Round 4 of the World Superbike Championship at Aragón according to Brembo

8/25/2020

A guide to the Brembo braking systems on superbikes and their use at MotorLand Aragón

According to Brembo technicians, who work closely with 17 World Superbike riders, MotorLand Aragónis a very demanding circuit for brakes. On a scale of 1 to 5, it earned a 4 on the difficulty index - equaled only by the Jerez track.

The track is the same as the one used for MotoGP, but the Superbikes are 2.4 seconds slower, not least because they have a top speed which is almost 25 km/h (15.5 mph) lower. The first part of the track, which is full of bends, makes it hard for the discs, steel for the Superbikes and carbon for the MotoGP bikes, to cool down.

The variations of the Brembo thumb pump

Today, over 50% of World Superbike riders use the Brembo thumb pump. A system with two separate circuits has been added to the standard configuration where the thumb pump and pedal are connected to the rear master cylinder: this means that the rear brake can be used with both the thumb pump and the pedal at the same time.

In 2020 Brembo also introduced a push & pull pump which can be operated using the driver's thumb or index finger, as preferred. When this pump is index finger-operated, it is mounted on the lever with a rotation of 180° compared with when it is thumb-operated: this increases adjustability and grip on the lever during deceleration.

Brake use during Round 4 of the World Superbike Championship

As for MotoGP, there are 11 bends where the riders use their brakes for the Superbike Championship too. However, since the superbikes achieve lower top speeds, they use the braking systems less: 31 seconds per lap compared with 33 seconds for MotoGP.

The Superbikes, on the other hand, have a higher total load exerted on the brake lever in one lap, 41.4 kg (91.3 lbs) compared with 40.4 kg (89.1 lbs) for MotoGP bikes. The braking system pressure for Superbikes never exceeds 11 bar but does not fall below 10 bar on 5 bends whereas for MotoGP bikes, it reaches 12.9 bar but only exceeds 10 bar on a couple of braking sections.

The most demanding braking section of the Aragón Round 

Of the 11 braking sections at MotorLand Aragón, 2 are classified as very demanding on the brakes whereas 5 are of medium difficulty and the other 4 are light.

The most challenging section is the last bend because the Superbikes come onto it after a straight section which is almost one kilometer long (968 meters to be precise; 0.6 miles): to go from 305 km/h (190 mph) to 140 km/h (87 mph), the riders brake for 4 seconds with a load exerted on the lever of 4.9 kg (10.8 lbs). In that length of time, the bikes travel 230 meters (755 feet).