Twin_Ring_Motegi

Twin Ring Motegi

Twin Ring Motegi

Racing circuit in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan

Mobility Resort Motegi (モビリティリゾートもてぎ) is a motorsport venue located in Motegi, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Originally Twin Ring Motegi (ツインリンクもてぎ), the venue's name came from the facility having two race tracks: a 2.493 km (1.549 mi) oval track and a 4.801 km (2.983 mi) road course. It was built in 1997 by Honda Motor Co., Ltd., as part of the company's effort to bring the Championship Auto Racing Teams series to Japan, helping to increase their knowledge of American open-wheel racing. The oval was last raced on in 2010 by the Indycar Series. On 1 March 2022, the name of the track was changed to Mobility Resort Motegi, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the facility.[1] The road course's most notable event is the Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix.

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Speedway

View of the oval

The oval course is the only one of its kind in Japan used for competitive racing. It is a low-banked, 1.549 mi (2.493 km) egg-shaped course, with turns three and four being much tighter than turns one and two. On March 28, 1998, CART held the inaugural Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi Speedway. The race was won by Mexican driver Adrián Fernández. CART continued racing at Twin Ring Motegi Speedway from 1998–2002. In 2003, Honda entered the Indy Racing League and the race became a part of the IRL schedule. In addition to Indy car racing, the track has also hosted a single NASCAR exhibition race in 1998.

Honda, which had built the oval for the express purpose of developing its oval-racing program for Indy car racing, did not win a race at the track for its first six years of operation. In 2004, Dan Wheldon took the first win for Honda on the oval. In 2008, the Motegi oval gained additional publicity when Danica Patrick became the first woman to win an Indycar race, beating Hélio Castroneves for her first and only Indycar victory.[2]

The 2011 season was the last season of IndyCar in Motegi. It had been dropped from the calendar as organizers looked to maximize viewing audiences.[3] The road course, rather than the super speedway, was used for the 2011 race due to damage to the oval track resulting from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake. The oval is not presently used for racing and even has been used as additional parking space during MotoGP events, but is still used for Honda's annual Thanks Day event showcasing various Honda road and racing vehicles, mainly from the nearby Honda Collection Hall, with Takuma Sato running a lap of the course in his 2017 Indianapolis 500 winning car seven years since the last IndyCar race in the oval.[4][5]

Track length of paved oval

The track length is disputed by series that run at Twin Ring Motegi. The NASCAR timing and scoring use a length of 1.549 mi (2.493 km).[6] This length was used by CART in their races between 1998 and 2002, too.[7] The IRL measured in 2003 a length of 1.520 mi (2.446 km).[8] This length was also used in the following races until 2010.[9]

NASCAR history

Main article: Coca-Cola 500 (Motegi)

Mike Skinner won the only NASCAR Cup Series exhibition race held at the track in 1998, the Coca-Cola 500. Skinner won driving the No.31 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. The race was most noted for being the first oval track NASCAR race in Japan as well as being the first in which Dale Earnhardt and his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., competed with one another, driving No.3 and No.1 Coca-Cola Chevrolets, respectively. The track also held the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West in 1999 with Kevin Richards getting the win.

Road course

The road course is 4.801 km (2.983 mi) long and is unique in sharing garage and grandstand facilities with the oval course, but being entirely separate otherwise. Although they are separate tracks, it is impossible for races to occur simultaneously on the two courses; to access the oval track, teams must cross the road course pit and front straight. The road course also runs in the opposite direction from the oval; clockwise, rather than counter-clockwise.

The course itself is built in a stop-start straight-hairpin style, which flows differently than many similarly-sized tracks. By Japanese standards the circuit is exceptionally flat, with only a slight elevation rise towards the hairpin turn. The road course is much busier than the oval track, with Super Formula visiting twice, Super GT and Super Taikyu cars once each, and local events almost every weekend. The road course can be used in three ways: the full course, or two "short courses" can be made, using connecting roadways. These short courses are usually used for junior formula events, such as Formula 4 and FJ1600.

The road course is also a popular motorcycle racing track, with the MotoGP usually visiting once a year, as well as several Japanese national bike racing series. It has hosted the Pacific motorcycle Grand Prix from 2000 to 2003 and the Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix since 2004.

Other facilities

In addition to the main racing complex, Mobility Resort Motegi features a second road course (called the "North Short Course") for karting and Formula 4 events, as well as a 0.250 mi (0.402 km) dirt track for modified and sprint car racing and also standard saloon racing. In addition, the FIM Trials series visits the track every year for the world trials championship. Therefore, an outdoor trials course exists on the facility.

Outside of racing, Mobility Resort Motegi has the Honda Collection Hall, which features historic Honda racing and production cars and motorcycles, and Honda Fan Fun Lab, which features Honda's next generation technologies such as robotics, fuel-cell vehicles and aviation. Honda also operates a technology demonstration center on the site, as well as educational centers.

In 2009, a cafe opened which was named after the Gran Turismo video games.[10][11]

Track difficulties

Mobility Resort Motegi is a separate-but-combined road-and-oval track (as opposed to the "roval" tracks common in the United States), and the decision to include a full road course contained largely within the oval necessitated design compromises. For spectators, sightlines can be extremely poor for road course races, as the grandstands are much further back than usual. The oval course blocks the view of much of the road course, including the best passing point on the track [citation needed], and several large-screen televisions are needed. Seating outside the grandstand is limited to areas of the infield and along the 750 m (820 yd) backstraight of the road course.

