Process for the manufacture of brake discs

A process for casting a ventilated brake disc having a central hub supporting a pair of opposed parallel annular friction surfaces interconnected with one another by a plurality of ventilating ribs, the central hub defining a rotational axis for the ventilated brake disc,

• said process comprising the steps of:
• using a sand mold having a top portion and a bottom portion for the casting;
• forming an impression of the ventilated brake disc to be cast in at least one of the top and the bottom portions;
• supplying molten material, to form the ventilated brake disc, to the impression within the sand mold substantially along the rotational axis of the ventilated brake disc to be cast, and
• employing star-shaped riser ribs, extending radially from the rotational axis of the ventilated brake disc to be cast, to facilitate uniformed distribution of the molten material radially outward within the sand mold impression of the ventilated brake disc to be cast whereby the molten material flows substantially radially outward within the impression so that an improved cast ventilated bake disc having a substantially uniformed hardness throughout is produced.