Since 2003, Magny-Cours has been a continuous staple on the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship schedule and will now welcome the field back to France for the 25th time at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours. The Acerbis French Round will kick off a mad dash to the finish, featuring the final four rounds all held within less than a month and a half.
MAGNY-COURS RATED FOUR OUT OF FIVE IN BRAKING DEMAND
Brembo engineers equip 13 of the grid’s 14 WorldSBK teams, and with their wealth of data collected over the years, they have categorised the 4.411 km circuit as four out of five, or ‘Highly Demanding’, by the Italian brand’s rating system. On a lap at Magny-Cours, riders clamp down on the brakes 10 times for a total of 27 seconds, divided between two heavy braking zones at Turn 5 and Turn 11, six medium and two light.
TRICKY TURN 5
The toughest corner at Magny-Cours for the braking system is Turn 5, nicknamed “Adelaide”. At that point on track, riders arrive from full throttle as they reach the end of the long, gradually arcing straight, having powered through Turn 4, tilted slightly to the right. Charging into the corner at around 296 km/h, riders clamp down on the brake lever with 6.2 kg of force for 233 metres, taking 5.5 seconds to drop their speed to a mere 47 km/h; record values across the entire season’s calendar.
STAYING COOL UNDER PRESSURE
Brembo’s monoblock aluminium calipers are components specifically designed for WorldSBK. They are machined from a solid piece of aluminium and feature four 34 mm pistons. The outer body features heat-dissipating fins, which increase the piston surface area exposed to the air by 30 per cent. This is a vital feature, as when brakes overheat, stopping efficiency decreases while brake pad and disc wear rapidly increases.
“YOU MIGHT THINK IT’S JUST A CORNER WITH FULL THROTTLE, BUT YOU NEED TO HAVE A PERFECT LINE”
2017 WorldSSP Champion Lucas Mahias, with 55 WorldSBK race starts to his name, is always happy to come home and ride at Magny-Cours with his French GMT94 Yamaha squad. He’s enjoyed plenty of success here, taking five WorldSSP podiums and two race wins over 11 races. For him, the most critical part of a lap lies in the first sector. Starting out, riders bank left into Turn 1 before turning the bike over in Turn 2 and trying to take the perfect line through the long, parabolic Turn 3, which kicks riders out onto the high-speed straight towards Adelaide.
On that vital early stretch of tarmac, Mahias said: “You enter inside, go a little bit outside, almost 1.5 metres, then you pick one apex. If you are out near the white line, you are too wide and risk a crash. It isn’t an easy part. You might think it’s just a corner with full throttle, but you need to have the perfect line.”
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