Brembo Unveils Round 6 of World Superbike at Jerez

6/3/2019

An in-depth look at the braking systems on the production-based motorcycles at the Circuito de Jerez

Two months after the round in Aragon, the World Superbike Championship is back in Spain. The 6th round of the 2019 season is scheduled for June 7 - 9 at Circuito de Jerez in Andalusia, about 100 km (62 miles) from the Strait of Gibraltar.

World Superbike began racing on this track in 1990, but for the second edition it had to wait until 2013. Various types of curves alternate all along the 4,423 meters (2.7 miles) of the track: Slow (60 km/h to 70 km/h, 37 mph to 43 mph), fast (120 km/h to 130 km/h, 75 mph to 81 mph) and very fast (160 km/h, 99 mph).

The 13 corners (8 right-handed, 5 left-handed) make up 31% of the total length of the circuit and provide lots of opportunity for overtaking. The considerable changes in slope mean the bikes need to handle well and be well balanced, in addition to being stable in braking.

On November 24th 2016, Jonathan Rea with Kawasaki managed to run faster on this track than almost all the MotoGP bikes that rode the circuit that day. But if we look at the fastest pole positions ever in Jerez, the Superbikes are slower than the MotoGP bikes by more than a second and 3 tenths.

According to Brembo technicians, who work closely with 15 World Superbike riders, Circuito de Jerez is a fairly demanding circuit for the brakes. On a scale of 1 to 5, it earned a 4 on the difficulty index, exactly the same score given to the tracks at Aragon, Villicum and Magny-Cours.

The demand on the brakes during the GP

With the exception of turn 3, the Superbike riders use their brakes on all of the other 12 corners. The MotoGP bikes refrain from using their brakes on turn 3, turn 7 and the second-to-last corner.

On one lap at Jerez, the Superbike brakes are used for about 35 and a half seconds, which is the same as 35 % of the overall duration of one lap.

Even though the average is lowered by four corners with a deceleration below 1 G (turns 4, 7, 10 and 12), the mean deceleration per lap is 1.04 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 nearly 0.95 tons. Also for the MotoGP riders, the overall load on the lever is 0.95 tons because their race is longer: 25 laps compared to the 19 laps for the Superbikes. This makes up for the lower load on the lever per lap: 38 kg (84 lbs) for MotoGP, almost 50 kg (110 lbs) for Superbike.

The most demanding braking sections

Of the 12 braking sections at Circuito de Jerez, two are classified as very demanding on the brakes, six are of medium difficulty and the remaining four are light.

The most challenging by far is the first corner, which is also one of the most demanding in all the 2019 World Championship. The Superbikes enter the corner going 266 km/h (165 mph) and use their brakes to reduce their speed by 181 km/h (112 mph).

This braking point requires 4.5 seconds and 200 meters (656 feet), during which the riders apply a 5.7 kg (12.6 lbs) load on the brake lever and experience a deceleration of 1.5 G. Meanwhile, the pressure of the Brembo HTC 64T brake fluid reaches 12.2 bar.

Braking on turn six is just slightly less challenging, although still very complex. The riders go from 271 km/h (168 mph) to 63 km/h (39 mph) in 230 meters (755 feet), and clamp on their brakes for 5.4 seconds while applying a 5.1 kg (11.2 lbs) load on the lever. Here too the deceleration is 1.3 G, but the pressure of the brake fluid goes up to 10.9 bar.

Turns 8 stands out for having 1.2 G in deceleration and an entry speed of about 123 km/h (76 mph). Turn 13 on the other hand boasts a fairly long braking section in terms of space (160 meters, 525 feet) and time (4.3 seconds), as well as a deceleration of 1 G.

Brembo performance

Bikes with Brembo brakes have won all 12 of the World Superbike Championship races held at Circuit de Jerez. The victory went to Ducati at five of these, Aprilia won four times and Kawasaki three.

At five of the last six editions, the winner of Race 1 went on to win Race 2 as well: Raymond Roche in 1990, Eugene Laverty in 2013, Marco Melandri in 2014, Chaz Davies in 2016 and Jonathan Rea in 2017.