Autopolis
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 Hita
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| Route type: | permanent race track | ||
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| Opening: | 1990 | ||
| Track layout | |||
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| Route data | |||
| Route length: | 4.673 km (2.9 mi ) | ||
| Records | |||
| Track record: | 1: 26,469 min. ( Naoki Yamamoto , Team Mugen , Dallara SF14 , 2014, 2014) |
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| Route data | |||
| Route length: | 3.022 km (1.88 mi ) | ||
| Route data | |||
| Route length: | 1.761 km (1.09 mi ) | ||
| www.autopolis.jp | |||
Coordinates: 33 ° 2 ′ 7.8 ″ N , 130 ° 58 ′ 13.7 ″ E
Autopolis ( Japanese オ ー ト ポ リ ス , Ōtoporisu ) is an international race track in what is now the Kamitsuemachi -Kaminoda district of the city of Hita in Ōita Prefecture in Japan. The track opened in 1990 and is now used for national racing series.
history
The route is located in Aso Kujū National Park and was commissioned by real estate broker and investment banker Tomonori Tsurumaki for an estimated US $ 500 million . Tsurumaki caused a stir in 1989 when he bought a painting by Pablo Picasso for 51.3 million US dollars at an auction in Paris from a hotel in Tokyo . He then announced that he wanted to hang the painting in the art gallery of the racetrack, which was under construction at the time. After that, the art gallery was provided with further paintings by renowned artists.
The track was designed by Yoshitoshi Sakurai who was the Honda F1 project manager in the 1960s.
For the opening race, Tsurumaki ordered 30 “Saber Cars”, in which invited CART drivers like Stan Fox , Johnny Rutherford , Dick Simon , Gary Bettenhausen and Tony Bettenhausen competed against local Japanese drivers. Then Tsurumaki planned a racing series with these vehicles under the name Formula Crane 45 , which in 1991 drove only a few races with a small field of participants. In 1991 , the Autopolis 430 km race was the season finale of the sports car world championship , won by Michael Schumacher and Karl Wendlinger in a Mercedes-Benz C291 from Sauber .
The organizers wanted to bring Formula 1 to Autopolis and so it was decided to sponsor Benetton in 1990 and 1991. However, it was still criticized that the route was remote from hotels and therefore not suitable for Formula 1. Tsurumaki was a guest at the 1992 Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril . During his stay, $ 250,000 worth of jewelry and cash were stolen from him.
Autopolis was listed in the draft of the FIA for the racing calendar of the Formula 1 season 1993 as the Grand Prix of the Pacific , but was then canceled again before the season. Tsurumaki's company went bankrupt in 1993. The track, including the paintings in the art gallery, ended up in the hands of Hazama Corporation , which was responsible for building the track. Instead of the Autopolis race, Donington Park returned to the racing calendar.
Autopolis was offered for sale in 1995 for 10% of the construction cost, but was not bought by Kawasaki until 2005 .
Nowadays, Super GT , Super Formula , All Japan Road Race Championship and Super Taikyu races take place on the track.
The distance
The route is about 800 meters above sea level, which means that the air pressure is low. The difference in height between the individual passages is more than 50 meters.
Web links
- Official Website (Japanese)
Individual evidence
- ^ Japanese Developer Buys Picasso at Record Price - New York Times
- ^ F1 News - Grandprix.com> GP Encyclopedia> Circuits> Nippon Autopolis
- ^ The Art of a Failed Economy www.japaninc.com
- ↑ Autopolis on RacingCircuits.info
- ↑ Kawasaki Takes Over Autopolis Racing Course - News Releases KHI, March 2005 ( Memento from December 10, 2005 in the Internet Archive )