Suzuka International Racing Course

Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka Circuit for short, is a motorsports race track in Ino, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan. It is managed by Mobilityland Corporation, a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., Ltd.. It is most well known for its use by both Formula One and Super Formula championships. Introduction Designed as a Honda test track in 1962 by John Hugenholtz, Suzuka is one of few circuits in the world to have a figure-eight layout. The track doesn't actually intersect with itself. The back straight passes over the front section by means of a bridge. The circuit can be used in three configurations: the full "Grand Prix" circuit, the "East" circuit, and the "West" circuit. The "East" course is made of the main pit straight to the first half of the Dunlop curve (turn 7). It then leads back to the pit straight via a tight right-hand turn. The "West" course is made up of the other part of the full circuit, with the pit stop at the straight before the 130R corner. Motorsport events Suzuka is one of the oldest tracks on the Formula One World Championship. It has a long history of races as host of the Japanese Grand Prix. Suzuka was dropped from the Formula One calendar for the 2007 and 2008 seasons in favor of the Toyota-owned Fuji Speedway. Fuji had just been remodeled and the circuit redesigned by Hermann Tilke. Suzuka and Fuji were to alternate hosting the Japanese Grand Prix starting in 2009. In July 2009, Fuji announced that it would no longer be part of the F1 calendar. Suzuka signed a deal to host the Japanese Grand Prix through 2011. The circuit was closed for more than a year to make renovations, since Mobilityland needed to make the track comply with Formula One rules for 2009. The last major event before the renovations was held on 18 November 2007. The track held a re-opening event on 12 April 2009. Suzuka also hosts other motorsport events, including the Suzuka 1000 km endurance race. The Suzuka 1000 km is a round of the Super GT racing series, and is the only race in that series of that length. Suzuka also hosts the Suzuka 8 Hours for motorcycles, which has been run since 1978. NASCAR organized the NASCAR Thunder 100, a pair of exhibition 100-lap races on the East Circuit. The races were held in 1996 and 1997. The 1.4-mile (2.3 km) layout went along the pit straight and S-corners, before rejoining the main circuit near the Casio Triangle chicane. The cars were from the Sprint Cup Series (then called the Winston Cup) and Camping World West Series (then called Winston West). The field was by invitation for the two races, and it included several Japanese and Australian drivers. Tragedy struck in the 1996 event when pace car driver Elmo Langley died of a heart attack during practice. During qualifying for the 1997 race, rain caused Goodyear to use rain tires on the Sprint Cup cars. This was the first time in NASCAR's modern era (which started in 1972) that race cars used rain tires instead of slick tires. It was announced on 21 June 2010 that Suzuka Circuit would host the Japan round of the 2011 World Touring Car Championship season instead of the Okayama International Circuit. 130R Following two bad accidents in 2002 and 2003, safety has been a concern at the circuit's 130R corner. 130R is a 130-metre (427 ft) radius turn starting past the bridge. 130R has been compared to Spa's Eau Rouge corner. In 2002, Toyota driver Allan McNish suffered a high-speed crash through the bump. The crash sent him through a metal fence. He was not seriously injured. Track officials redesigned the corner. They made it a double-apex (two smaller turns in one corner) section. One apex had a 85-metre (279 ft) radius, and the second had a 340-metre (1,115 ft) radius. This led to the much closer Casio Triangle chicane, with the chicane becoming a "bus stop" type for motorcycles. Problems continued for the revised section. During the 2003 MotoGP Grand Prix of Japan, the track's first major event since the revisions, MotoGP rider Daijiro Kato was killed when he crashed in the new section, on his way to the braking zone for the Casio Triangle. MotoGP has not returned to Suzuka since the incident. Popular culture Along with Fuji Speedway, Suzuka Circuit has been featured in many video games and arcade games. The circuit appears in most F1 games that have been published since 1987. The East Course has been featured in NASCAR 98 and the Gran Turismo series. References Other websites Suzuka at the Formula 1 site Archived 2010-07-22 at the Wayback Machine Satellite picture by Google Maps