The first time for Portugal and Brembo

3/21/2023

After 16 years in a row with the World Championship starting up in Qatar, it will be kicking off in Europe once again.

After 16 years in a row with the World Championship starting up in Qatar, it will be kicking off in Europe once again. In 2020, while Moto2 and Moto3 ran the opening race in Losail in March, MotoGP only started up in July in Jerez due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2005 and 2006, the season started up in Spain whereas this is the first time it will start in Portugal.

According to the Brembo technicians who for the 8th year running are working closely with all the MotoGP World Championship riders, the Algarve international Circuit is a moderately demanding one for brakes. On a scale of 1 to 6, it is rated 3 on the difficulty index.

Throughout the world

The Autodromo Internacional do Algarve is one of the few tracks where Honda has never had a win, not only in MotoGP but also in Moto3, although it should be stressed that it has only been used since 2020. Sooner or later, we will be cheering the biggest manufacturer in the world as well as the one with the most wins. The series of world championship titles began in 1961 with the 125 and 250 World Drivers' Championships which were won by Tom Phillis and Mike Hailwood.

This was a memorable year for motorcycling because in the same year Brembo was founded in Europe. In addition to a huge collection of trophies, the two giants also have an extensive global presence. Brembo has 23 production sites, 7 R&D labs and 6 business sites in 15 countries spread over three continents with a total 12,000 employees, 10% of which are engineers and product experts.

The deceptive ups and downs 

On 9 of the 15 corners on the Lusitanian track, MotoGP riders use their brakes for a total time of 28 seconds within the lap, which is equal to 29% of the duration of the race. All this is complicated by its continuous ups and downs which make it hard for the riders to calibrate the throttle-off moment, with the risk of arriving too late when coming downhill or braking too soon on upward stretches.

If the track did not have any ups and downs, the braking would be easier since 5 of them require a drop in speed of below 100 km/h (62 mph). On most of the turns, the force applied to the brake lever is low as well as the G forces the riders experience. From the starting line to the checkered flag, each driver exerts a total load of just over 850 kg (0.85 t) on the brake lever.

Braking at 339 km/h (210 mp) with 1.8 G deceleration 

Of the 9 braking sections on the Algarve International Circuit, only one is classified as demanding on the brakes, 3 are of average difficulty and the remaining 5 are not particularly challenging.

The hardest braking section for MotoGP bikes is the first after the finish line, due to a 969-meter (3179-foot) straight: the prototypes must go from 339 km/h (210 mph) to 120 km/h (74.5 mph) in 4.6 seconds during which time they cover a total of 262 meters (859 feet). To do this, the riders apply a load of 6.2 kg (13.6 lb) to the brake lever and are subjected to a deceleration of 1.8 G, with the brake fluid pressure reaching 12 bar.

And what about the video games? 

To tackle the first corner on the Algarve International Circuit in the MotoGP video game, you mustn’t overdo it in any way: start braking where the pit wall ends on the right. We recommend using the raised marshals’ station as a point of reference. Move down into 2nd gear and then lean into the bend, steering clear of the curb to avoid losing traction.