Ahead of Brakes 2016 we spoke to Daren Steward, DSA Programmes and Office Management Group Leader at Jaguar Land Rover and Allan Johnstone, Senior Project Engineer at Honda R&D Europe. They explain their roles and involvement in brakes and braking systems, the number one challenge for the next six to twelve months and the key fundamentals holding back innovation, as well as what they are most looking forward to by attending and presenting.
Daren Steward, DSA Programmes and Office Management Group Leader, Jaguar Land Rover
Daren Steward joined Rover Group in 1990 straight after graduating from Hatfield Polytechnic with an Engineering Degree and has been at the company that become JLR ever since. After completing the graduate training scheme, Daren started working within the Chassis department and has focused on brake systems since 1993.
After working on many vehicles including the MGF, Rover 75, Land Rover Freelander, Range Rover and Jaguar XJ, he became the Technical Specialist for Braking Attributes in 2006. In this role, he had the task of understanding what the customer desires when they press the brake pedal, from a feel, performance and refinement perspective and from what they expected from the parking systems.
Since 2015 Daren has been the Group Leader for Deceleration and Stability Attributes (the new name for Braking) Programmes which is the role responsible for managing the delivery of all JLR programmes for this Attribute.
Allan Johnstone, Senior Project Engineer, Honda R&D Europe
Allan Johnstone has been working on braking systems for Honda since 1998. In that time he has worked on several research projects and developed several demonstration braking systems to deliver European brake feel.
In developing the brake systems he has established methodologies on understanding, evaluating and quantifying brake feeling, which have been adopted worldwide within Honda.
Prior to working for Honda, Allan worked for Dennis Specialist Vehicles (DVS) with responsibility for braking systems for fire engines and buses from pre build through to type approval. Before working at DSV, Allan worked as a development engineer for Terex Equipment where he worked on a prototype braking system for heavy duty dump trucks.
Over these years Allan has developed a passion to understand and produce brake feeling that exceeds customer expectations.
Q: Could you briefly explain your role and involvement in brakes and braking systems?
Daren Steward (DS): I am responsible for the delivery of the Braking Attributes on all JLR products. This essentially means determining the targets for the products, cascading to the relevant system and component teams and managing the delivery at vehicle level to ensure they are delivered on target, on time, on budget.
Allan Johnstone (AJ): I am a Senior Project Engineer in HRE-UK; my main role is development of braking systems for Honda European products. This involves benchmarking, both brake feeling and performance, and setting competitive targets for Honda products.
Q: What are you most looking forward to by attending and presenting at Brakes 2016?
DS: Having the opportunity to pass on what I have learnt from the past 25 years in the industry and also sharing and learning for the challenges we have in the future.
AJ: It will be a great opportunity to talk and discuss about braking technology with engineers with similar interests.
Q: What is the number one challenge that you as a brake professional are facing over the next six to twelve months?
DS: The quantity of products we are delivering at JLR.
AJ: As the auto industry reacts to the change in emissions, the demand for energy recovery will become more demanding. The challenge for brake engineers will be to deliver a system that maximises the recovery yet feels “normal” at an acceptable cost.
Q: What is the key fundamental holding back braking innovation and advancement in the industry today?
DS: Legislation not keeping up with the pace of technology.
AJ: I think that the hardware is still not developed enough to match the feeling of the conventional vacuum booster. For the customer to accept new technology, it must be seamless with what exists today.
Find out more
Daren and Allan will be speaking at Brakes 2016, a unique opportunity to learn from leading vehicle OEMs and senior level experts about key engineering solutions for enhancing brake performance and the integration of new technologies.
This event is the UK’s only brake event and will provide attendees with the latest developments and research in brake systems and technologies, particle emissions, modelling for brake noise propensity prediction and current and future challenges with noise, vibration and harshness (NVH).
For further information, please visit the Brakes 2016 event page.