Postby zossy1 » Fri Jan 02, 2015 3:43 pm
This is the second thread like this in a few months. I find it fascinating.
My race car is one of the few cars running mx5 cup at the moment that does NOT have ABS. All else being equal, I suffer at certain points on the track but at others, it doesn't make much difference. All the front runners are running Carbotech or Hawk pads with either NB8B brakes or better.
Several cars on the grid have paid $$$$ to have ABS fitted. I would like to fit it to the blue rocket as I think it would gain me a couple of tenths at WP in being able to brake deeper into some of the corners with preceding kinks without locking the inside front, and possibly also allow trail braking at one or two other spots without locking the inside wheel. It would also be magic in the wet and would save me money in flat spotted tyres (I destroyed 4 tyres last year with flat spots and damaged one or two others).
The MX5 ABS (at least that commonly found in NB8Bs) is a 3 channel system monitoring the fronts individually, and the rears as one combined unit. The ABS pump functions as a prop valve that, I understand, monitors braking and adjusts the bias in accordance (I would guess) with which wheels are locking first and adjusting the bias accordingly (with, I would suggest, a natural road-safe tendency towards front bias). I would imagine the bias adjusting servo would stop working if the fuse was removed, freezing bias at the level it was at before the fuse was pulled. Most of this is a guess though, but from my observations, the unit seems to work well under racing conditions. Brake problems in ABS cars tend to more often be a function of brake fluid quality, pad material and rotor quality rather than the ABS system performing poorly.
I'm glad you are, at the very least, thinking of me.... 
