We will start with the Motorcycles, because every technical change to the machine has brought new physical challenges for braking systems; we will then move on to the Champions, central figures in our development, because their unique riding style has always been the spark that drives us to customise every braking point. We will explore the Innovations that Brembo has introduced over these 50 years, to show you how research and continuous innovation have been our response to ever more demanding performance; finally, we will recount the Victories, understood as the ultimate proof on the track of our constant commitment.
Each episode will be a deep dive into the evolution of speed, technique and performance, because behind every limit-braking manoeuvre there is a world of insights and extreme testing that has enabled riders to thrill us, turning their braking into steps in an innovative process that extends all the way to road bikes.
With the birth of the World Wide Web and the introduction of GSM, the Nineties transformed the existence of humankind, multiplying the possibilities for direct communication and access to information. However, the riding experience of today’s motorcyclists also owes much to that decade, thanks to the extensive work Brembo carried out on racing motorcycle brakes.
Brembo brakes had made their debut in the 500 World Championship in 1976, through Roberto Gallina’s team, eager to perfect braking on its Suzukis. Drawn by the reliability and performance guaranteed at the time, in the Eighties a greater number of teams turned to Brembo, starting with the Agostini team.
The team led by 15-time world champion Giacomo Agostini was the first to benefit from Brembo’s new radial master cylinder. It helped secure 3 Riders’ titles in the 500 class with Eddie Lawson riding Yamaha machines. However, it was only from the Nineties onwards that Brembo became the braking benchmark for the two most important Japanese manufacturers.
Bikes of the 2000s
The first decade of the 2000s saw an unprecedented alternation at the top of the world, with 4 different manufacturers winning the premier class riders' title: in 2000 Suzuki came out on top, then Honda took centre stage with 3 consecutive titles, followed by Yamaha with 2. In 2006 Honda became champion again, but the year after it was unexpectedly dethroned by Ducati, claiming the first MotoGP title in its history. The decade closed with 2 more titles for Yamaha.
In 2000, surprisingly, the Suzuki RGV500 led the field, benefiting from a new chassis featuring standout Ohlins suspension and Brembo brakes, while the engine was also improved, delivering 182.5 hp. It was succeeded by the Honda NSR 500, but in 2002, with the birth of MotoGP, the RC211V made its debut, distinguished by its 5-cylinder V engine, which outclassed the competition by winning 11 of the first 12 GPs.
Honda remained the bike to beat in 2003, but the following year, with the signing of Valentino Rossi, Yamaha made significant changes to its YZR M1: the crossplane crankshaft was introduced to improve throttle response, along with a longer swingarm and a lower centre of gravity. With 4 riders' titles won, it became the bike of the decade.
Another bike that defined this era was the Ducati Desmosedici GP07, the first championship-winning bike in the 800 cc engine era. It featured a trellis frame, a load-bearing V4 engine and desmodromic distribution: in the hands of Casey Stoner it became a beast that annihilated the competition, helped by Bridgestone tyres.
The champions of the 2000s
Just as in the 1990s, in the first decade of the 2000s there were also 4 riders crowned world champions in the premier class: the USA was the only nation to triumph with 2 riders, Kenny Roberts Jr in 2000 and Nicky Hayden in 2006, but it was the swan song for the Stars and Stripes school, coming after two decades of almost unchallenged dominance.
The Italian flag flies again thanks to Valentino Rossi, who built his legend by claiming 5 consecutive titles from 2001 to 2005. By winning the 2003 Valencia GP with Honda and the 2004 South Africa GP with Yamaha, the Doctor is also the only rider to have won two consecutive GPs with 2 different manufacturers. As if that were not enough, he is also the only premier-class world champion with engines from 3 displacements: 500, 800 and 990 cc.
In 2007, however, Australia made its mark with Casey Stoner, who won 10 GPs and finished on the podium another 4 times, reaching a total of 367 points. The following year, however, Valentino Rossi struck back and also reclaimed the record for most points in a season, setting the benchmark at 373, as well as outclassing the Australian with a memorable overtake at the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca. Number 46 closed out the 2000s by winning the final title as well, his seventh in the premier class.
Brembo in the 2000s
In 2000, for the first time, a 500 equipped with radial-mount calipers won the World Championship: the achievement was delivered by Suzuki, which had already tested them successfully the year before. Brembo’s creation became the object of desire for all the factory teams and, in a short time, axial calipers disappeared from the pits, thanks to the greater rigidity and better performance of radial-mount brake calipers.
The sharp increase in the power and mass of motorcycles resulting from the transition from the 500 class to MotoGP forced Brembo engineers to carry out new calculations to size the braking system correctly, but the results did not change because braking continued to be flawless and consistent from the start to the chequered flag.
Since its MotoGP debut in 2003, Ducati has relied on the Brembo braking system. Compared with Honda and Yamaha, which won championships using carbon discs with diameters of 310 mm and 314 mm, Stoner became champion on the GP07 with 320 mm Brembo carbon discs operated by four-opposed-piston aluminium calipers.
Brembo victories in the 2000s
In the first decade of the 2000s, the unbeatable run of bikes equipped with Brembo brakes continued, a streak that had begun on 11 June 1995 with Mick Doohan’s success at the Italian GP. As a result of this winning streak, the race that closed the 2002 championship, won by Alex Barros on the Pons team Honda, gave Brembo its 200th success in the premier class.
Victory number 300, meanwhile, bears the name of Casey Stoner, at the 2008 Australian GP with the Ducati Desmosedici GP08. In the same year, the Australian also won the first GP ever held at night, in Qatar: a doubly historic weekend because on his MotoGP debut Jorge Lorenzo took pole position on the Yamaha M1, also with Brembo.
In total, 167 GPs were held in the first decade of the 2000s because initially there were 16 races per year, then the number fluctuated between 17 and 18 thanks to the introduction of new circuits that brought countries that had never hosted a GP into the spotlight: from China with Shanghai to Turkey with Istanbul, as well as the aforementioned Qatar with Losail.
Honda claimed 73 victories, the only manufacturer to secure at least one in every season of the first decade of the 2000s, Yamaha took 60, Ducati 28 and Suzuki 6. The only ones left empty-handed were Kawasaki and Aprilia.
The balance of the 2000s
In the 2000s, Brembo brakes contributed to 167 GP victories, more than the total haul of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s combined. The undisputed number one was Valentino Rossi with 77 GPs won: 44 with Yamaha, after his first 33 with Honda. Second was Casey Stoner with 20 victories, third Sete Gibernau with 9, followed by Dani Pedrosa and Loris Capirossi with 8 each.
The fourth episode of our journey ends here. We look forward to seeing you in the next ones.