A friend of mine went to the track last weekend and had a very scary experience. On the back straight of LTGP the brakes went out. At about 90mph the brake line popped out of the fitting.
These were oem lines on a 2006 that has about 40k miles. He has always been very careful when working with the brakes and the line was never stretched. When changing rotors the caliper was help in place with twine to ensure the brake line wasn't stressed. This may have been a freak type quality control issue but I know I will be switching to stainless braided lines on mine very soon.




The video

 

were you the passenger?

 

Nope, I was the one who sources the replacement line so he could get home.

 

Scary! I've never seen a failure like that before.

It may be the angle of the photo, but it looks like the shock is close to the brake hose. Is there room for the hub assembly to move through its range of motion without catching on the hose?

 

Just the angle plus the line bolts to the spindle so that area is isolated from being pulled..

We have been through everything trying to figure out how this might have come about but in the end we think it was a bad part or the hose just can't take the heat.

 

Countless people track these cars and have no issues with heat causing line failure. My guess is that the line was stretched or twisted at some point (perhaps when your buddy installed his coilovers?) and this lead to the failure.

 

That really sucks. Good think that he and the car are OK!

But one thing has me scratching my head - If he's so responsible, why would be go back on the track after losing his brakes? Not only is he dripping brake fluid all over the track that other cars will drive through, but he has no brakes!!! Personally, I'd get a tow in if my brake pedal went to the floor and I couldn't get brake pressure back.

 

I imagine most of the brake fluid would have spilled out after he slammed on the pedal in panic... and he would have driven back without applying pressure to the brakes at all, instead, using the e-brake/parking break to slow down

^ This is what I would have done... assuming there were no drivers behind me and I didn't have far to go

But wow that must have been a scary experience losing all braking power like that

 

I always bring a huge box with me going to the track, whatever replacement parts you have should be in there, incase you need them.

 

I have discussed this with him and others already. The line was never twisted. Plus there is a mount behind the caliper that would keep that area from being stressed. The rotors were changed out my a Honda master tech so that rules out that as a cause as well. Only thing I can think of is the crimp was done too tightly cutting through more material to hold the line in or heat..