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memphisto · Mar 26th, 2007, 05:37 PM

Hi Chery001 and welcome to Mini 2.

In answer to your questions:

1) Yes you can drive the car with the handbrake on - the handbrake only operates on the rear brakes and without great force, and can usually be defeated by the engine. When parking many people also put the car in gear as a precaution as handbrakes have been known to fail on occasion (including Minis). Putting an automatic gearbox in 'Parking' has the affect of locking the transmission and serves a similar purpose.

2) I don't think a 200 meter drive would have caused any damage to the brakes. The energy while braking is mostly converted by the brakes into heat (smelled burning), so what you did will be no worse than some very spirited braking.

I sometimes leave the brakes on a notch or two as I drive off myself, and I don't usually notice until I spot the warning light..

Mar 26th, 2007, 05:37 PM	#2
memphisto MINI2 Regular Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Bucks Local Time: 07:17 AM Posts: 166 Offline	Hi Chery001 and welcome to Mini 2. In answer to your questions: 1) Yes you can drive the car with the handbrake on - the handbrake only operates on the rear brakes and without great force, and can usually be defeated by the engine. When parking many people also put the car in gear as a precaution as handbrakes have been known to fail on occasion (including Minis). Putting an automatic gearbox in 'Parking' has the affect of locking the transmission and serves a similar purpose. 2) I don't think a 200 meter drive would have caused any damage to the brakes. The energy while braking is mostly converted by the brakes into heat (smelled burning), so what you did will be no worse than some very spirited braking. I sometimes leave the brakes on a notch or two as I drive off myself, and I don't usually notice until I spot the warning light..