If it is true that the “Luck favors the bold”, as the saying goes, well luck for the then young and daring company brakes Brembo arrived in 1964, when he was already operating in the automotive sector for Alfa Romeo And Pirelli.
The great opportunity came precisely from Biscione, which gave to Brembo a load of disc brakes from England to be revised to check their integrity, because the truck carrying them had overturned.
Brembo history
There history of Brembo begins in 1964, when i discs at the time they still were not very common, and in the company they realized that the English product was not all that refined and could be improved. So they proposed to Alfa Romeo di produce the brakes directly in Italy, of quality and competitive price: proposal accepted!
From there the modern Brembo was born, the one that today has two industrial centers in Italy: world leader in the production of braking systems with over 11 thousand employees in its companies spread over the various continents, it supplies the Formula 1 and the Formula E, as well as the MotoGP or the Superbike, produces refined carbon systems for the most prestigious brands and never stops investing in development and technology.
“Motorsport is our flagship -explains Luca Battistella, Brembo Performance GBU, Car Retail & Specialties Market Manager, who guides us to discover the company– but the bulk of our production is concentrated on the supply of original equipment braking systems for car manufacturers all over the world, including the most prestigious brands“.
And so we discover that Brembo does not have delocalized its manufacturing facilities overseas selling for Made in Italy what is done elsewhere but, in addition to increasing production (and sales) in Italy, opens factories in various continents where there is an automotive production center that assembles its installations.
High performance Brembo brakes for sports cars
The link between the road car and that sporty o by competition it is very tight; the motorist is often an enthusiast who loves his car and wants the best components for it.
The brakes are no exception and so, at the beginning of 2021, the line was born Brembo Upgrade, consisting of disc brake kits dedicated to road cars, intended for daily, sporting and even competitive use, with the guarantee of enhanced and safe braking.
“To tell the truth, the concept of an increase kit was born between the end of the nineties and the beginning of the 2000s– says Battistella- therefore the program has more than twenty years of history. They have always been known on the market as GT kits or, among professionals, HPK (High Performance Kit). This year it was decided to renew the image of the program and the Upgrade concept was introduced for the entire range of special products offered by Brembo Performance. “
Brembo history, the secret to success
The secret of success in the history of Brembo brakes is linked above all to continuity research and development, so as to always be one step ahead of the competition. About 10% of the people who work there are engineers or technical specialists, who study the evolution of the product and new solutions.
“We are ready for Brake by Wire technology, the real revolution in the braking system -explains Luca Battistella- for about twenty years we have been studying a vehicle braking system, with an electrical system that replaces the hydraulic one. “ And precise “The brake pedal will remain because the driver is used to this, but it could be replaced by other types of controls”.
Brembo Kilometro Rosso headquarters
In the last years of his Brembo history created the futuristic seat Red kilometer, visible on the highway that connects Milan to Venice. In fact, the company’s growth has been constant and continuous, even vertiginous in recent years, so much so that the space in the Curno office it was no longer enough.
Like this Alberto Bombassei, president of Brembo, in 2007 inaugurated a Stezzano, a few kilometers from Curno and clearly visible from the highway A4 Milan-Venice, the Brembo research and development center, located inside the futuristic science and technology park Red kilometer, wanted by Bombassei himself.
The architecture of the building reflects the fundamental importance that Brembo attaches to design, also with regard to the workplace and the environmental sustainability. The use of renewable energy, which in 2020 was equal to 43% of the company’s requirements.
During our visit to Kilometro Rosso di Stezzano they told us an anecdote, to explain the stylistic refinement of the complex. The young Alberto Bombassei had a strong aesthetic taste and he would have liked to be an architect. When he told his father Emilio, founder of Brembo together with his brother-in-law Italo Breda, in response he found himself in the factory.
And luckily we say, otherwise today’s Brembo – which since its inception has believed in the disc brake when the drum it was popular – it would not reach its current technological level. Especially our cars would be maybe a little less safe!
Brembo, the offices and the number of employees
Retracing the history of Brembo in numbers, the Italian company is present in 15 countries from 3 continents, where it boasts 26 production sites and commercial offices, 6 Research and Development Centers around the world and beyond 11,000 employees. 10% of Brembo people are engineers and specialists in research and development, 6% of turnover is invested annually in research and development and boasts beyond 45 years of presence in Motorsport.
Here he has won over 500 world titles to date, in the main Motorsport categories. In MotoGP, Formula E And MotoE is sole supplier while in Formula 1 is supplier to 8 out of 10 teams. Approx 70 million Brembo brake discs produced in a year, with the company that boasts 2,925 active patents.
Brembo 60 years of history, the dates
- 1961 The mechanical workshop of Emilio Bombassei and Italo Breda is born
- 1964 Brembo is the first to produce brake discs in Italy
- 1970 First Brembo patent
- 1975 Ferrari fitted Brembo brakes on Formula 1. In the 70s, production of brakes for trams, buses and cable cars (Mont Blanc and Sugar Loaf in Rio de Janeiro)
- 1980 The Brembo aluminum caliper equips the Alfetta GTV and then the Porsche range
- 1984 Production of carbon brakes for Formula 1 begins
- 1995 Brembo is listed on the Milan Stock Exchange
- 1996 Brembo wins the Nascar Championship for the first time
- 2000 The Performance conversion kit program is born
- 2004 “Compasso D’oro” award for the design of carbon ceramic brakes
- 2007 New Research Center at the Kilometro Rosso technology park
- 2018 A new pavilion for the production of carbon components is born in Curno
- 2021 Brembo turns 60 and continues to invest in the future
Photo Brembo brake discs and calipers
The complete article on the history and news ofBrembo company you can find it in the magazine PROCESS n ° 271 orderable online.
If you are passionate about sports cars, we advise you not to miss thelatest issue of the magazine ELABORARE (ORDER ON LINE) whose arrears you can find comfortably on SHOP
👉 Car search try
👉 Research topics of technique
💥 I notify: to stay updated and receive latest news on your mail subscribe to the automatic Newsauto newsletter HERE.
👉 What do you think? Take a leap on the FORUM!
#history #Brembo #evolution #high #performance #brakes