Track access is a major concern, with only two entry and exit points by a two-lane public road. Motegi is not a particularly large town, and accommodation is virtually non-existent close to the track, except for the on-site hotel. Train links to the area are extremely limited (the major regional lines, JR East and Tobu Railway do not service the area), nor has a planned superhighway been completed. Thus the stated track capacity (about 65,000) is dictated largely by traffic flow, not by actual seating capacity (estimated to be nearly 100,000 for road-course events, 80,000 for the oval).

In 2011, Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo proposed to boycott the MotoGP race out of fears for their health from radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant even though all the independent scientific experts including the World Health Organization and Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency had stated that it is safe to live permanently 80 km (50 mi) or more from the plant.[12] Motegi is more than 120 km (75 mi) from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. In the end, all the teams showed up for the race.

Layout configurations

  • Map of both road courses and speedway
  • Map of speedway
  • Map of combined road course
  • Map of west road course
  • Map of east road course

Lap records

As of October 2023, the fastest official race lap records at the Mobility Resort Motegi are listed as:

More information Category, Time ...

Events

Current
Former

As a large recently constructed Japanese circuit, Mobility Resort Motegi has and continues to be utilised virtually in a large number of electronic video games, both in arcade machines and in PC and console games for home use.

See also

Access

Bus routes[35]

Notes

  1. Mobility Resort Motegi's Grade 2 license expired 31 December 2023.
  2. The lap time was found by dividing the track length by the speed written in the reference.

References

  1. [1]
    "MOBILITYLAND | Announcing a Name Change of the Company and Twin Ring Motegi". www.mobilityland.co.jp. Archived from the original on 2021-11-04. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
  2. [2]
    Caldwell, Dave (21 April 2008). "Racing to Victory, and Leaving the Men and the Doubters Behind". The New York Times.
  3. [3]
    "Japan dropped from IndyCar calendar". edition.cnn.com. 11 February 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  4. [4]
    "2015 Honda Racing Thanks Day: Takuma & Alonso drove the all-new NSX, production version demo run also conducted". Response.jp. Retrieved 28 June 2020.[permanent dead link]
  5. [5]
    Tate, Adam. "Sato Stars at Honda 'Thanks' Day 2017". Motorsports Tribune. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  6. [6]
    1998 NASCAR Thunder Special Motegi at racing-reference.info
  7. [7]
    1998 race result on champcarstats.com
  8. [8]
    2003 race result on champcarstats.com
  9. [9]
    2010 race result on champcarstats.com
  10. [10]
    "Grand Opening of the Gran Turismo Café at the Twin Ring Motegi Circuit - News - gran-turismo.com". Archived from the original on 2009-11-13. Retrieved 2012-05-09.
  11. [11]
    "Gran Turismo Café opens in Japan". 3 April 2009.
  12. [12]
    "Motorsport Video |Motorsport Highlights, Replays, News, Clips".
  13. [13]
    "2021 Super Formula Motegi 2 Statistics". Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  14. [14]
    "1997 Motegi Formula Nippon". Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  15. [15]
    "Motegi 300 Kilometers GT500 2022". Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  16. [16]
    "Motegi 1000 Kilometres 2006". Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  17. [17]
    "2021 Super Formula Lights Motegi 2 Statistics". Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  18. [18]
    "2018 Motegi Japanese F3 - Round 11". Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  19. [19]
    "Motegi 1000 Kilometres 2007". Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  20. [20]
    "Motegi 300 Kilometers GT300 2022". Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  21. [21]
    "2019 MFJ All Japan Road Race Championship Series Round 1 JSB1000 Final Race-2 Official Result Table". 7 April 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  22. [22]
    "FRJC Motegi Round 10 Results" (PDF). 20 September 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  23. [23]
    "2023 Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS Race 1 - Round 7 - Classification - Provisional" (PDF). 22 July 2023. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  24. [24]
    "2022 MFJ All Japan Road Race Championship Round 1 - ST600 - Race Result" (PDF). 3 April 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  25. [25]
    "2020 Motegi Champion Cup Race Round 4 Porsche Carrera Cup Japan 2020 Final Rd.4 Official Result". 20 September 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  26. [26]
    "2004 Esso Formula Toyota Series Round 8 Final official result table". 24 October 2004. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  27. [27]
    "250 km Motegi 2009". Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  28. [28]
    "WTCC 2015 » Twin Ring Motegi Round 17 Results". Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  29. [29]
    "Toyota's Rin Arakawa becomes new Japanese F4 leader at Motegi". 7 November 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  30. [30]
    "Motegi GT 2000". Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  31. [31]
    "TCR Japan Series 2023 Round 3 Mobility Resort Motegi Saturday Race Results" (PDF). 19 August 2023. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
  32. [32]
    "2023 Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS Race 2 - Round 8 - Classification - Provisional" (PDF). 23 July 2023. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  33. [33]
    "2003 Motegi Indycars". Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  34. [34]
    "1998 NASCAR Thunder Special Motegi Coca-Cola 500 NASCAR Final". 22 November 1998. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  35. [35]
    Access
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