Grand final at Valencia for MotoGP with a record % of braking

11/2/2022

Guide to use of Brembo pads for the premium class and road bikes.

Last GP of the season for MotoGP which is about to end the longest season ever with its 20 races. According to the Brembo technicians who work closely with all the MotoGP World Championship riders, the Ricardo Tormo Circuit is a medium difficult circuit for brakes.

On a scale of 1 to 6, it is rated 3 - the lowest of the four Spanish tracks in the world championship. It will also be the last race for Suzuki in MotoGP after 9 seasons in a row. The hope is that it is not a farewell but a “see you soon”, recalling the first Brembo win in the premier class achieved in 1978 thanks to the Gallina team’s Suzuki RG500.

Brembo brake pads for MotoGP up to 800°C (1,472°F) 

The friction material used for Brembo MotoGP brake pads is carbon. The outstanding friction coefficient and constant performance when hot together guarantee powerful, even and stable braking without any fading (a drop in performance of the brake system due to a reduction in the friction coefficient). With fading, the lever stroke would start to get longer due to the vapor lock created by the fluid overheating to well over boiling temperature.

Compared with the brakes of a sports bike for road use, the mass is different, along with the duration and even the maximum temperature. The Brembo brake pads for MotoGP weigh just 50 grams (1.8 oz) - less than half the weight of the road-going version, whereas the duration is no higher than 900 km (560 miles) and the maximum temperature that can be reached is 800°C (1,472°F).

The pads for street-legal bikes 

Brembo offers a number of different pads for those who use mostly street-legal bikes: the iconic Z03 and Z04 have recently been joined by the z10, available for the most popular supersport bikes. All three models are made of sintered material and consist of special compounds agglomerated through an adhesive-free sintering process.

The lubricants added to the initial compound ensure consistent, smooth braking even when brake disc temperatures are high. This makes a loss of braking efficiency less likely, prevented also by the pad abrasives which remove deposits on the disc’s braking band. To dispel any doubts about the right brake pads for your bike, check out our special report. https://www.brembo.com/it/company/news/brembo-brakes-guida-alla-pastiglia-giusta

14 minutes of passion

The MotoGP riders use their brakes on 9 of the 14 corners on the Ricardo Tormo Circuit and there are never two corners in a row where the brakes are not used at least once. Conversely, the hardest two consecutive corners are the first and the second where they are used for a total of 8.5 seconds.

Turn 2 is the slowest one on the track and tackling it requires a 5 kg (11 lb) load on the brake lever. From the start to the checkered flag, the total force exerted by a rider is over 1050 kg (2314 lb) with the brakes being deployed for 13 minutes 45 seconds or 35% of the entire GP.

The first and only braking section

Of the 9 braking sections on the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, only 1 is classified as demanding on the brakes, 4 are of average difficulty and the remaining 4 are not particularly challenging.

The most demanding hard braking for the MotoGP bikes is on the first corner after the starting line: the bikes go from over 325 km/h (202 mph) to 134 km/h (53.2 mph) in just 4.3 seconds and cover a distance of 238 meters (260.2 yards). To do this, the riders apply a load of 6.3 kg (13 lb) to the brake lever and are subjected to a deceleration of 1.7 G, with the brake fluid pressure reaching 12 bar.

And what about the video games?

To take on the first corner in the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in the MotoGP videogame, all you need are a few pointers. You need to start braking about half a second before going underneath the advertising bridge. Move down into 2nd gear but in the meantime while still at 200 km/h (124 mph) lean into the corner until you touch the left-hand curb. When the green area inside the corner disappears behind you, you can open up the throttle again.