Formula One’s technical regulations require that each car has a twin-circuit hydraulic braking system with two separate reservoirs for the front and rear wheels. This ensures that, even in the event of one complete circuit failure, braking should still be available through the second circuit. The amount of braking power going to the front and rear circuits can be ‘biased’ by a control in the cockpit, allowing a driver to stabilize handling or take account of falling fuel load. Under normal operation about 60 percent of braking power goes to the front wheels which, because of load transfer under deceleration, take the brunt of the retardation duties. To illustrate, imagine what would happen to you if you try to slow down a skateboard with a tennis ball on it.

In some areas, Formula One brakes are empirically more advanced than road-car systems. All F1 cars now use carbon fiber composite brake discs that save weight and are able to operate at higher temperatures than steel discs.

A typical Formula One brake disc weighs about 1.5 kg as compared to 3.0 kg for the similar-sized steel discs used in the American CART series. These are gripped by special compound brake pads and are capable of running at vast temperatures - anything up to 750 degrees Celsius.

Formula One brakes are remarkably efficient. In combination with the modern advanced tire compounds they have dramatically reduced braking distances. It takes an F1 car relatively less distance to stop from 160 km/h than a typical road car uses to halt from 100 km/h. So good are the Formula brakes that one of the topics for debate during the recent technical dialogue between the constructors and the FIA has been whether an increase in braking distances would make for closer racing with more overtaking. This could involve limiting brake technology through restrictions on materials or design.

I imagine how street cars would dare to run and gun with this kind of braking system.

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