Exactly 30 years ago marked the last victory by a motorcycle not equipped with Brembo brakes in the premier class: since then, over 510 consecutive wins for Brembo across 500cc and MotoGP.
Winning doesn’t mean beating others, it means surpassing yourself.
This was the belief of quarterback Roger Staubach, one of the legends of the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL, the world’s top American football league, back in the 1970s.
For Brembo, winning has never been enough. Since entering the motorsport world 50 years ago, the company has consistently pushed the limits, relentlessly investing in product and manufacturing process innovation.
This forward-thinking approach has allowed Brembo to explore new paths, develop cutting-edge solutions, and overcome technical challenges others considered insurmountable.
The unbeatable
This philosophy has led to an extraordinary achievement: every single Grand Prix in the premier class of motorcycle racing—first the 500cc class, replaced by MotoGP in 2002—over the last 30 years has been won by bikes equipped with Brembo braking systems.
An unprecedented winning streak in motorsport history, with more than 510 Grands Prix won consecutively by bikes running Brembo brakes.
The start of the winning streak
To find a premier class race won by a motorcycle not using Brembo brakes, we must go back to the German GP held on May 21, 1995, at the Nürburgring. On pole was Mick Doohan (Honda with Brembo brakes), joined on the front row—then composed of four bikes instead of the current three—by Luca Cadalora (Yamaha with Brembo brakes), Daryl Beattie (Suzuki), and Loris Capirossi (Honda with Brembo brakes).
Alberto Puig (Honda with Brembo brakes), who had only qualified 8th, took the holeshot into Turn 1. He was followed by Capirossi, then Beattie and Cadalora. Midway through the first lap, Beattie took the lead and quickly pulled a gap on the chasing pack, led at the end of lap two by a recovering Doohan.
At the start of lap five, Doohan moved into the lead, only to lose it again to Beattie on lap seven after a near crash. Doohan regained the lead on lap eight but crashed the following lap. From there, Beattie just had to manage his significant advantage. The Australian crossed the finish line with a 9.874-second gap over Cadalora.
That German GP on May 21, 1995, was the last time a bike without Brembo brakes won a premier class race. The winning streak began shortly after, on June 11, 1995, at Mugello (Italy), with Doohan again victorious—having already claimed 21 wins on his Honda 500, thanks in part to the thumb brake developed by Brembo engineers following his severe crash at Assen (Netherlands).
The 1995 season ended with Brembo-equipped bikes winning the final eight rounds, and in 1996, for the first time ever, Brembo claimed 100% of the wins in the 500cc class. At the time, only a few teams were using Brembo braking components.
Over the years, however, the continuous performance enhancements delivered by Brembo translated into an increasing competitive edge that convinced more and more teams and riders.
Two distinct eras
The three decades of Brembo dominance can actually be divided into two distinct eras: from 1995 to 2015, when only a portion of the premier class grid used Brembo brakes; and from 2016 onward, when every team on the grid has opted for Brembo systems.
This exclusive supply arrangement isn’t mandated by any regulation—it’s the result of individual team choices, driven by the recognition that Brembo components offer an unmatched combination of performance, reliability, safety, and efficiency.
This awareness grew over the preceding two decades, during which teams that chose alternative braking systems failed to win even a single premier class Grand Prix.
That glaring zero made it clear even to the most skeptical that in both 500cc and MotoGP, braking systems were a decisive performance factor—especially for those who could rely on Brembo’s technical superiority.
How much has changed since 1995
It’s worth noting how much the world has changed in 30 years: the global population was under 5.8 billion, and only 0.4% had access to the Internet. The PlayStation (1) was the most popular gaming console, while music charts were topped by Mariah Carey, TLC, and Boyz II Men. At the movies, Bruce Willis was dominating with Die Hard: With a Vengeance.
MotoGP was very different back then too. The World Championship featured only two-stroke machines, divided into 125cc, 250cc, and 500cc classes. The season included just 13 Grands Prix, compressed into barely over six months—from the last Sunday of March to the second in October.
For two decades, the 500cc World Championship had been a battle among the Japanese manufacturers—Honda, Suzuki, and Yamaha—though Cagiva (a project nearing its end) and Aprilia (just starting out) were also on the grid. Ducati’s current dominance in the premier class was unimaginable at the time.
The 500cc title had been a tug-of-war between American and Australian riders for over a decade, a trend that would continue until Alex Crivillé’s breakthrough in 1999.
Braking systems were already provided by Brembo, but were drastically different from today’s. Calipers were still axial-mounted, as no one had yet dared to even imagine a motorcycle radial-mount caliper. That changed in 1998, thanks to Brembo engineers’ determination, with the first radial caliper debuting on an Aprilia 250.
Brake discs, though already carbon, had a maximum diameter of 320 mm—considered sufficient at the time for taming bikes that were aggressive and unruly, yet far from reaching 190 hp or exceeding top speeds of 300 km/h.
Thirty years later, the world has transformed beyond recognition—but Brembo remains a constant.