Fuji International Speedway

Location	Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
Major events	Formula One
Circuit length	4.563 kilometres (2.835 miles)
Turns	10
Lap record	1'14.30 min. 211.203 km/h (Jody Scheckter, Wolf-Ford, 1977)

Fuji Speedway is a race track standing in the foothills of the Mount Fuji, in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is a former Formula One venue and was acquired by the Toyota Motor Corporation in 2000. Toyota has now won its bid to host a Grand Prix event, replacing the Suzuka Circuit as host to the Japanese Grand Prix in the 2007 Formula One season.[1] Shizuoka Prefecture (静岡県; Shizuoka-ken) is located in the Chubu region on Honshu island, Japan. ... Image File history File links Circuit_Fuji. ... Formula One - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... km redirects here. ... A mile is the name of a unit of length, usually used to measure distance, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... Jody David Scheckter (born January 29, 1950) is a former auto racing driver, the 1979 Formula One World Drivers Champion. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... A race track (or racetrack), is a purpose-built facility for the conducting of races. ... Mount Fuji Mount Fuji , IPA: ) is the highest mountain in Japan. ... Shizuoka Prefecture (静岡県; Shizuoka-ken) is located in the Chubu region on Honshu island, Japan. ... Formula One - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Toyota redirects here. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Suzuka Circuit is the host of the Formula One Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix and one of the oldest and most-famous motorsport race tracks in Japan. ... Since its first inclusion in the Formula One Championship, the Japanese Grand Prix has become synonymous with excitement and controversy. ... The 2007 Formula One season will be the 58th FIA Formula One World Championship season. ...

History

The track was originally designed to be as a 4 km (2.5 mile) high-banked superspeedway, but there was not enough money to complete the project and only one of the bankings was ever designed. Converted to a road course, the circuit opened in December of 1965 and proved to be somewhat dangerous with the banked turn regularly resulting in major accidents. A new part of track was built to counteract the problem, and the resultant 4.359 km (2.7 mi) course proved more successful. The speedway brought the first Formula 1 race to Japan at the end of the 1976 season. The race had a dramatic World Championship battle between James Hunt and Niki Lauda, and in awful rainy conditions, Hunt earned enough points to win the title. Mario Andretti won the race, with Lauda withdrawing due to the dangerous conditions. In North American motorsports, a superspeedway is a race track over one mile (1. ... James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) was an English racing driver and Formula 1 world champion and subsequently a commentator. ... Andreas Nikolaus Niki Lauda (born February 22, 1949) is an Austrian racing driver. ... Mario Andretti portrayed on the cover of Esquire Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940 in Motovun) is an Italian-American racing driver, arguably the most successful U.S. citizen in auto racing. ...

There was less celebration after the second race in 1977 after Gilles Villeneuve was involved in a crash that killed two people on the side of the track. It would be the second and last time the Fuji circuit would host a F1 race and when Japan earned another race on the F1 schedule 10 years later, it went to Suzuka instead. Gilles Villeneuve at Monza in 1981. ... Suzuka Circuit is the host of the Formula One Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix and one of the oldest and most-famous motorsport race tracks in Japan. ...

Fuji remained a popular sports car racing venue and was often used for national races. Speeds continued to be very high, and two chicanes were added to the track, one just past the first hairpin corner, the second at the entry to the very long, very fast final turn (300R). But even with these changes the main feature of the track remained its 1.3 km long straightaway, one of the longest in all of motorsports. GTP sports cars racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1991 Sportscar racing is a form of circuit racing, with cars that have two seats and enclosed wheel wells. ... The Ford chicane on Le Mans A chicane is a sequence of tight serpentine curves (usually an S-shape curve) in a roadway, used in auto racing and on city streets to slow cars. ...

The long pit straight also has also been utilised for drag racing. NHRA exhibitions were run in 1989, and in 1993 Shirley Muldowney ran a 5.30 on the quarter-mile strip at Fuji. Local drag races are common on the circuit. Drag racing is a form of auto racing in which any two vehicles (most often two cars or motorcycles) attempt to complete a fairly short, straight and level course in the shortest amount of time, starting from a dead stop. ... The National Hot Rod Association, known as the NHRA, was founded by Wally Parks in 1951 in the State of California to provide a governing body to organize and promote the sport of drag racing. ... Shirley Muldowney (born June 9, 1940 in Schenectady, New York), the First Lady of Drag Racing was the first woman to receive a licence to drive a top fuel dragster by the NHRA . ...

