# Tsukuba Circuit

Tsukuba Circuit (筑波サーキット, Tsukuba Sākitto) is a motorsport race track located in Shimotsuma, a neighboring city of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, about 60 km (37 mi) north of central Tokyo. It is 2.045 km (1.271 mi) long, with 32 pit garages and a 437 m (0.272 mi) long back straight. There is a small chicane used only for motorcycle racing that increases the track's total length to 2.070 km (1.286 mi).
The track was established in 1966 with the aim of attracting young people to participate in motor sports, but was not actually completed until 1970. At the present time, an event is held every week. The track has a large variety of corners, ranging from wide sweepers to hairpins. The circuit accommodates 8500 spectators on the track, 3000 in the stands, 5000 on lawn seats, and 500 standing over the pits.
The illustration of the course guide shows that there are various courses other than the main course.
In 2001, the minibike course that had been called the "East Course" was completely renovated and opened as Course 1000 (TC1000), which is almost 1,000 meters in circumference. The TC1000 is a safe course that is open to cars and motorcycles, and features excellent visibility, making it ideal for beginners.
The trapezoid-shaped area just outside the last corner of the main course is the Gymkhana track. Gymkhana is a popular motor sport in Japan, and the All Japan Gymkhana Championships are held by JAF. Practice sessions and Gymkhana competitions are held at the Gymkhana track.
The Oval Course, located between the first corner and the second hairpin of the main course, is a course for training Auto Race drivers. Auto Race is a unique form of public gambling motor sport in Japan.
Admission is free on weekdays and ¥500 on weekends, but only when there are no scheduled events. The gas station in the paddock sells original Tsukuba Circuit souvenirs and other items. Across from the No.1 pit in the paddock, there is a small restaurant. The most popular menu item is the set meal of stewed motsu(Motsu-Teishoku). Visitors are allowed to drive on the track with a license. Tsukuba Circuit is not convenient to public transportation, so it is best accessed by a private car. The nearest station can only provide access via lengthy taxi ride.

## Time Attack

Tsukuba's "Time Attack" event (alternatively known as Super Lap or Tuner Battles) originated in Japan when the tuning media organized the event on race circuits such as Tsukuba, as a proving ground for street tuned cars built at a large budget by highly respected tuning companies. As a result of the quick rise in popularity, tuners developed specialized cars to beat the competition, including the purpose-built HKS CT230R Lancer Evolution with a body made entirely out of carbon fibre.
Unlike other timed motorsport disciplines such as sprinting and hillclimbing, the car is required to start off under full rolling start conditions following a warm-up lap, where they will have to accelerate out as fast as possible to determine how fast they enter their timed lap. Commonly, as competing cars consist of modified road-going models, that are required to wear tires authorized for road use. Although as time attack cars have gotten fast, due to safety concerns with aerodynamic loads, slicks in faster classes are now common place.
On 27th January 2023 Yoshiki 'Fire' Ando with the Escort Drag Racing Service Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX became the first driver to break through the 50-second barrier at Tsukuba. This was the first time that a tuner car with a production chassis had gone sub-50 seconds on street semi-slick tires. HKS and Nobuteru Taniguchi had gone sub-50 seconds before Ando, with a time of 49.445 seconds and a top speed of 238.253 km/h in the HKS Toyota 86 TRB-03 on slick tires. However, this was largely disputed as a traditional tuner car record since it was set on slick tires. HKS maintains a time of 50.259 seconds in the TRB-03 on traditional semi-slick street tires.

