Third to last appointment of the season for the Superbike World Championship, from 27 to 29 September 2019 at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, in France. Located in Bourgogne Franche-Comté, the circuit's 14 grandstands can welcome a full 139,112 spectators. The racetrack hosted Formula 1 from 1991 to 2008 and the World Motorcycle Championship in 1992.
The first Superbike race was held there in 1991, and then again in 2003. It has been part of the championship every year since then. As a homage to other historic racetracks, some of the bends of the Magny-Cours are named after other circuits.
The track features alternating high-speed curves, where brakes are hardly used at all, and intense braking sections where the braking system is really put to the test: in two spots the speed upon entering the bend is lower than 60 km/h (37 mph) and in a couple others no greater than 80 km/h (50 mph).
The characteristic rain and low temperatures can be an issue for the braking systems, keeping them from reaching the minimum working temperature: in 2015 Race1 was held under the rain at 11°C while Race2, despite being dry, still only got up to 14°C.
In 2016 Race1 was held under the rain while in 2017 both Race1 and Race2 in dry weather but at just 16°C.
According to Brembo technicians, who work closely with 15 World Superbike riders, Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours is a demanding circuit for the brakes. On a scale of 1 to 5, it earned a 4 on the difficulty index, exactly the same as Spanish tracks of Aragon and Jerez.
The demand on the brakes during the GP
Despite there being 17 bends, World Superbike riders use their brakes 9 times in each lap for a total 28 and a half seconds, equivalent to 29 % of the time for each lap. Figures lower than that are only found at Philip Island, 23% and Buriram, 27%.
At 1.04 G, mean deceleration per lap isn't particularly elevated, but the value dips at the last curve, before the final chicane, which stands out at 0.7 G.
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 0.84 ton: that's no small effort in the event of rain, which causes the rider's body temperature to drop.
