Brembo Unveils Round 13 of World Superbike in Qatar

10/21/2019

AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT THE BRAKING SYSTEMS ON THE PRODUCTION-BASED MOTORCYCLES AT LOSAIL INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT

The 2019 World Superbike Championship ends with races on October 25 and 26 at Losail International Circuit in Qatar. Just like the MotoGP, the Superbikes compete in the evening under the circuit's spotlights. Located about 23 km (14 miles) north of Doha, the track cost 60 million US dollars to build and was inaugurated in October 2004 by the MotoGP.

The Superbikes debuted a year later, but didn't run from 2010 to 2013. Contrary to the other seasonal events, Race 1 is held on Friday and Race 2 on Saturday.

Even though it is positioned in one of the hottest areas on the planet, the track doesn't present any particular temperature problems because the races start at 8 pm, 3 hours and 10 minutes after the sun sets. During the two races in 2016, the tarmac reached 28°C (82° F) and in 2015 it got up to 34°C (93°F).

According to Brembo technicians, who work closely with 15 World Superbike riders, Losail International Circuit is avarage demanding circuit for the brakes. On a scale of 1 to 5, it earned a 3 on the difficulty index, exactly the same score given to three other tracks.

The demand on the brakes during the GP

The 16 corners on the track correspond to a full 13 braking sections, a record for the World Superbike. Overall, during one lap the brakes are used for almost 38 seconds, which comes to 32% of the total duration of the race.

The MotoGP instead turn to their Brembo brakes 11 times per lap.

The average deceleration on the numerous corners changes constantly and covers a broad range that goes from 0.6 G to 1.3 G. This is one of the reasons why the average peak deceleration per lap is 0.99 G.

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 just over 900 kg, which is about 50 kg less than the force applied by the MotoGP riders.

This is due to the difference in the duration of the races.

The most demanding braking sections

Of the 13 braking sections at Losail International Circuit, four are classified as very demanding on the brakes, four are of medium difficulty and the remaining five are light.

The Superbikes don't cross the finish line going as fast as the MotoGP bikes, but they still experience impressive braking at the first corner: 309 km/h (192 mph) to 92 km/h (57 mph) in 277 meters (909 feet) and 5.5 seconds.

To make this happen, the riders apply 5.3 kg (11.7 lbs) of pressure on the brake lever and are subjected to a 1.3 G deceleration, while the pressure of the Brembo HTC 64T brake fluid hits 11.4 bar.

Using Brembo carbon brakes, the MotoGP riders brake shorter (267 meters or 876 feet) and less hard (5.1 kg or 11.2 lbs) on this turn despite they have to drop 246 km/h (153 mph), from 350 km/h (217 mph) to 104 km/h (65 mph).

The variance between the Superbikes and the MotoGP bikes is lighter on the second most challenging corner on the brakes, turn 16: The Superbikes slow down from 235 km/h (146 mph) to 92 km/h (57 mph) in 3.9 seconds while traveling 169 meters (554 feet).

The peak deceleration is 1.2 G, but the load on the lever doesn't exceed 5.7 kg (12.6 lbs). Also on turn 4, the deceleration reaches 1.2 G as the bikes go from 239 km/h (149 mph) to 110 km/h (68 mph) in just 3.6 seconds but 175 meters (574 feet).

Brembo performance

Bikes with Brembo brakes have won 18 of the 19 World Superbike races contested at Losail International Circuit, including the last 17. Kawasaki won on this track three races in last two years, always with Jonathan Rea, while Suzuki has won five times, Aprilia four, Ducati three, Yamaha two and Honda one.