Handbrake design issues

[jbcollier]

The stock handbrake does not work very well.  With careful set-up, you can achieve ok-ish performance.  One reason is simple geometry.  The pull handle is situated that it loses mechanical advantage as it is applied.  You can see it quite clearly in the following photos that show the linkage in the applied position:

https://jbcollier.smugmug.com/Lotus-Europa/i-HTZxsr2/A

https://jbcollier.smugmug.com/Lotus-Europa/i-vv6RnKB/A

https://jbcollier.smugmug.com/Lotus-Europa/i-JGVKjFN/A

The solution?

The only one I can see working well is to locate the handbrake pull handle in the passenger compartment, tight to the centre, as they had it in the 47.  That should give you increasing mechanical advantage as the brake is applied.  Naturally you need a RHD main lever for a LHD car and vice versa for a RHD car.

Myself?  I’m pulling the whole thing out and using a linear actuator to work the parking brake.  That way I have more room in the tunnel and a working parking brake.

[Runningwild]

Costly but a lot less clutter.  I’m going to mount it on the Banks twin link frame.

[Gary t]

John I understand where and why you are going this way. But does an electric hand brake meet the letter of the law as an emergency brake?
Gary.

[jbcollier]

Probably not though my current Volvo has an electric parking brake.

[4129R]

How do you do a steep hill start with one of these new electric handbrakes?

[Runningwild]

Not sure how that would work. My wife’s new Mazda has the electric hand brake.  I’ll have to try it.

[dakazman]

JB , your killing me ...lol .
   I love your ideas but I gotta stop and concentrate on just putting the car back together,
For a small car there is an enormous amount of avenues we can travel. I was going to make molds of the body panels 25 years ago but that road shut down. I always say , shoulda, coulda, woulda. Lol.
Keep sharing your ideas , new roads open up daily.
Dakazman

[jbcollier]

You use the Europa handbrake on a hill start?  You must have long arms!  I apply the brake with one side of my foot and roll the other side to work the throttle.

[4129R]

You use the Europa handbrake on a hill start?  You must have long arms!  I apply the brake with one side of my foot and roll the other side to work the throttle.

So you cannot use a button brake for a hill start.

I wonder what they teach learner drivers now to pass the test.

[BDA]

When I first got my car, I took a road trip with a college buddy. I took a week of racing school at Bob Bondurant which used to be at what was then called Sears Point outside of San Francisco. I drove on the San Francisco hills (some of them seemed more like a while with a white stripe down the center!) without a problem and without using the handbrake. JB's technique is best, but I don't think that would have occurred to me before I took that racing class. If you're quick moving your foot from the brake to the gas, you'll be fine.

[4129R]

When I first got my car, I took a road trip with a college buddy. I took a week of racing school at Bob Bondurant which used to be at what was then called Sears Point outside of San Francisco. I drove on the San Francisco hills (some of them seemed more like a while with a white stripe down the center!) without a problem and without using the handbrake. JB's technique is best, but I don't think that would have occurred to me before I took that racing class. If you're quick moving your foot from the brake to the gas, you'll be fine.

But would fail the driving test.

The heel and toe is a common form of driving in motorsport, but what do they teach learners with this new push button digital hand brake switch?

[BDA]

But would fail the driving test.

The heel and toe is a common form of driving in motorsport, but what do they teach learners with this new push button digital hand brake switch?

Thankfully, I've never had a driving test that had anything to do with a hand/parking/emergency brake. I know you must have a working parking brake to drive in San Francisco but I haven't driven there in over forty years. I almost never use one where I drive and about the only time I do is parking up a steep incline. Thankfully, that never happens in my Lotus.

[3929R]

I wonder what they teach learner drivers now to pass the test.

I have a daughter who is 18. We live on the side of a mountain and her car is stick. She is proficient at using the clutch, and hand brake when needed. One of the reasons we got her a manual transmission is virtually none of her friends know how to drive it! They all passed the test in newer automatics with hill assist. Even my 2016 Mazda MX5 with 6 speed manual has hill assist. Like it or not, I'm not sure you can find a new car without hill assist. 

[EuropaTC]

The heel and toe is a common form of driving in motorsport, but what do they teach learners with this new push button digital hand brake switch?

Do cars with electric handbrakes also have the "hill holder clutch"  or something very similar on the handbrake ?  I'd imagine with modern electronics there's something in there that would release the brake when you pressed the accelerator ? 

We had an Impreza in the 90s with the hill-holder clutch and it did make you very lazy on hill starts. (and it was a steep "re-acquaintance"  curve when that car went !)

[Bainford]

but what do they teach learners with this new push button digital hand brake switch?

In this area, if you attempted to use your emergency brake during a hill start on a driving test, you would fail.