Guiddy

Which stops your car quicker?
Standing on your brakes as hard as you can with the clutch engaged and in, say 2nd gear.

Or standing on your brakes and immediatley dipping the clutch?

Why do you answer so?
The car has ABS by the way!

Also, would you ever approach lights or corners in neutral?

I know, but I want your opinion so I can muppetise some Yanks!

chiark

Engine braking is considerable, so I always use it, despite it being the "wrong thing to do" according to the new driving test. Brake pads are cheap, clutches aren't seems to be their reasoning.

I'd never coast to a stop/corner! The car just isn't balanced and I feel as nervous as hell when someone does this with me in the car as a passenger...

Automatics - euch.

AndrewC

Interesting debate, I recently saw an article on some TV show or other about a high speed driving course (it looked like mira) and one of the things they addressed was high speed braking. According to the instructor you should apply the brakes quickly (not jump on them) and very firmly and at the same time depress the clutch as the engine will not lose revs as fast as the brakes can slow you down.

I am in the same camp as chiark but this guy said we're wrong.

The demonstration being performed in a Porsche Carrera 4, whos standard brakes (IMHO) may be a tad better than a scoobies.

Andrew...

DavidRB

If we're talking about emergency braking (as opposed to braking for a corner in normal driving) then I have to agree with the instructor. IMHO it is quicker to press the clutch and rely on the brakes.

If the car is still in gear, then the brakes have to work against the rotational inertia of the engine. I agree with the instructor, modern brakes can stop a car so quickly that they end up having to brake the engine as well, because it doesn't slow down fast enough on its own.

As pointed out, brakes are cheap & easy to replace, clutches aren't. Plus, brakes are designed to stop cars, while clutches aren't.

Years ago, when brakes were poor and prone to fading, it was necessary to use the engine to assist, but now brakes are so good (coupled with the need to trigger the brake light), it's not worth it.

chiark

Good point - you might brake faster than the engine, so in effect you're having to decelerate the engine too... Never considered that.

Still, I don't approach corners out of gear or coasting but there again I don't brake as hard as possible into a corner?

It isn't as cut and dried as I'd assumed. Cheers for opening my eyes to this one!

teknopete

Wot u mean my WRX has brakes as well

Yeah u r right I`ll get my coat

Pete

DavidRB

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by chiark:
<B>Still, I don't approach corners out of gear or coasting but there again I don't brake as hard as possible into a corner?[/quote]If you're cornering, then you want to be in gear so that you can better control the car and apply power the moment the bend starts to open. The disadvantage of being in gear would be outweighed by improved car control and acceleration.

I would only use clutch-down braking if I was trying to stop the car. Just my opinion!