### Time Attack top 50 rankings

The following is the top 50 ranking for tuning cars on street tires, as of 17th of February 2024:
| Pos | Team | Driver | Car | Time (s) | Top speed (km/h) | Drivetrain |
| 1 | HKS | Nobuoteru 'NOB' Taniguchi | Toyota 86 (HKS TRB-03) | 49.445 | 238.253 | FR |
| 2 | Escort Drag Racing Service | Yoshiki 'Fire' Ando | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX | 49.897 | 253.938 | 4WD |
| 3 | Scorch Racing / ADVAN | Tomohiko 'Under' Suzuki | Nissan Silvia (S15) | 50.366 | 243.847 | FR |
| 4 | Qartoumy Racing | Feras Qartoumy | Chevrolet Corvette (C6) | 51.231 | 242.642 | FR |
| 5 | Top Fuel Drag & Street Shop | Nobuoteru 'NOB' Taniguchi | Honda S2000 (AP1) | 51.762 | 233.060 | FR |
| 6 | Garage G-Force | Nobuoteru 'NOB' Taniguchi | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX | 52.391 | 223.927 | 4WD |
| 7 | AutoBahn / Joyo | Kunihiko Bando | Toyota Soarer (JZZ30) | 52.454 | 248.447 | FR |
| 8 | PZ Tuning / Vibrant Performance | Will Au-Yeung | Honda Civic (FG4) | 53.071 | 237.781 | FF |
| 9 | Esprit | Nobuoteru 'NOB' Taniguchi | Honda NSX (NA1) | 53.474 | 239.734 | MR |
| 10 | Car Shop Dream / KJM / Vortex | Testuhiro Kurokawa | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 53.489 | 225.894 | FR |
| 11 | Arvou | Yusaku Shibata | Honda S2000 (AP1) | 53.571 | 210.608 | FR |
| 12 | HKS | Nobuoteru 'NOB' Taniguchi | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX (HKS CT230R) | 53.589 | 228.xxx | 4WD |
| 13 | Revolution | Yasushi Kikuchi | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 53.673 | 225.894 | FR |
| 14 | Friends Racing | Toru Inose | Nissan Silvia (S15) | 53.821 | 223.602 | FR |
| 15 | Seyamax Admix | Kyushu Danji | Honda NSX (NA1) | 53.915 | 219.601 | MR |
| 16 | Autobahn / Joyo | Kunihiko Bando | Nissan Skyline GT-R (BCNR33) | 54.010 | 246.070 | 4WD |
| 17 | RGN CTA | Daisuke Aoki | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 54.035 | 205.950 | FR |
| 18 | Kyushu Danji / Tomiyoshi Racing | Tsutomu Hanita | Honda NSX (NA2) | 54.101 | 222.635 | MR |
| 19 | Garage S Complete | Mitsuyoshi Nishio | Nissan Onevia | 54.124 | 234.324 | FR |
| 20 | DLanguage | Yasushi Kikuchi | Subaru Impreza R205 (GR) | 54.115 | 225.282 | 4WD |
| 21 | ATTKD Super | Mitsuhiro Kinoshita | Nissan Skyline GT-R (BNR32) | 54.145 | 232.909 | 4WD |
| 22 | Sakamoto Engineering | Hiroki Sakamoto | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 54.252 | 225.282 | FR |
| 23 | Garage HRS / Sun Automobile | Tarzan Yamada | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII (CyberEVO) | 54.392 | | 4WD |
| 24 | ARIOS Okuyama | Yoshiaki Itagaki | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 54.476 | 206.936 | FR |
| 25 | M Speed | Tetsuya Tanaka | Nissan Skyline GT-R (BNR34) | 54.481 | | 4WD |
| 26 | Endless / ADVAN | Atsushi Shimaya | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 54.483 | 212.014 | FR |
| 27 | Wacky Mate | Masayoshi Kato | Nissan Skyline GT-R (BNR32) | 54.571 | 239.150 | 4WD |
| 28 | TFR Mukaishima | Kiyotaka Ejima | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 54.585 | 224.439 | FR |
| 29 | ADMIX / SHORIN / CHEMITEC | Shoichiro Masumoto | Nissan Skyline GT-R (BNR32) | 54.828 | 233.817 | 4WD |
| 30 | Exceed Moat | Tsumotu Hirokoshi | Nissan 240SX S14 | 54.882 | 230.868 | FR |
| 31 | JDMYard / Hardrace | Adam Casmiri | Honda Civic (EG6) | 54.901 | 241.827 | FF |
| 32 | DKOS GG-R | Aso Daimajin | Nissan Skyline GT-R (BNR34) | 54.917 | 224.859 | 4WD |
| 33 | RACK / INTEC | Takataka | Subaru Impreza (GF8) | 55.071 | 210.158 | 4WD |
| 34 | Auto Rescue Izu / Scoot Sports | Yasuhiro 'Yabatan' Ando | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 55.109 | 213.65 | FR |
| 35 | Moty's t-one | Kazuyuki '01.t' Takahashi | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 55.237 | 214.328 | FR |
| 36 | Panspeed | Kota Sasaki | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 55.320 | 212.976 | FR |
| 37 | Ti Racing | Tomohiro Ido | Lotus Exige S2 | 55.402 | 217.962 | MR |
| 38 | Phoenix Power | Yui Tsutsumi | Nissan GTR (R35) | 55.455 | 237.885 | 4WD |
| 39 | Nobuemon / Joyo | Nobuemon | Toyota Supra (JZA80) | 55.458 | 233.615 | FR |
| 40 | HKS | Nobuoteru 'NOB' Taniguchi | Suzuki Swift (HKS TRB-04) | 55.498 | 227.225 | FF |
| 41 | M's Machine Works | Yuta Uemura | Porsche Cayman (987) | 55.509 | 205.089 | MR |
| 42 | Wacky Mate | Kengo 'Lock' Suzuki | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 55.510 | 221.538 | FR |
| 43 | Full Stage / ENDLESS | Hiroyuki 'Shark' Iiri | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 55.595 | 200.632 | FR |
| 44 | Anshin / Lucas Oil | Anshin Manabe | Nissan Skyline GT-R (BNR32) | 55.811 | 239.521 | 4WD |
| 45 | Ti Racing | Tomohiro Ido | Lotus Exige S2 | 55.824 | | MR |
| 46 | Racing Project Bandoh | Manabu "Max" Orido | Toyota GT86 (ZN6) | 55.927 | 212.797 | FR |
| 47 | R-Magic Pink | Mitsuhiro Kinoshita | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 55.947 | 217.742 | FR |
| 48 | GNR Racing / Garage Rise-Up | Koji Asai | Honda Civic (EK9) | 55.964 | 201.831 | FF |
| 49 | JUN | Mitsuhiro Kinoshita | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V | 55.976 | | 4WD |
| 50 | BT Racing | Ootori | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV | 55.979 | 197.08 | 4WD |
| 51 | Yellow Factory / RF KEW | Ryo Kaneko | Honda Civic (EG6) | 55.984 | 187.826 | FF |
| 52 | New Type Racing | Nyan | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 56.015 | 237.102 | FR |

