Lorenzo and Rossi want brake upgrade for 2014

Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi believe bigger Brembo carbon brake discs that will be used for the brutal braking points at the Twin Ring Motegi track in Japan this weekend should be standard equipment at every race in the future.

The Twin Ring Motegi is the hardest braking track on the 18-round schedule and after several riders encountered stopping issues in Japan a year ago, the rule restricting riders to a 320mm front disc have been suspended for this race.

For the Twin Ring Motegi race only, every rider will run a bigger 340mm disc to stop overheating issues and give better stopping power on a track where the likes of Rossi and Lorenzo spend more time on the brakes that at any other circuit on the calendar.

Factory Yamaha duo Lorenzo and Rossi though want the bigger 340mm to be standard in 2014, with both complaining the improved top speed and extra weight of the current generation 1000cc prototypes means the current carbon discs are no longer suitable.

Reigning world champion Lorenzo, who starts Sunday’s 24-lap race trailing Repsol Honda rival Marc Marquez by 18-points, told MCN: “I would like to use in all the tracks for the future because it has much more safety and much more durability in the race because so many riders had problems with this brake. I would like to use this bigger brake in the tracks where we have very tough braking like in Sepang where I had some problems.

I didn’t have brakes in some laps and (Alvaro) Bautista also had problems in the race. Also Valentino had many problems on the brakes there. The brake temperatures were over 800 degrees and that is very high. And Valentino also had arm pump and normally he doesn’t have that, so this means he is pushing a lot on braking. Better brakes for these bikes, which are now much heavier and much more powerful in the straight, is what we need. We need more braking power. We can’t use the same brakes as we had in 800s in these tracks now.”

American Ben Spies had major braking issues in the early stages of last year’s race and it was a common sight to see riders running off into the gravel trap.

Rossi told MCN that he backed Lorenzo’s call for brake discs to be 340mm as standard next season and the Italian said: “I fully agree with Jorge. In Malaysia but also in a lot of other tracks I had a lot of problems with the brake because now these bikes are faster but importantly they are heavier and it looks like the stress of the brake is much higher. We have to make something and for me the bigger discs can be an option because this year I have had a problem at least five or six times and it is worse when you are behind another bike. The temperature goes to the stars and after it becomes scary and also dangerous because you lose a lot of brake power. For me the bigger disc we will use for here is a good option for next year in every race.”

World championship leader Marquez though said the factory Honda RC213V he has raced to six wins in a sensational rookie season is not struggling with the current discs.
He said: “I don’t have any problems with the brakes. In the beginning of the season I had a problem with the stability but now it is working quite good. Here we will try the bigger discs and it will be interesting to see the potential.”