In 1997 McLaren and Ferrari fought for the top spot in the Formula 1 championship. What was not known at the time was that the Woking team had developed a system called Brake-Steer using around £ 50 (approx. $ 66) parts that they already had in their racing car vans.
Sounds like a story sewn with very thin thread, but it all started with an idea that occurred to Steve Nichols during the 1996 winter break. He was a seasoned chief engineer at McLaren and found that braking just one rear tire in a corner could reduce the understeer that was used in the racing cars of the time.
With what was later called “Fiddle-Brake” by other teams, but “Brake-Steer” at McLaren, the driver could only brake one of the rear wheels, the one on the inside of the curve, while also accelerating. Braking would normally be in the middle of the turn, but the driver would do the work.
As McLaren later explained, the driver was able to compensate for understeer in slower corners and give the race car a yaw moment, while faster corners that were still understeer could be negotiated with the rear brake and more gas. In Mika Häkkinen’s first test of the new technology in 1997 at Silverstone, he won “almost half a second per lap”.
Half a second per lap with minimal investment, rule compliance and just a little more driver effort? Sounds like magic, doesn’t it? The car turned out to be fast, and the team eventually improved the technology to allow the driver to select the wheel that received the inputs on the fly.
Why? The first version of the system involved selecting the wheel that was compatible with the system, and it had an additional master cylinder and special brake line to enable its operation. Two brake cylinders were installed later, but the driver had to switch between them manually.
David Coulthard, who initially refused to use the system because he was uncomfortable with his left foot braking, quickly adapted to it after discovering its use.
Coulthard recalled that he and Mika Häkkinen had found that they could use the “violin pedal” to control the wheelspin when exiting slow turns, as well as the fact that the system would exert a yaw moment on the car. This reduces the steering effort required to turn the car.
While other teams accused McLaren of cheating, even all-wheel steering was seen as the real reason the team’s speed advantage, but the extra brake pedal was in line with 1997 season regulations and wasn’t banned until the 1998 season.
The system would not have complied with the FIA regulations if it had automatically selected which wheel was to receive brake pressure, but the drivers had a switch on the wheel, which is why it was not blocked from the first attempts.
The ban came on the basis of an existing ban aimed at all-wheel steering, although the system did not steer the rear wheels, but the FIA associated the ban with the name “Brake-Steer”.
Back then, Ross Brawn used the term “fiddle-brake” which already existed in cross-country trial vehicles that had a handbrake that worked on each of the rear wheels to turn the car.
Now, Mazda technology has not received an exaggerated explanation. We know that the driver does not have to do anything else to activate the technology and that there is no additional pedal to activate the brake on one of the rear wheels individually.
If McLaren had tried to use a system like Mazda’s CCP, it would not have been allowed to do so because it was against the regulations of the time. Fortunately, there is no one who prohibits the use of the system on the road or on track days, as it operates completely automatically. However, we don’t know if it will bring up to half a second per lap on a trackday. But the potential is there.
When Mika Häkkinen gets almost half a second per lap in an F1 racing car with technology that works on only one wheel, Mazda’s technology is significantly more advanced because it can work on both rear wheels and “knows” exactly how much Pressure is needed when it is needed and when it is not needed.
As Mazda pointed out, the system does not add any weight. Apparently it works by applying the brakes through the vehicle’s built-in systems such as the Section, ESC and traction control.
Of the last two, both can only brake one wheel of a vehicle. And the system can work faster than a human, even with immense precision, and it cannot be perceptible during operation. Sounds brilliant, doesn’t it?
It’s brilliant and the best part is that other manufacturers could adopt the technology. The downside is that the rear pads and calipers can add extra wear and tear, but don’t imagine the system making them glow like it did on McLaren’s 1997 racing car and caught the attention of F1 photographer Danner Heath , who discussed the matter with Editor Matt Bishop for an explanation.
While no one in the world (except Mazda engineers) has had the time to experiment with the system, we believe it won’t cause immense wear and tear on the rear pads or rear brake discs as it only works on tiny applications on high-speed corners, which are associated with higher G-forces.
Worrying about the wear and tear on this system would be like worrying about the wear and tear on the traction control system or the ESC system that is being activated. It’s the same and it works with the same tools.
We hope this will result in a benchmark test between a 2021 Mazda MX-5 and a 2022 Mazda MX-5 with the same type of tires and the same driver behind the wheel. If you want it to be completely scientific, you can mount fresh brake pads and measure their wear after a long period of use. Don’t expect much of a difference, however.
