Futch:
Interesting comment on regen braking. So it's actually engine braking correct?
downforce is good, the more downforce you have the less you use your tyres. Brakes no because you'll be arriving faster into corners.
The P1 in track mode should theoretically be the best on a circuit thanks to its GT3 like downforce.
with Lala braking is adequate, after only 6 laps in a row the VDA on the left screen told me slow down. Ok silverstone has got some huge braking several times a lap but still that's only about 15 minutes of continuous driving.
Not exactly, the engine doesn't really 'brake' the car via engine compression, it's the electric motors, can't really think of a good description, but electromagnetic braking come close. The e-motors acts like generators while braking, so the electric coils inside provide the braking force via the resistance against the turning of the armature driven by the axles, in turn generate electricity to recharge the batteries. The e-motor in the LaF works the same way, but only driven by the rear axle for obvious reason. Generally this is called regen braking. Porsche tuned the system to provide up to 0.5g of braking force using the regen function, the actually disc brakes kicks in after the initial 0.5g up to I think the max of 1.3g or whatever the max g, Walliser talked about it but it slipped my mind atm. It's this that takes the longest to tune for the 'feel'. Porsche solved that problem by using a reservoir to store the initial rush of brake fluid during the regen braking part, then bleed them back into the system to activate the physical brakes. Regen braking is capable to provide more than 0.5g, but the more g generated the more amperage generated and hence the need for thicker and heavier wires. 0.5g is also at the top end of brake force during street driving, Porsche has maximized the regen function for the electric range on the road.
In your LaF, the front brake is conventional, it's the rear brakes that gets the help from the electromagnetic force. One way Ferrari was able to preserve the so called brake feel. Ferrari didn't disclose their electromagnetic braking force, I had to imagine they will be less than the 0.5g Porsche is using, so the LaF should be using more of the physical brakes. Did the VDA says your front brakes are too hot or all 4 brakes?
Electromagnetic braking is quite difference than physical brakes as you can't really physically locked up the axles like conventional brake discs.
In the P1 the rear wheels are decoupled in braking via the transmission clutch and the engine drives the e-motor to recharge, so the rear wheels are actually free wheeling. The P1 should also benefit from the air brake's help. Someone describe when lifting off on a high downforce car, it's like throwing an anchor and the car really slow quite dramatically just from the aero drag, is that what you get on your race cars?
Anyway, 3 different companies making 3 different hybrids and 3 different ways to brake.
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