Safe Speed Forums

I had a similar thing happen me when I was learning to drive, of course this really put me off and I had an awful hassle getting moving again

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Mike

Tested on Jazz's Vectra. Yep.. she has a recent model. Sporty version . It's surprisingly pleasant

Anyway.. we took a 92 cavalier..97 Vectra and the O6 Vectra on track. Now the old cars had been recalled for "handbrake recall". It seems Vauxhall has history here ..


Anyway. the old cars held on a perpendicular hill.


The latest one? Was fine.. if you pressed the brake pedal and gently pulled the handbrake.


We (entire family -including our young drivers) all took turns on these cars.. and found that if you wrenched up the handbrake on the newest car .. it rather alarmingly slammed down with a bang and this failed the car's hand brake rather dangerously.

Upshot.. long winded letter to Vauxhall. recall of said vehicle now.


I do not know if our test mirrored any tests they did. I just find it odd this recall occurs about 8 weeks after our letter - which we admitted was not "under true scientific conditions"

<Maybe.. I'd like to think so. We did get a very nice polite response anyway

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If you want to get to heaven - you have to raise a little hell!

Smilies are contagious
They are just like the flu
We use our smilies on YOU today
Now Good Causes are smiling too!

KEEP SMILING
It makes folk wonder just what you REALLY got up to last night!

Smily to penny.. penny to pound
safespeed prospers-smiles all round! !
But the real message? SMILE.. GO ON ! DO IT! and the world will smile with you!
Enjoy life! You only have the one bite at it.

MM- said on earlier post - taught to press first then put on brake.
Two salutary tales - one ex BMC (aka badly made cars , where the metal under the handbrake could tear , leaving you with a useless handbrake .
Other one from various place : exerting force on the foot brake prior to putting on handbrake could add a bit extra to the handbrake power .

Last ,but not least - tip for all the OLD car fans - (from a Vauxhall foreman mechanic) - cars with servo braking systems ( this was from the days when servo systems were not the norm ) --need to have the levers on the rear shoes at right angles to the cable before any force is applied, to give max force to the brakes (as shoes are harder and exert less thrust on te handbrake ) .The notch in the lever should not be worn . (cure for MOT --ADD SPOT WELDS to the cuts where the shoes meet lever )

Found this works on a lot more than Vauxhall .(Cue one Austin Maxi jumping off brake test rig )

The use is up to you .

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Button in every time. To a rally driver, the control you refer to as the hand or parking brake is best known as the 'help handle' and using it as we did, the amount hoiked on with the ratchet engaged meant that you couldn't get the bugger to release, as I managed to do in Thetford Chase. 'Orrible 90 left on very short radius, I'm going into it arse-left and out-of-shape. There's a clearing on the outer apex, so I decide to go for a crowd-pleaser in the form of a Roger Clark-style 270 right on the help-handle. Right as I pull up on the handle, we hit a bump and my thumb comes off the button and that's it! We do our loop and proceed the next 250 metres fishtailing as both my nav and I try to yank the handle up enough to get the button in again and release it. We finished the stage with all our teeth in the footwell due to the lovely pair of flats I had worn into the rear tyres; his pacenotes sound like they are being read by Minnie Bannister off the Goon Show and I appear to be suffering epilepsy.

Laugh? We nearly couldn't start...

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Aquila



Licat volare si super tergum aquila volat...