After the positive experience of the Superbike World Championship, MotoGP also travels to Thailand for the 15th round of the 2018 World Championship on the Buriram circuit named Chang International Circuit, named after a local brewer.
It was built with an investment of 54 million euros and was inaugurated in October 2014. The track was designed by German architect Hermann Tilke and is located 410 km north of the capital Bangkok, in the region of Buriram, which in the local language means “city of happiness”.
Unlike their Superbike colleagues, MotoGP riders are expected to benefit from lower temperatures this weekend, since the historical average for this region in October is 30 degrees Celsius, which is nevertheless more than sufficient.
The track layout alternates very long straight lines which end with strong braking with second and third gear curves where it is essential to find the right trajectories.
The Brembo press release tells us that the Italian firm's engineers, who support 100% of the 2018 MotoGP riders, believe that the Chang International Circuit is part of the category of demanding circuits for the brakes. On a scale of 1 to 5, it scored 4 on the difficulty index, the same score given to Jerez, Aragon and Brno.
The demand for brakes in MotoGP:
The MotoGP brakes there in 7 of the 12 turns of the track, the same as for the Superbike: the 27 seconds of use of the brakes each lap are almost identical, but since the lap times are different, the percentage of operation of the system braking during the race is also. For MotoGP, it is 30% compared to 28% for Superbikes.
Thanks to the greater power of their engines generating higher top speeds, as well as their carbon braking systems, the average maximum deceleration of MotoGP is 1,31 g while it is only 1,24 g for Superbikes.
The most demanding braking sections:
Of the circuit's 7 braking sections, 2 are considered very difficult on the brakes, while 4 are of medium difficulty and 1 is light.
The most difficult place for the braking system is the third corner, at the end of a course of almost a kilometer in a straight line: the MotoGP riders go from 316 km/h to 77 km/h in 5,8 .282 seconds and thus cover 6,3 meters. Riders apply a load of 1,5 kg to the brake lever experiencing a deceleration of 64 g, while Brembo's HTC 10,9T brake fluid reaches a pressure of XNUMX bar.
The entry speed into the last corner before the finish is even lower (69 km/h): the motorcycles approach at 265 km/h and brake for 5,1 seconds, covering 213 meters during this time. The load on the lever is 5,8 kg and the deceleration is 1,4 g.
Although the speed drops to "only" 151 km/h, the braking at the first turn reaches some of the values of the third turn: the deceleration is 1,5 g, the load on the lever is 6,3 kg and the pressure of the fluid of 10,9 bars.
The other 4 braking sections should not be neglected because the braking time is always greater than 2,7 seconds, with a maximum of 3,4 seconds while decelerations vary from 1 g to 1,4 g.
Brembo statistics:
Since 1978, motorcycles equipped with Brembo brakes have won 477 premier class Grands Prix with 44 different riders.
The record holder for victories with Italian brakes is Valentino Rossi, who alone won 89 GPs in the 500-MotoGP period.
