I'd like to clear up some myths that circulated outside of our team about Sonic Arrow's skid brake. Just like the myth of forged aluminum wheels somehow being superior to a lighter and stronger material and manufacturing technique, the skid brake fostered a lot of misconceptions.
Most teams use a series of different braking technologies for the high speeds of the ALSR. Terminal braking below 200-300 mph is typically accomplished with wheel brakes. Breedlove departed from this practice with a skid brake. Although some questioned the effectiveness, I have seen the telemetry that showed its performance at a constant -.28 G from 210 mph to 0. This compares well with Thrust SSC's -.23 G with significantly more wheel drag.
The advantages of the skid are:
1. It has no chance of flat-spotting the tires, skidding a solid wheel would result in significant imbalance for any subsequent run;
2. It "polishes" the desert: the track left behind was smoother and harder than the surrounding playa;
3. It can be designed to fail-safe extend and require power to retract (Sonic Arrow was originally set up to power extend and fail retracted, something I changed as soon as I saw it).
4. It induces no mechanical or aerodynamic wheel drag during the run (aerodynamic wheel drag from the brakes and the "playa scrapers" had a significant effect on wheel speed vs. vehicle speed for Thrust).
5. It cannot wear out, burn out, or overheat (the thermal load goes into the playa).
These advantages are not necessarily true for any skid brake, Breedlove's design was very innovative.
The only disadvantage I ever saw was that the skid was directionally fixed, and unloaded the steering. So a driver had to choose between braking force and steering authority. I would change this on any new design so that the brake steered with the front steering and control was maintained. This should be transparent to the driver.