Putting on the brakes: a history in racing has provided brand visibility and desirability to customers through public successes and technological advancements

Automotive Industries,  August, 2003  by Rich Wilson

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Brembo entered into racing in 1975, when Maranello's patron, Enzo Ferrari, entrusted the Bergamo company with the task of attending to the most prestigious Formula 1 car. As a result of Brembo's association with Ferrari, the company soon became the leader in braking systems for racing vehicles. Since that time, teams equipped with Brembo brakes have won hundreds of car and motorcycle world championships.

Subsequently, Brembo brakes have crossed over to street legal vehicles. In the 2003 model year Brembo provided original equipment braking systems for the Nissan 350Z, BMW X5, Infiniti G35, Mustang Cobra R, Volvo S60 R and Dodge Viper, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and the Subaru Impreza STI as well as every Porsche model. This list is a who's who of street legal rockets. Clearly, a large number of high performance automakers seek the stopping power that aided so many championship racing teams.

As a vehicle designed for rally competition, every Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution is equipped with Brembo aluminum opposed calipers and rotors at the front and rear of the vehicle. The front ventilated discs measure 320 mm (12.65 inches) in diameter and the rear ventilated discs measure 300 mm (11.8 inches) in diameter. The front aluminum opposed caliper relies on a four-piston design while the rear brakes employ a large diameter two-piston design. The Lancer Evolution sedan is equipped with tandem vacuum boosters and master cylinders that create a reduced pedal ratio that improves pedal stiffness and modulation to achieve better braking balance with improved pedal effort and feel.

"Brembo brake systems were selected because of their superior performance and because they met our development target," says Mitsubishi. "The development was collaboration with Brembo for our Evolution exclusively. We have been installing the Brembo brakes system since the Evolution 5 which was launched in January 1998 for domestic market. Brembo brakes are excellent in its performance as well as its practicability and meet the Evolution character as the high performance sporty car."

The Subaru STI, arch nemesis of the EVO, has also been outfitted with Brembo's braking systems. The two cars are competing for the same upscale tuner market dollar and the braking systems are nearly identical. The STI also features ventilated four-wheel disc brakes with four-piston calipers up front and two-piston calipers in back. The STI then combines the Brembos with an electronic brake force distribution system.

Subaru's selection of the Brembo for the braking system was also based on faith in the quality of the products as well as product confidence due to pervious dealings.

But Brembo has a long history of customer loyalty. Brembo S.p.A. was founded in 1961 in a small mechanic's garage located in Bergamo, Italy, and was run by current President Emilio Bombassei's father. The senior Bombassei gave the company a strong family element right from the start. Experience in mechanics and metallurgy was put to use when the founder started working for customers like Alfa Romeo.

The year 1964 marked a milestone in the company's history: At that time, Brembo began manufacturing the first Italian brake discs for the aftermarket Prior to that, discs had been imported from the U.K. Production of brake discs was followed by the development of other braking system components. The company began to build recognition on an international level, ultimately gaining leadership in Europe's brake disc aftermarket.

Following a strategy of expansion into specialized vehicle market niches at the beginning of the 1980s, Brembo started developing additional products and technological processes for cars, motorcycles and racing vehicles. Brake calipers for cars have been a part of their product range since 1980 and featured a new-for-the-time choice of material: aluminum. The new aluminum calipers were later adopted by high performance car manufacturers, such as Porsche, Mercedes, Lancia, BMW, Nissan and Chrysler.

Proof of Brembo's strategy success can be seen in the expansion of the company itself. In 1985, Brembo reportedly had 335 employees, by 1995 the total rose to 1,115 employees, by 2000 it rose to approximately 2,800; currently Brembo has a total of 3,600 employees, with revenue of $644 million.

Brembo has recently expanded its racing distribution throughout North America. CV Products has aligned with Brembo. It's North Carolina-based operations will carry Brembo brake systems and components for Sportscar and NASCAR with emphasis in Late Model and Oval Touring Racing. The addition of this market distribution point increases the number of Brembo North America distributors located throughout the U.S., enables quicker response to East Coast based markets and will reinforce track side support and service customers needs.

Racing business and success continue to pay off for Brembo. Their storied partnership with Ferrari--that started Brembo's foray into the racing world--continues to payoff. For the 2002 Ferrari F1 car, Brembo designed a ceramic composite material (CCM) braking system. The design and the 2002 Ferrari F1 efforts were both huge successes which ultimately led to the alteration of the CCM system to be fit into Ferrari's namesake supercar, the Enzo.