After a week's break, useful to catch one's breath after three consecutive GPs, the MotoGP is back with the 34th edition of the Australian GP at Phillip Island, the first round of a new trio of non-European races. The island south of Melbourne has already hosted 27 editions since 6 took place at Eastern Creek, and in total, 81 races have been held on this circuit, but not yet a Sprint race. We recall that last year, the Sprint was postponed to Sunday, then cancelled due to bad weather…
GP data
According to Brembo technicians who work closely with all MotoGP riders, Phillip Island falls into the category of circuits that are not very demanding on the brakes. On a scale of 1 to 6,
the difficulty is 1, because there are only 6 braking points on the 4,45 km track, only one of which is particularly difficult to brake at. Drivers only use the brakes for 20 seconds per lap, which is equivalent to 22% of the total race duration: Both figures are record lows for the entire championship.
The advantages of Marchesini
For the 2024 season, Marchesini forged magnesium wheels equip the majority of MotoGP bikes, 10 out of 11 teams: both wheels are available in 5-spoke Y and 7-spoke variants. Since March 2000, Marchesini has been part of the Brembo Group, sharing the same production facilities and values.
All these wheels are the result of a closed-die 3D multi-forging and heat treatment, guaranteeing maximum rigidity and minimum inertia. The weight saving provided by Marchesini wheels improves acceleration and handling when changing direction, as well as corner entry with the brake on, corners with high lean angles (up to 60°), and corner exits with the throttle open, always with the bike leaning.
The Australian School
Australian drivers have won ten races at Phillip Island: 6 for
Casey Stoner, all in MotoGP, 2 by Wayne Gardner in 500cc, one per Mick Doohan in 500cc and one by Jack Miller in Moto3.
Some iconic parts of the circuit are named after them: Turn 1 is Doohan Corner, Turn 3 is Stoner Corner, and Turn 4 is Miller Corner, while the finishing straight is called Gardner Straight. Less familiar to the international public is the name Lukey Heights for Turn 9. Len Lukey was a racing driver, national champion in 1959. Five years later, he bought the circuit and reopened it in 1967 after four years without competition.
The most difficult turn
The most difficult corner at Phillip Island for the braking system is Turn 1: the MotoGP bikes go from 336 km/h to 189 km/h in 3,1 seconds, covering 217 metres, thanks to a load of 4,1 kg on the brake lever. The deceleration is 1,5 g and the pressure of the Brembo brake fluid reaches 8,8 bar.
Mad Max, the other Miller…
45 years ago, one of the greatest motorcycle films of all time, “Mad Max – Interceptor”, a cornerstone of post-apocalyptic science fiction, was released in Australian cinemas. The protagonist was Mel Gibson, then virtually unknown, and George Miller was the screenwriter, producer and director. Lacking the means to buy bikes, a deal was struck with local Kawasaki distributors, who supplied a dozen Z1000s. None of them were equipped with Brembo brakes, and in fact, there are no significant braking scenes, perhaps the only flaw in this masterpiece.
