Brembo unveils the 2019 San Marino MotoGP

9/9/2019

 An in-depth look at the premium class' use of braking systems on Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli

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To kick off the last third of the MotoGP World Championship season is the San Marino and Rimini Coast GP scheduled for September 13 to 15 on the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

Located about 20 km (12 miles) from Rimini and just over 2 km (1.2 mile) from the Adriatic Sea, in 2012 the track was named for the Italian rider who tragically lost his life 8 years ago on the Sepang circuit.
The Misano speedway was designed in 1969 and over the course of the years, has undergone numerous changes until it completed its current 4,226 meters (2.626 miles) configuration in 2008.

The World Superbike Championship is also held on this track and although the Superbikes use the same track configuration, brake use is very different.
The greatest difference is at the Curvone (turn 11) because the MotoGP riders are obligated to tap their brakes (1.3 seconds) in order to drop about 50 km/h (31 mph), while the Superbikes can take the corner at full throttle since they enter it at a lower speed.

Naturally, the braking distance for the MotoGP bikes is shorter too because they use carbon brakes, which rules have banned from Superbike racing. This requires the MotoGP riders to exert more force every time they pull on the brake lever.

​The extreme winding nature of the track prevents the bikes from reaching 300 km/h (186 mph) even once. However, there are five corners that have to be taken to a maximum of 90 km/h (56 mph), so deceleration is significant. Another issue, in terms of cooling down the systems, is the air temperature: During the 2016 race, the temperature of the tarmac was over 109°F.

 
 

According to Brembo technicians, who assist 100% of the 2019 MotoGP pilots, Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli is fairly demanding on the brakes. On a scale of 1 to 5, it earned a 3 on the difficulty index, and out of the races still to be contested this year, this same score was given only to the tracks in Buriram and Valencia. ​

 
 

The demand on the brakes during the GP

The 16 corners on the track correspond to 11 braking sections, each one very different from the others.
There is one that require riders to brake for four and a half seconds and others that need just over one second; others still obligate braking for three seconds.

During one full lap, the MotoGP bikes use their brakes for 28 seconds, identical to Superbikes. Over the 27 laps of the race, each MotoGP rider turns to his brakes for over 12 and a half minutes.

Summing up all of the force applied by a rider on the Brembo brake lever from the starting line to the checkered flag, the result comes in at about 1,050 kg (2,315 lbs), compared to the 834 kg (1,839 lbs) applied by the Superbike pilots, but they race for 21 laps.
​On a single lap, MotoGP riders apply more force than the Superbike pilots: 39.2 kg (86.4 lbs) compared to 39.7 kg (87.5 lbs). The average peak deceleration of the MotoGP bikes on this circuit is 1.19 G and that of the Superbikes is 1.08 G. 1.19 G may seem moderate but it is 0.05 G more than the peak deceleration that an Infiniti FX45 experiences.

 

The most demanding braking sections

Of the 11 braking sections at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, three are classified as demanding on the brakes, two are of medium difficulty and the remaining six are light.

Unlike the Superbikes, braking at the Quercia (turn 8) is the most challenging on the track: The MotoGP bikes slow down from 294 km/h (183 mph) to 82 km/h (51 mph) in 4.5 seconds and 213 meters (699 feet). The Superbikes arrive going 24 km/h (15 mph) slower but need 5 meters (16 feet) less to make the turn.

In this corner, the MotoGP bikes surpass the Superbikes also for the peak deceleration (1.5 G against 1.3 G), but they manage to contain the pressure on the Brembo HTC 64T brake fluid to 10.5 bar while the Brembo brake fluid in the Superbikes reaches 10.7 bar.

​Braking on the first corner after the starting line also is 190 meters: The speeds drop 158 km/h (98 mph), going from 276 km/h (171 mph) to 118 km/h (73 mph). For the Superbikes, the gap in the speed is lower (146 km/h, 91 mph), but the use of steel discs means that the braking distance is greater, up to 192 meters (630 feet).


 

 
 
 

Brembo performance



As of 2007, the year it returned permanently to the World Championship, the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli has seen MotoGP bikes with Brembo brakes win every year.

Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo each won three times, Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez won twice. Last year Ducati has not won on this track with Andrea Dovizioso.

​Maverick Viñales has never won here, not even in the lower classes.