The race that defines a season, perhaps even more: it’s the 24 Hours of Le Mans, whose 94th edition is scheduled from June 10 to 14. Organized since its inaugural edition in 1923 by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), a club with over 40,000 members united by their passion for motor racing.
In fact, the event began on June 5 and 6 with inspections at Place de la République, in the center of Le Mans, a French town located in the Sarthe department, in the Pays de la Loire region.
The data of the 24 Hours of Le Mans
According to Brembo group technicians working closely with 18 of the Hypercars entered, all 19 LMP2s, and all 25 LMPGT3s competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 13.626 km long Circuit de la Sarthe requires the use of brakes in 11 of its 21 turns.
On average, Hypercar class drivers use the brakes for 43 and a half seconds per lap, equivalent to 20 percent of the entire race. The maximum deceleration they face is 3 g, while each lap, summing up the 11 braking points, the total load on the brake pedal amounts to 757 kg.
The toughest curve
The toughest curve of the Circuit de la Sarthe for the braking system of Hypercars is turn 7 (Daytona Chicane), where cars go from 331 km/h to 114 km/h in 5 seconds, covering 301 meters during this time.
Drivers experience a maximum deceleration of 3 g and apply a load of 79 kg on the brake pedal. The braking system reaches a pressure of 66 bar, while the braking power is 4,200 kW.
The other challenging turns
For each lap, drivers use the brakes at least 5 times for a minimum of 5 seconds. In terms of pedal load, system pressure, and braking power, the toughest is the braking at turn 8 with 91 kg, 76 bar, and 6,900 kW respectively.
The braking at turn 9 (Mulsanne Corner) ranks second for deceleration (2.6 g), pedal load (90 kg), and braking power (6,800 kW). Noteworthy are also the braking data at turn 14 (Ford Corner), despite only losing 77 km/h because 222 meters and 3 seconds are required.
The first of a long series
In over a hundred years of history, the brakes of cars racing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans have undergone countless evolutions. Brembo made its debut at Le Mans in the 1980s, supplying some private teams.
The story changed in 1989 when Brembo's 14-inch ventilated discs and calipers equipped the Sauber-Mercedes C9, which claimed victory and 2nd place. That car reached 400 km/h, too fast for the FIA, which the following year introduced two chicanes on the Mulsanne straight, despite the effectiveness of Brembo brakes.
Winning an edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the result of an outstanding performance, but repeating the feat is never easy. For these reasons, winning around thirty of the last 35 editions, as Brembo has done, is a sign of overwhelming technological superiority. Even more so if the victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans were achieved by equipping cars from 8 different manufacturers.
You heard that right, eight manufacturers starting from the first victory in 1989 with the Sauber Mercedes team, which that year also claimed second place. Since then, Brembo brakes have managed to prevail with German, Japanese, French, Italian, and British cars.
The braking system of hypercars
Cars equipped with Brembo brakes have won 32 editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, including the last three with Ferrari, along with countless class victories.
The Brembo braking system for current Hypercars includes aluminium alloy calipers, carbon discs with a diameter of 380 mm and up to 38 mm thickness with over 400 ventilation holes, and Brake-by-wire, confirming Brembo's key role in the field of mechatronics.
In the laboratory, Brembo discs have exceeded 6,000 km, well beyond the 5,411 km record distance covered by a 24 Hours of Le Mans winner.
The LMP2 system
In addition to the Hypercar class prototypes, the 24 Hours of Le Mans also features those from the LMP2 category, fielded by independent teams.
These cars use Brembo aluminium calipers with circular-section pistons, carbon discs 32 mm thick and up to 380 mm in diameter. The ventilation holes in Brembo discs are just 48, which is significantly fewer than those in Hypercars because their performance is lower.
The LMPGT3 system
The LMPGT3s, on the other hand, use cast iron discs because carbon is prohibited by the regulations: the thickness of each disc reaches up to 36 mm and the diameter up to 400 mm, while the brake band is fixed with multiple teeth.
Being slower than the cars in the other two classes, the distance they cover in a race is also significantly shorter. Consequently, the discs have been designed to ensure a mileage in line with the maximum distance required by the category, still exceeding 4500 km. Acting on them are Brembo monobloc calipers with ceramic-based pads.