Brembo unveils the 2019 Valencian Community MotoGP

11/11/2019

AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT THE PREMIUM CLASS' USE OF BRAKING SYSTEMS AT CIRCUIT RICARDO TORMO

As per tradition, the MotoGP World Championship will end with the Valencian Community Grand Prix, being held this year from November 15-17.

Stage of the race weekend, Circuit Ricardo Tormo is located just outside Valencia and is named for the first world champion rider from Valencia who died prematurely in 1998.

Inaugurated on September 19, 1999, it is distinguished by the length of the circuit which is just 4,005 meters (2.49 miles) (only Sachsenring is shorter), meaning the 65,000 spectators in the stands can keep the entire track within eyeshot.

The bikes travel counter-clockwise and have to face lots of corners, both left-handed (9) and right-handed (5).

Except for the long front straight, the track is made up of tight, technical corners where low gears are often used. It's no wonder that the average lap speed is the lowest in the entire championship: The record lap time is 161.2 km/h (100.2 mph), nothing compared to the 187.2 km/h (116.3 mph) on Red Bull Ring.

According to the Brembo technicians who assist 100% of the riders in the 2019 World Championship, Circuit Ricardo Tormo earned a 3 on the difficulty index, the lowest score of the four Spanish tracks in the World Championship.

The demand on the brakes during the GP

Each lap, the MotoGP riders turn to their brakes nine times, splitting fairly evenly the amount of left and right-handed turns: there are five left-handed corners and four right-handed.

On one full lap, the MotoGP riders use their brakes for a total of 27 seconds, which is equivalent to 31% of the time needed to complete a lap.

The average peak deceleration per lap is 1.16 G, the highest of the four Spanish tracks used in MotoGP.

If the section composed of turns 4 and 5 were eliminated, this figure would definitely be higher.

Summing up all of the force applied by a rider on the brake lever from the starting line to the checkered flag, the result comes in at about 1,020 kg (2,249 lbs).

There are a good seven corners where the load reach at least 4 kg (8.8 lbs).

The most demanding braking sections

Of the 9 braking sections on the circuit, four are considered very demanding on the brakes, while two are of medium difficulty and three are light.

The most challenging corner is the first, which is named for Jorge “Aspar” Martinez, four-time World Champion.

The MotoGP bikes enter the area at 323 km/h (201 mph) and brake for 4 seconds in 243 meters (797 feet) to decelerate to 136 km/h (85 mph).

The riders put 4.9 kg (10.8 lbs) of pressure on the brake lever and are subjected to 1.5 G in deceleration. The pressure of the Brembo HTC 64T brake fluid reaches 12.4 bar on turn 12, which is named for Champi Herreros, world champion in the 80cc class in 1989. Here the MotoGP bikes drop 95 km/h (59 mph) to go from 219 km/h (136 mph) to 124 km/h (77 mph) in a mere 2.3 seconds and 109 meters (358 feet).

To do so, they have to apply a load of 5.8 kg (12.8 lbs) on the brake lever.

Longer but less intense is braking on the second corner, which is named for Mick Doohan: 149 meters (489 feet) and 4 seconds of braking, with a deceleration of 1.3 G and a 4.9 kg (10.8 lbs) load on the lever.

This is one of the five turns on the track that are taken at less than 100 km/h (62 mph).

Another one of these is turn 8 with its 179 meters (587 feet) of braking space traveled in 4.3 seconds.

Brembo performance

Motorcycles with Brembo brakes have won all the 20 Valencian Community Grand Prix races contested so far in the premium class. The first to take the victory was Regis Laconi with Yamaha in 1999.

Last year Andrea Dovizioso won by interrupting 6 straight wins by Spanish riders. Valentino Rossi hasn't won on this track since long ago 2004.