International racing circuit in Japan
Autopolis International Racing Course
Full Circuit (1990?present)
|
Location
| Kamitsue village
, in
Hita City
,
?ita Prefecture
,
Japan
|
---|
Time zone
| UTC+09:00
|
---|
Coordinates
| 33°2′13″N
130°58′22.9″E
/
33.03694°N 130.973028°E
/
33.03694; 130.973028
|
---|
FIA Grade
| 2
|
---|
Owner
| Kawasaki Motors
(2005?present)
Hazama Ando
(1995?2004)
Tomonori Tsurumaki (1990?1994)
|
---|
Operator
| Autopolis Co., Ltd.
|
---|
Opened
| November 1990
; 33 years ago
(
1990-11
)
|
---|
Construction cost
| ¥
47 billion
|
---|
Architect
| Yoshitoshi Sakurai
|
---|
Major events
| Current:
Super GT
(1999, 2003?2009, 2011?2015, 2017?2019, 2021?present)
Super Formula
(1991?1992, 2006, 2009?present)
Super Taikyu
(2012?present)
MFJ Superbike
(2002?2015, 2017?present)
Former:
TCR Japan
(2019?2021)
FR Japan
(2020)
Asia Road Racing Championship
(2009?2014)
Formula V6 Asia
(2007)
Asian Touring Car Series
(2003?2005, 2007)
World Sportscar Championship
(1991)
|
---|
Website
| http://www.autopolis.jp/
|
---|
|
Length
| 4.673 km (2.904 miles)
|
---|
Turns
| 19
|
---|
Race lap record
| 1:26.960 (
Naoki Yamamoto
,
Dallara SF19
,
2020
,
Super Formula
)
|
---|
|
Length
| 3.022 km (1.877 miles)
|
---|
Turns
| 12
|
---|
Autopolis
(
オ?トポリス
,
?toporisu
)
is a 4.673 km (2.904 mi) international racing circuit located near
Kamitsue
village in
?ita Prefecture
,
Japan
on the 30 km (19 mi) northeast of
Kumamoto
.
[1]
Opened in 1990, it hosts a range of domestic and international motorsport events throughout the year. The track is noted to have a high standard of facilities and infrastructure. Due to the circuit ending up in financial difficulties, it has changed hands several times but still operates to this day.
History
[
edit
]
The circuit, located within
Aso Kuj? National Park
, was built at a cost of $500 million by the wealthy real-estate developer and investment banker
Tomonori Tsurumaki
who made headlines in 1989, when during a
Paris
auction, he successfully bid a
Pablo Picasso
painting
Les Noces de Pierrette
for $51.3 million from his Tokyo hotel room. Following his successful bid, he announced that his painting was to hang at the art gallery of the auto racing resort, under development at the time.
[2]
The circuit was designed by
Yoshitoshi Sakurai
who was the project leader of the
Honda F1
team during the 1960s.
[3]
Tsurumaki ordered 30
Buick
powered US built single seater race cars called "Sabre Cars" for a race to take place on his circuit's grand opening, on November 1990 consisting of a mixture of invited US
CART
drivers such as
Stan Fox
,
Johnny Rutherford
,
Dick Simon
,
Gary
and
Tony Bettenhausen
, against local Japanese drivers. After the grand opening, Tsurumaki planned on a series with the cars, known as
Formula Crane 45
. A few races were run in 1991, with only a handful of cars competing.
The only major international race held at Autopolis was the final race of the
1991 World Sportscar Championship season
, the
1991 430km of Autopolis
, which was won by
Michael Schumacher
and
Karl Wendlinger
in a
Mercedes-Benz C291
fielded by
Sauber
.
To promote the venue's intention to host a Formula One race, it sponsored the
Benetton
Formula One
team in 1990 and 1991. The cars featured prominent Autopolis logos. Visitors to the WSC event criticized the track for being too remote to the hotels which required a several hours bus ride and felt that it was unsuitable for an
F1
race.
Following the bankruptcy and collapse of Tsurumaki's company
Nippon Tri-Trust
in 1993 (the year the track was supposed to hold an F1 race),
[4]
the circuit and other assets he owned ended up in the hands of
Hazama
who was responsible for the construction of the race track.
[5]
Ultimately, the track's F1 event slot for the Asian GP on
11 April 1993
was given to
Donington Park
, and
TI Circuit Aida
would host a second Japanese race in Formula One calendar in
1994
, but suffered from the same location-related criticism and was removed at the end of the
following season
.
[6]
By 1995, the company offered the site for sale at 10% of its build cost which consisted of three
hotels
,
swimming pools
and an
artificial ski slope
. Some of Tsurumaki's assets, such as paintings, remained in a
bank vault
waiting to be sold.
[7]
Autopolis first hosted a
Super GT
race in
1999
, the season-ending exhibition race, which was won by
Tom Coronel
and
Hidetoshi Mitsusada
in a
Honda NSX-GT
fielded by
Nakajima Racing
. After a three-year absence, the circuit has regularly been hosting races in the series since 2003, although with some exceptions. Autopolis first held a
Super Formula
race in
2006
, and with some exceptions, the track has regularly been part of the series since then.
Autopolis was purchased by
Kawasaki Motors
in 2005.
[8]
The circuit currently holds events for the
Super GT
as well as
D1 Grand Prix
,
Super Formula
,
MFJ Superbike
and
Super Taikyu
.
In March 2019, the circuit was added to the video game
Gran Turismo Sport
through a game update.
[9]
It has also been featured in
Need for Speed: ProStreet
,
Need for Speed: Shift
,
Shift 2: Unleashed
, and
Gran Turismo 7
.
The circuit
[
edit
]
The circuit is located in an upland area of the island which means the air is thin with low atmospheric pressure, similar to
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
in
Mexico City
. It has an elevation change of over 50 m (160 ft) with the first section generally downhill and the latter part of the course runs uphill.
[1]
The start/finish straight is located at an altitude of 820 m (2,690 ft).
[10]
Events
[
edit
]
- Current
- Former
Lap records
[
edit
]
As of October 2023, the fastest official race lap records at the Autopolis are listed as:
[11]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Autopolis
.
Links to related articles
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Africa
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Asia
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Australia
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Europe
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North America
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Hillclimbs
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Circuits of the
JGTC
and
Super GT
Grand Touring Series (1993?present)
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Current (
2024
)
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Former
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Current Courses (
2022
)
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D1SL Courses
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Past Courses
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