to 1" at 150+mph and the car turned into a wing, like so many cars do today. My M12 would do 0-100 mph and back to 0 mph in about 8 seconds and the I know that under braking there were more G's developed than under acceleration.
Think of how much more sheer braking power Scotts Pantera has today compared to the CanAm cars!!! But it's all about weight(IMO). The McLaren F1 cars of that era were only running 11" rotors, but the cars weighed a mere 1100 pounds!
quote:Just like there is a practical horsepower limit to these cars, in that over a certain number the car just won't go any faster, there is a practical limit to tires, and BRAKES.
Totally agree here. For those of us with narrow body cars we can't just shove more rubber under the car to offset too much braking capacity. We're stuck with 225's to 245's in the front unless we flare the car, and up to a 335's in the rear. I'm running a 245-40/17 front, 285-40/18 rear. I'll be less prone to lock up in the front when compared to a 225 tire...but am probably much more likely to lock the rear tires compared to someone running 335's, hence my need for a bias adjuster. Could I throw a 335 under the rear, yep, but I'd rather go smaller to keep balanced understeer/oversteer on handling given the limits of my front tire size.
Everything is balance...too bad we have to work normal jobs....sure would be fun to have a 20-30 person team with unlimited $$$$ engineering and testing all these combos. Sorry I'm dreaming again. Great discussion!!