Fuji Speedway

Fuji Speedway Corporation was established in 1963 as Japan NASCAR Corporation. At first, the circuit was planned to hold NASCAR-style races in Japan. Therefore, the track was originally designed to be a 4 km (2.5 mi) banked superspeedway, but there was not enough money to complete the project and only one of the bankings was completed. Mitsubishi Estate Co. invested in the circuit and took over the reins of management in October 1965.

Converted to a road course, the circuit opened in December 1965 and proved to be somewhat dangerous, with the wide banked turn (named "Daiichi") regularly resulting in major accidents. Vic Elford said:

"In 1969 I spent two months in Japan doing a test contract for Toyota and their Toyota 7 (5 litre V-8), which along with a big Nissan (6.3 litre V-12), was destined for CanAm. My last testing and then the subsequent Sports Car GP were at Fuji, but the track was run in a clockwise direction. The reason that banking was so horrific, was that at the end of the straight we went over a blind crest at around 190/200 mph and dropped into the banking. At other tracks (Daytona, Montlhéry, etc.) you climb up the banking. One of the results was that although there were many brave Japanese drivers there were not too many with great skill and the death toll from that one corner was horrendous. To such an extent that the big Gp 7 cars were then banned in Japan and thus, neither Nissan or Toyota ever made it to CanAm."

After a fatal accident in 1974 on the Daiichi banking where drivers Hiroshi Kazato and Seiichi Suzuki were both killed in a fiery accident that injured 6 other people, a new part of track was built to counteract the problem, and the resultant 4.359 km (2.709 mi) course, which also eliminated 5 other fast corners, proved more successful. In 1966, the track hosted a USAC Indy Car non-championship race, won by Jackie Stewart. The track had a 24-hour race in 1967.[5]

The speedway brought the first Formula One 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 rainy conditions, Hunt earned enough points to win the title. Mario Andretti won the race, with Lauda withdrawing due to the dangerous conditions.

In 1977, Gilles Villeneuve was involved in a crash that killed two spectators on the side of the track, leading to Formula One leaving the speedway. When Japan earned another race on the F1 schedule ten years later, it went to Suzuka instead. The Grand Prix returned to Fuji in 2007 following its renovation.

Fuji Speedway former layouts: Red 1965–1974, Blue 1975–1985, Green 1986–2004

The abandoned "30° Bank" of the old track

Fuji remained a popular sports car racing venue; the FIA World Sportscar Championship visited the track between 1982 and 1988 and it was often used for national races. Speeds continued to be very high, and two chicanes were added to the track: one after the first hairpin corner, the second at the entry to the wide, fast final turn (300R). Even with these changes, the main feature of the track remained its approximately 1.5 km (0.93 mi) long straight, one of the longest in all of motorsports.

The long pit straight 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, at both 440 yd (402.336 m) & 1,000 ft (304.800 m) distances.

The track continued to be used for Japanese national races. Plans to host a CART event in 1991 were abandoned due to conflicts with the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile. It was not until the autumn of 2000 that the majority of the stocks of the track were bought by Toyota from Mitsubishi Estate[6] as part of its motor racing plans for the future.

On May 3, 1998, there was a multi-car crash during a parade lap before a JGTC race caused by the safety car going at twice the recommended speed in torrential rain. Ferrari driver Tetsuya Ota suffered serious burns over his entire body after being trapped in his car for almost 90 seconds,[7] and Porsche driver Tomohiko Sunako fractured his right leg.[7]

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 April 10, 2005, and hosted its first Formula One championship event in 29 years on September 30, 2007. In circumstances similar to Fuji's first Grand Prix in 1976, the race was run in heavy rain and mist and the first 19 laps were run under the safety car, in a race won by Lewis Hamilton.

Rebuilt grandstand in the 2000s

The circuit has hosted the Nismo Festival for historic Nissan racers since refurbishment in 2003; the event previously took place at Okayama. When the festival returned in 2005, the organisers allowed circuit owner Toyota to bring in their Toyota 7 CanAm racer to re-enact an old Japanese GP battle. Toyota also hosts its own historic event a week before the NISMO festival called the Toyota Motorsports Festival. Close to the circuit is a drifting course, which was built as part of the refurbishment under the supervision of "Drift King" Keiichi Tsuchiya and former works driver and Super GT team manager Masanori Sekiya. There is a Toyota Safety Education Center and a mini circuit. In addition to motorsports, Fuji also hosts the Udo Music Festival.

The only time the circuit is run on a reverse direction is during the D1 Grand Prix round, as Keiichi Tsuchiya felt the new layout meant reduced entry speed, making it less suitable for drifting.[8] The series has hosted its rounds since 2003; with the exception of the 2004 closure, the circuit became the first to take place on an international level racetrack[8] and the first of the three to take place on an F1 circuit. The drift course starts from the 300R section and ends past the Coca-Cola corner. With the reprofiling, as cars no longer run downbank, entry speeds have since been reduced, the hill at the exit making acceleration difficult.[8] As part of the 2003 renovations, most of the old banked section of track was demolished. Only a small section remains to this day.

Following both poor ticket sales and weather, it was decided by FOM that the FIA Japanese Grand Prix would be shared between Fuji and Suzuka on alternate years, with Suzuka holding the next race on Sunday, October 4, 2009. After the global recession and its own operational deficit, Toyota decided to discontinue the hosting of Japanese Grand Prix since 2010.[9]

Fuji Speedway was announced to host the finish of the road cycling races at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[10]