Brembo unveils the 2019 Australian MotoGP

10/21/2019

AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT THE PREMIUM CLASS' USE OF BRAKING SYSTEMS AT PHILLIP ISLAND

The third of Asian-Oceanic races poker, the Australian GP, is scheduled for October 25-27 at Phillip Island and will be the 17th MotoGP World Championship race of the season. Inaugurated in December 1956, the track has hosted the 500 cc MotoGP since 1989 and World Superbike since 1990.

Located on Phillip Island 140 km (87 miles) from Melbourne, of all the circuits in the championship, this one is the closest to the South Pole. The last four editions saw the position on the 38th parallel south translate into rigid temperatures: During the race in 2016 and 2019, the air temperature never went over 13° C (55° F) and in 2018 it maxed out at 16° C (61° F).

To maintain the correct operating temperature of the brakes, the MotoGP bikes often use carbon covers, the same they use on other circuits too when it rains. The riders could switch to steel discs when it rains but in 2017 in Motegi, the first 9 riders proved that it is also possible to race in the rain with Brembo carbon discs getting also great benefit from it.

According to Brembo technicians, who assist 100% of the 2019 MotoGP pilots, Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit is only slightly demanding on the brakes. On a scale of 1 to 5, it earned a 1 on the difficulty index, a score that only Assen of the other 18 tracks earned. The same score was given for the Superbike race.

The demand on the brakes during the GP

Even though there are 12 corners, the Australian track only has seven points where the MotoGP bikes use their brakes, which is the same number than the Superbikes. No other MotoGP World Champion track requires less braking: Buriram and Spielberg have seven braking sections too.

On average, the brakes are used for 22 seconds per lap at Phillip Island, which comes to 25% of the overall duration of the race. And the nearby icy waters of the Pacific Ocean ease the dispersion of the accumulated heat. The average deceleration is 1.07 G, but for four of the seven braking sections, it doesn't exceed 1 G.

Adding up all of the force a rider applies on the brake lever from the starting line to the checkered flag, the result comes in at just under 5.9 tons, the lowest in the entire championship. For the Superbikes however, the value is closer to 4.9 tons because their races are only 22 laps long, as opposed to the 27 laps of the MotoGP races.

The most demanding braking sections

Of the seven braking sections on the circuit, only one is classified as demanding on the brakes, another one is of medium difficulty and the remaining 5 are light.

With 268 meters (879 feet) of braking space, the first curve after the finish line is the most demanding on the braking system: The MotoGP bikes go from 341 km/h (212 mph) to 189 km/h (117 mph) in 3.8 seconds and the riders experience a deceleration of 1.5 G. On this corner, the Superbikes require less time (3.3 seconds) and less space (224 meters or 735 feet) because they are about 30 km/h (19 mph) slower.

Turn 4 stands out for the load it places on the brake lever (4.5 kg or 9.9 lbs) and the pressure of the Brembo HTC 64T brake fluid, which reaches 9.7 bar. Many consider the speed at which the MotoGP bikes begin to brake here as fairly modest, so to speak: 223 km/h (139 mph). They continue braking for 4.8 seconds. The figures for the Superbikes are identical except for the pressure of the Brembo brake fluid, which is much lower.

In the other five braking sections, the bikes reduce their speeds by less than 100 km/h (62 mph) and so the braking distance doesn't ever go over 140 meters (459 feet). On turn 9, the riders use their brakes for only 2.7 seconds, which is enough to slow down from 222 km/h (138 mph) to 144 km/h (89 mph).

Brembo performance

Bikes with Brembo brakes have won 27 of the last 30 Premium class editions of the Australian GP. The last six races were won half by Hondas riders and half by the Yamaha riders, while Ducati last won was in 2010.