One ton per rider is the load on the Brembo lever in Jerez

4/27/2021

Brembo MotoGP disc specifications, their use in the Spanish GP and the best discs for street bikes

According to the Brembo engineers who work in close contact with all the riders in the MotoGP World Championship, the Circuit of Jerez – Angel Nieto falls into the category of circuits that are highly challenging for brakes. On a scale of 1 to 5, it was rated 4, the, the same as MotorLand Aragon and the KymiRing.

The track’s 4,423 meters (2.75 miles) alternate between slow, fast and super fast turns: the 13 turns are 31 percent of the total length and provide numerous passing opportunities. The significant slope changes demand a bike that is easy to handle and well balanced, not to mention stable in braking.

Ten: the perfect number of Brembo discs for MotoGP

Brembo has a vast range of brake discs that are available to the teams. Each MotoGP rider can choose from five different disc geometries and two material specifications are available for each one - High Mass (with high band) and Standard Mass (with a low band) - for a total of ten solutions.

Furthermore, for each disc format, two different carbon compounds are available, distinguished by their initial bite and their resistance to high temperatures.

Different material but the same attention for street bikes

Street bikes and bikes used on track days clearly do not use carbon discs. However, this does not mean that the experience in MotoGP has not generated positive results for factory production. A good demonstration of this is the T-Drive disc, which stands out for its steel braking band and billet aluminum housing.

The T-Drive system gets its name from the eight T-shaped pins on the disc which, along with the same number of outlines on the housing, eliminate the need for fastener studs. This results in both axial and radial floating, increasing resistance to the thermal-mechanical stress and the braking torque transmitted.

Discover the different varieties of sport discs for all the most common bikes.

Almost one ton for the race

On each lap, riders have to use the brakes 11 times for a total of 33 seconds. This calculation also includes 3 braking sections (on turns 4, 7 and 10) where deceleration is lower than 28 km/h (17.4 mph) and the brakes are used for anywhere between 1.2 seconds and 1.5 seconds.

If we add up all the force a rider applies to the front Brembo brake lever from start to finish, the value exceeds 970 kg (2,138 lbs), one of the highest in the 2021 season. Basically, for every lap, each pilot has to apply a force of 39 kg (86 lbs), and that’s just on the front.

Decelerating 200 km/h (124.3 mph) in less than 6 seconds

Of the 11 braking sections on the Jerez Circuit, 2 are classified as challenging for the brakes and 6 are medium difficulty, whereas the remaining 3 have a low impact on the braking systems.

The most complicated braking section is at the first turn. The riders begin braking at 286 km/h (177.7 mph) and complete the operation 4.5 seconds later, after applying a load of 5.6 kg (12.35 lbs) on the lever. In the meantime, they travel 215 meters (235.1 yards), decelerating to 84 km/h (52.2 mph).