### Time Attack top 50 rankings

The following is the top 50 ranking for tuning cars on street tires, as of 12th of February 2023:
| Pos | Team | Driver | Car | Time (s) | Top speed (km/h) | Drivetrain |
| 1 | HKS | Nobuoteru 'NOB' Taniguchi | Toyota 86 (HKS TRB-03) | 49.445 | 238.253 | FR |
| 2 | Escort Drag Racing Service | Yoshiki 'Fire' Ando | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX | 49.897 | 253.938 | 4WD |
| 3 | Scorch Racing / ADVAN | Tomohiko 'Under' Suzuki | Nissan Silvia (S15) | 50.366 | 243.847 | FR |
| 4 | Qartoumy Racing | Feras Qartoumy | Chevrolet Corvette (C6) | 51.231 | 242.642 | FR |
| 5 | Top Fuel Drag & Street Shop | Nobuoteru 'NOB' Taniguchi | Honda S2000 (AP1) | 51.762 | 233.060 | FR |
| 6 | Garage G-Force | Nobuoteru 'NOB' Taniguchi | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX | 52.391 | 223.927 | 4WD |
| 7 | AutoBahn / Joyo | Kunihiko Bando | Toyota Soarer (JZZ30) | 52.454 | 248.447 | FR |
| 8 | PZ Tuning / Vibrant Performance | Will Au-Yeung | Honda Civic (FG4) | 53.071 | 237.781 | FF |
| 9 | Esprit | Nobuoteru 'NOB' Taniguchi | Honda NSX (NA1) | 53.474 | 239.734 | MR |
| 10 | Car Shop Dream / KJM / Vortex | Testuhiro Kurokawa | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 53.489 | 225.894 | FR |
| 11 | Arvou | Yusaku Shibata | Honda S2000 (AP1) | 53.571 | 210.608 | FR |
| 12 | HKS | Nobuoteru 'NOB' Taniguchi | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX (HKS CT230R) | 53.589 | 228.xxx | 4WD |
| 13 | Revolution | Yasushi Kikuchi | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 53.673 | 225.894 | FR |
| 14 | Friends Racing | Toru Inose | Nissan Silvia (S15) | 53.821 | 223.602 | FR |
| 15 | Seyamax Admix | Kyushu Danji | Honda NSX (NA1) | 53.915 | 219.601 | MR |
| 16 | Autobahn / Joyo | Kunihiko Bando | Nissan Skyline GT-R (BNR33) | 54.010 | 246.070 | 4WD |
| 17 | RGN CTA | Daisuke Aoki | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 54.035 | 205.950 | FR |
| 18 | Kyushu Danji / Tomiyoshi Racing | Tsutomu Hanita | Honda NSX (NA2) | 54.101 | 222.635 | MR |
| 19 | Garage S Complete | Mitsuyoshi Nishio | Nissan Onevia | 54.124 | 234.324 | FR |
| 20 | DLanguage | Yasushi Kikuchi | Subaru Impreza R205 (GR) | 54.115 | 225.282 | 4WD |
| 21 | ATTKD Super | Mitsuhiro Kinoshita | Nissan Skyline GT-R (BNR32) | 54.145 | 232.909 | 4WD |
| 22 | Sakamoto Engineering | Hiroki Sakamoto | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 54.252 | 225.282 | FR |
| 23 | Garage HRS / Sun Automobile | Tarzan Yamada | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII (CyberEVO) | 54.392 | | 4WD |
| 24 | ARIOS Okuyama | Yoshiaki Itagaki | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 54.476 | 206.936 | FR |
| 25 | M Speed | Tetsuya Tanaka | Nissan Skyline GT-R (BNR34) | 54.481 | | 4WD |
| 26 | Endless / ADVAN | Atsushi Shimaya | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 54.483 | 212.014 | FR |
| 27 | Wacky Mate | Masayoshi Kato | Nissan Skyline GT-R (BNR32) | 54.571 | 239.150 | 4WD |
| 28 | TFR Mukaishima | Kiyotaka Ejima | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 54.585 | 224.439 | FR |
| 29 | ADMIX / SHORIN / CHEMITEC | Shoichiro Masumoto | Nissan Skyline GT-R (BNR32) | 54.828 | 233.817 | 4WD |
| 230 | Exceed Moat | Tsumotu Hirokoshi | Nissan 240SX S14 | 54.882 | 230.868 | FR |
| 31 | JDMYard / Hardrace | Adam Casmiri | Honda Civic (EG6) | 54.901 | 241.827 | FF |
| 32 | DKOS GG-R | Aso Daimajin | Nissan Skyline GT-R (BNR34) | 54.917 | 224.859 | 4WD |
| 33 | RACK / INTEC | Takataka | Subaru Impreza (GF8) | 55.071 | 210.158 | 4WD |
| 34 | Auto Rescue Izu / Scoot Sports | Yasuhiro 'Yabatan' Ando | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 55.109 | 213.65 | FR |
| 35 | Moty's t-one | Kazuyuki '01.t' Takahashi | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 55.237 | 214.328 | FR |
| 36 | Panspeed | Kota Sasaki | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 55.320 | 212.976 | FR |
| 37 | Ti Racing | Tomohiro Ido | Lotus Exige S2 | 55.402 | 217.962 | MR |
| 38 | Phoenix Power | Yui Tsutsumi | Nissan GTR (R35) | 55.455 | 237.885 | 4WD |
| 39 | Nobuemon / Joyo | Nobuemon | Toyota Supra (JZA80) | 55.458 | 233.615 | FR |
| 40 | HKS | Nobuoteru 'NOB' Taniguchi | Suzuki Swift (HKS TRB-04) | 55.498 | 227.225 | FF |
| 41 | M's Machine Works | Yuta Uemura | Porsche Cayman (987) | 55.509 | 205.089 | MR |
| 42 | Wacky Mate | Kengo 'Lock' Suzuki | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 55.510 | 221.538 | FR |
| 43 | Full Stage / ENDLESS | Hiroyuki 'Shark' Iiri | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 55.595 | 200.632 | FR |
| 44 | Anshin / Lucas Oil | Anshin Manabe | Nissan Skyline GT-R (BNR32) | 55.811 | 239.521 | 4WD |
| 45 | Ti Racing | Tomohiro Ido | Lotus Exige S2 | 55.824 | | MR |
| 46 | Racing Project Bandoh | Manabu "Max" Orido | Toyota GT86 (ZN6) | 55.927 | 212.797 | FR |
| 47 | R-Magic Pink | Mitsuhiro Kinoshita | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 55.947 | 217.742 | FR |
| 48 | GNR Racing / Garage Rise-Up | Koji Asai | Honda Civic (EK9) | 55.964 | 201.831 | FF |
| 49 | JUN | Mitsuhiro Kinoshita | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V | 55.976 | | 4WD |
| 50 | BT Racing | Ootori | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV | 55.979 | 197.08 | 4WD |
| 51 | Yellow Factory / RF KEW | Ryo Kaneko | Honda Civic (EG6) | 55.984 | 187.826 | FF |
| 52 | New Type Racing | Nyan | Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | 56.015 | 237.102 | FR |

