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Pressing the brake pedal when aproaching a braking point
I've seen this hundred times in Best Motoring. Check this video as example, go to 1:30 and check what Tsuchiya does when aproaching the braking point. What is that for? I've seen other drivers too, some of them at even more than 2 seconds from the braking point. Anyone knows why? I think they do it so soft that they don't actually brake. Why do they do it then?
Make sure the brakes still work before its too late? Also possibly just to get a bit of heat in them before the braking zone.
Pretty sure he pumps the brakes to pressurize the little amount of air/vapor there is in the system.

He gets a firmer & more precise feel for the upcoming braking zone.
#4 - 5haz
Its also because brake pads and pistons can get knocked in when driving over rumble strips or particularly harsh bumps, which can make the brake pedal initially very loose which is obviously not something you want when arriving at a corner!
also it's possible that the car suffers from pad knock off, light braking moves the pads up to the face of the disc so the next press works straight away
Nice, more or less my thoughts. Thanks for making it clear guys, cheers :yipee:
#8 - DeKo
Quote from SidiousX :Just to make sure he has brakes before he gets to the turn. Here's a great example of why it's a good idea, it most likely saved this guy from serious injury.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... 3ZTBQ&feature=related

Didn't at all, brakes were fine when he checked, fine for a wee while then just went straight to the floor, did you not read the description of the video you posted?
Quote from DeKo :Didn't at all, brakes were fine when he checked, fine for a wee while then just went straight to the floor, did you not read the description of the video you posted?

"They worked for a bit then the pedal hit the floor. I tried pumping once and got nothing."

Way to be a troll, ass.
Quote from SidiousX :"They worked for a bit then the pedal hit the floor. I tried pumping once and got nothing."

Way to be a troll, ass.

The topic is asking why people have a safety/confidence dab of the brake pedal approaching on a straight. You said your video showed the driver doing this and probably saving himself from serious injury. This is not accurate. The driver in your video had the safety dab (and all was OK at this time because the pedal responded correctly). Then, when the driver went for real pedal pressure the brakes were OK momentarily then he had a brake line failure. Therefore, the safety dab didn't save him from serious injury because the safety dab gave him the reassurance he was looking for. The only way it would have saved him from serious injury is if when he went for the safety dab the pedal went to the floor then and it allowed him to slow before reaching the braking zone. This did not happen. Therefore DeKo was correct.
anyone else remeber the problem the group N sierra cosworths had when racing? occasionally when you went for the brakes the pedal would be rock solid, competely unmovable and you had no brakes, all drivers could do was take their foot off and try again but usually there wasn't time. the journalist / racer mark hales had a bad one of these moments.
Keep the peace guys :cookiemon

What that video proves is that even with the dab, there's some risk of loosing your brakes. It's nice to see that it's a common technique
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkwWuoI1GxY

Here you can see the same technique applied multiple times per lap. The commentator makes a note that it's done to bring the brake pads up the the disc face. Apparantly they get shaken about quite a bit and I guess they become a bit misaligned after a couple of bumps.
Quote from Jertje :Apparantly they get shaken about quite a bit and I guess they become a bit misaligned after a couple of bumps.

Yep, it's mentioned quite a lot in commentary by Neil Crompton in particular. In the V8 Supercars the front brake pads are particularly susceptible to it and what that tends to mean is that the front brake pads are slightly away from the disk face but the rear pads are right there. Tapping the pedal brings the front pads back up, but if the drivers didn't do that then momentarily when they went for the pedal that would have very effective rear brakes (because the pads are right there) and much less effective front brakes (because it takes a fraction for them to come up). So, for a fraction of time you have braking instability with the potential of rear locking.
Oh, as the OP said, i've also seen Tsuchiya do this but i never really thought about it.
Good driving from him, could've been 10x worse
Quote from amp88 :The topic is asking why people have a safety/confidence dab of the brake pedal approaching on a straight. You said your video showed the driver doing this and probably saving himself from serious injury. This is not accurate. The driver in your video had the safety dab (and all was OK at this time because the pedal responded correctly). Then, when the driver went for real pedal pressure the brakes were OK momentarily then he had a brake line failure. Therefore, the safety dab didn't save him from serious injury because the safety dab gave him the reassurance he was looking for. The only way it would have saved him from serious injury is if when he went for the safety dab the pedal went to the floor then and it allowed him to slow before reaching the braking zone. This did not happen. Therefore DeKo was correct.

Yeah.. that was sort of immature to burst out like that.. mainly because he was proved wrong. Way to correct him politely
Quote from amp88 :The driver in your video had the safety dab (and all was OK at this time because the pedal responded correctly). Then, when the driver went for real pedal pressure the brakes were OK momentarily then he had a brake line failure. Therefore, the safety dab didn't save him from serious injury because the safety dab gave him the reassurance he was looking for.

It does not really matter, he was always going to have that accident then. Safety dab or not, the break line would of failed, and the result would of been the same.
Quote from Dygear :It does not really matter, he was always going to have that accident then. Safety dab or not, the break line would of failed, and the result would of been the same.

That's exactly the point I was making (and refuting SidiousX's post).
Quote from amp88 :The topic is asking why people have a safety/confidence dab of the brake pedal approaching on a straight. You said your video showed the driver doing this and probably saving himself from serious injury. This is not accurate. The driver in your video had the safety dab (and all was OK at this time because the pedal responded correctly). Then, when the driver went for real pedal pressure the brakes were OK momentarily then he had a brake line failure. Therefore, the safety dab didn't save him from serious injury because the safety dab gave him the reassurance he was looking for. The only way it would have saved him from serious injury is if when he went for the safety dab the pedal went to the floor then and it allowed him to slow before reaching the braking zone. This did not happen. Therefore DeKo was correct.

That is the nicest way of correcting someone I have ever seen, Even the pope would be proud. Huge +1 to you.
I just read the Ferrari 458 Italia does this brake thing automatically

FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG