The extraordinary loads in motor sports require hose lines of the highest quality. The pressure and temperature ranges for competition cars are significantly higher than for normal cars. For this reason, almost only stainless steel-coated rubber or Teflon hoses are installed in racing vehicles. The aluminum or stainless steel hoses and associated fittings are used in oil, hydraulic, fuel and air supply, as well as in the brake system. The advantages in brief: low weight, high pressure and temperature resistance, longer service life and, of course, a much better appearance.
Today, “Stahlflex” lines are standard in motorsports and every experienced race mechanic has had to deal with the so-called “Dash” fittings, but where do the origins of these high-performance lines actually lie? Well, actually, these steel-coated fabric hoses were developed for aircraft construction. The pioneer of its use in motorsports was Earl Fouts, who in 1950s California bought up surplus stock from the military aviation sector after the Korean War and supplied it to the burgeoning American motorsports market. When those surpluses ran out, he first started making hose assemblies specifically for motorsports. This was the birth of Earl’s, still a well-known name on the scene today. The advantages over conventional standard line systems were obvious, and so it wasn’t long before Stuart Goodridge, after his own racing career in North America, where he became familiar with these hose lines, began setting new standards for fluid lines in Europe as well. The Goodridge company he founded in 1969 is still one of the market leaders today.
Today, there are a variety of different hose and thread sizes and designations. In motorsports, one usually speaks of DASH sizes (e.g. Dash-06). The dash sizes refer to American AN specifications (AN here stands for Army-Navy, the designations come from the military after all). The designations JIC (or SAE 37°) or UNF are often used for this. For example, a Dash-06 connector has a 9/16″ UNF thread with 18 threads/inch. A Dash-06 hose has an inside dimension of 8.20 to 9.53 mm, depending on the type of hose. Other common threads are BSP (British Standard Pipe) and NPTF (National Pipe Tapered Fuel), which are designated by the nominal diameter of the hose they are intended to fit. For example, a 1/2″ BSP male thread actually measures 13/16″ but fits a 1/2″ hose.
And in addition to this variety of different size designations, today there are also a wide variety of hose series. Synthetic rubber (nitrile) or Teflon (PTFE) – either smooth or corrugated – is usually used as the inner core. Stainless steel is usually used for sheathing, but sometimes aramid or textile fibers are also used. While reusable fittings are mostly used in popular sports (which offer the advantage of the greatest possible flexibility in assembly as well as in use), factory teams usually resort to ready-pressed line systems.
By the way, these swaged lines are also available as ready-to-install plug-and-play replacements for stock brake lines. These steel braided brake line kits are often even TÜV-approved and can therefore also be installed on road vehicles without any problems. They reduce fading and thus provide constant pedal pressure with improved protection against external impact.
There are now a large number of suppliers on the market offering line systems specifically for motorsport. But when choosing it is recommended to pay attention to quality. Rarely does the much-vaunted phrase “he who buys cheap buys dear” apply as it does to hose assemblies. Because cheap aftermarket fittings usually look similar only visually. A lower quality standard unfortunately often results in burst hoses or leaking fittings and can cause considerable damage. At Jansen Competition we rely exclusively on prestigious brands and therefore we distribute only products from the leading manufacturers on the market: ATEC, EARL’S, GOODRIDGE and KRONTEC.