## Lap records

** outdated Info, according to the top 50 Rankings
The outright all-time unofficial track record is 0:50.230 seconds, set by Kazuyoshi Hoshino in a March 792 Formula Two car, during qualifying for the 1979 Tsukuba Champions race. The fastest official race lap records at the Tsukuba Circuit are listed as:
| Category | Time | Driver | Vehicle | Event |
| Car Circuit: 2.045 km (1970–present) |||||
| Formula Three | 0:52.149 | Fábio Carbone | Dallara F304 | 2004 Tsukuba Japanese F3 round |
| Formula Toyota | 0:54.942 | Mitsuharu Kawazu | Tom's FT20 | 2001 Tsukuba Formula Toyota round |
| Group A | 0:58.726 | Kazuyoshi Hoshino | Nissan Skyline GT-R BNR32 | 1992 Tsukuba JTCC round |

## In popular culture

Tsukuba Circuit has appeared in numerous video games, including iRacing, Forza Motorsport, 2, 3, and 4, Gran Turismo 4, PSP, 5, 6, 7 and Sport, Tourist Trophy, Enthusia Professional Racing, rFactor, and D1 Grand Prix.
The track is commonly used for tuner events and has appeared in the final installment of the Shuto Kousoku Trial series, SKT Max. The circuit has also gained popularity because of its use by Best Motoring to test and race a variety of vehicles.