The track continues to be used for Japanese national races, but plans to host a CART event in 1991 were abandoned and it was not until the autumn of 2000 that the track was bought by Toyota, as part of its motor racing plans for the future. Toyota redirects here. ...

In 2003 the circuit was closed down to accommodate a major reprofiling of the track, using a new design from Hermann Tilke. The track was reopened on 10 April 2005. Toyota has now won its bid to host a Grand Prix event, replacing the Suzuka Circuit as host to the Japanese Grand Prix in the 2007 Formula One season.[2] The circuit has always hosted the NISMO Festival for historic Nissan racers, since the takeover and refurbishment in 2003, the event took place at TI Circuit. When the festival returned in 2005, the organisers allowed the circuit owner to bring in their Toyota 7 CanAm racer to re-enact the old Japanese GP battle. Toytoa also hosts its own historic event a week before the NISMO festival called Toyota Motorsports Festival. Close to the circuit is a drifting course, which was built as part of the refurbishment, it was built under the supervision of "Drift King" Keiichi Tsuchiya. The short course nearby is built under the supervision of former works driver and Super GT team manager Masanori Sekiya and there is a Toyota Safety Education Center, a mini circuit. In addition to motorsports, Fuji also hosts the Udo Music Festival. Hermann Tilke (born 1955 in Aachen) is a German architect, designer of Formula One motor racing circuits and auto racer. ... April 10 is the 100th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (101st in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Toyota redirects here. ... Suzuka Circuit is the host of the Formula One Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix and one of the oldest and most-famous motorsport race tracks in Japan. ... Since its first inclusion in the Formula One Championship, the Japanese Grand Prix has become synonymous with excitement and controversy. ... The 2007 Formula One season will be the 58th FIA Formula One World Championship season. ... The Tanaka International Circuit (TI Circuit) is a 2. ... Cover of Car and Driver magazine, showing transparent diagram of CanAm racer The Canadian-American Challenge Cup or CanAm, was an SCCA/CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1974. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A Toyota Supra in drifting exhibition in Atlanta in 2005. ... Keiichi Tsuchiya (土屋圭市 Tsuchiya Keiichi, born January 30, 1956, Nagano) is a professional racing driver from Japan. ...

Fuji Speedway in videogames

The Fuji circuit is well known to fans of the arcade racing game Pole Position, as cars raced on the circuit in the popular loop. Fuji Speedway was thus the first circuit ever to be featured in a video game. Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... A racing game is any [game or games] that involve(s) competing in races through a surrogate playing piece or vehicle, either getting it from one point to another or completing a number of circuits in the shortest time. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

Fuji is also featured in Gran Turismo 4, where the circuit is available in its current (with or without the last chicane), 1974-85 and 1986-92 layouts; and in TOCA Race Driver, in its 1993-2004 layout. The circuit was neither featured in TOCA Race Driver 2 nor TOCA Race Driver 3. Gran Turismo 4 (also known as GT4) was released on December 28, 2004 in Japan and Hong Kong (NTSC-J), February 22, 2005 in the United States (NTSC-U/C), and March 9, 2005 in Europe (PAL), and has since been re-issued under Sonys Greatest Hits line. ... TOCA is a racing video game series developed and published by Codemasters, initially focusing specifically on Touring car racing but more recently expanding to cover a wide variety of motorsport. ... TOCA is a racing video game series developed and published by Codemasters, initially focusing specifically on Touring car racing but more recently expanding to cover a wide variety of motorsport. ... // Overview TOCA Race Driver 3 was released in Britain on February 24, 2006. ...

See also

• List of Formula One circuits

The old Nürburgring, one of the most famous circuits in F1 history. ...

External links

• Trackpedia's guide to the Fuji Speedway
• Fuji Speedway Official Site
• Google Map