Hand-Brake Turn

[Bert45]

We've all heard of a hand-brake turn, but what do they do in America? Can a turn be done with a parking-brake, which is foot-operated? I've never heard of a "parking-brake turn".

[douglas9401]

The parking brake is, I believe, gearbox related. The handbrake is different altogether, namely 'the emergency brake' so, no.

Normal cars, i.e. not made in the USA, have a handbrake and can be hooliganised. :-)

[tonyav]

Smack on, douglas. Can only do a handbrake turn with a lever operated handbrake.

[Hopkirk]

Yes, my new car is going to have an electric park brake.
I don't know how I'm going to leave rubber marks in the supermarket car park now.

[Zacs-Master]

Indeed, the manual handbrake is a dying species. Someone ought to start a campaign. Or something.

[bhg481]

Because most American cars are automatics it leaves the left leg free to die of boredom. To help prevent this happening some drivers use their left foot to operate the normal braking system and also some cars have the "hand brake" operated by the left foot instead, An American car we drove many years ago had this system; it's convenient for setting the brake but I can't remember how to release it and it would certainly make handbrake turns difficult to perform where you put the brake on and off quickly. I suspect most American cars have electric handbrakes nowadays which makes it even more difficult.

[davebro]

My pal hates the automatic handbrake - you set it manually & it releases automatically when the engine starts to pull.

It's difficult on uphill corners where you need to edge out looking for a gap in traffic.

[1ozzy]

Guess you'll have to leave "rubber marks" elsewhere Hoppy.

[davebro]

PS - I drive an automatic & often go for weeks without touching the handbrake.

[bhg481]

We drive an automatic and only use the handbrake when parking on a slope, the parking pawl in the gearbox being adequate for keeping the car stationary. We do, however, use the handbrake when stopping in traffic to avoid our brake lights annoying the driver behind us; our electric handbrake is very convenient for this. Anybody who has difficulty with hill-starts will also enjoy having an electric handbrake.

[Hopkirk]

BHG, you might not apply the parking brake when parked on level ground. However it almost certainly applies itself automatically anyway when you switch off.

[bednobs]

i have an auto and NEVER use the HB - i live on a slope. Should i be using it?

[bhg481]

Hoppy - no, it doesn't. My car is 14 years old and the electric handbrake only engages when you ask it to do although, being an automatic, I have to select P before I can stop the engine so I can't easily leave the car without at least 2 wheels locked. What can be confusing is that the handbrake will not automatically come off unless you have fastened your seatbelt; if I've left the car on our slightly sloping drive with the handbrake on and then go back to put it in the garage it struggles to set off until I realise and manually take-off the brake.

[Hopkirk]

I drive Scania lorries, and on them you don't even have to apply the park brake by hand. You just push the footbrake down firmly for a second and you hear a chime to say it is on.
You do have to have your seatbelt fastened though, like your car BHG, or you have the difficult task of applying and releasing the brake by hand.

[youngmafbog]

//you set it manually & it releases automatically when the engine starts to pull.//

Our Jag puts it on automatically as well (when engine is switched off)

//You just push the footbrake down firmly for a second //
The SLK we had did that.

All of the cars and MPV's I drove in the US had a hand 'emergency brake' Thought it was only Mercs that didnt.

[Hopkirk]

Do you remember the days when you wound your windows down by hand, and had to use a choke to start the engine?
At least in those days, if something went wrong with the car you had some hope of diagnosing and fixing the problem yourself.

[youngmafbog]

Yep, and the Hillman Imp had the choke under the back seat. Wags sat in the back would open the choke and snigger at the driver wondering what was wrong with his motor.

[bhg481]

Hoppy // if something went wrong with the car........// I think you meant WHEN something went wrong with the car. You must remember the days of constantly adjusting the points gap, the plug gap and the tappets when the car was running badly or simply wouldn't start. It's a rare event nowadays to come across a car with starting problems.

[Bert45]

I'm pleased to have started a discussion, even though it has strayed far from my question. A choke under the back seat? How did the driver ever get to reach that? I had no idea that "up-market" cars were so advanced. An electric handbrake! Whatever next? A parking pawl in the gearbox? Never heard of it! But I feel sure that in these "action movies" made in America with car chases and so on, I must have seen cars executing "hand-brake turns". But perhaps I haven't, I don't watch that sort of film generally, but I did see "The Driver" (Ryan O'Neal) many years ago. That sort of film.

[bhg481]

Bert - the Hillman Imp was rear-engined; it had a choke knob on the dashboard but it was possible to reach the engine via the back seat and fiddle with the choke at the carburettor. Automatics have no direct connection between the engine and the wheels (just a fluid coupling) so there is no ability to leave the car in gear when you park it as an extra safety measure on a steep slope. They get over this by fitting a gismo in the gearbox (which is connected directly to the wheels) which locks the transmission. Many automatic drivers (Bednobs is one of them) only ever use this when parking the car.