August 4, 2010
Car Racing In Japan
Japan is one of the leading nations in the fields of scientific research particularly technology, the world's largest producer of automobiles and home to six of the world's fifteen largest automobile manufacturers. Some of Japan's more prominent technological contributions are found in the fields of electronics, automobiles, machinery, and industrial equipments. In addition to its massive automobile industry, Japan also is the home to manufacturers of other types of vehicles, like power sports vehicle manufacturers Kawasaki and Yamaha, and heavy equipment manufacturers Kubota, Komatsu, and Hitachi Heavy Industries. It is home to some of the world's largest automotive companies such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Yamaha, Mazda, Subaru, etc.
Car racing in japan has been popular since 1960. The prestige of Ferrari, BMW, Porsche, Lotus, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, and Aston Martin derives its part from success in sports car racing and the World Sports car Championship. As early as the 1960s sports car racers of small capacity and also from local version Group 7 cars were popular. From the early 1960s small-capacity sports racers and even a local version of the Group 7 cars as raced in Can-Am were popular.The Canadian- American challenge which was held during the period from 1966 to 1974. The Group 7 category was essentially a formule libre for sports cars, the regulations were minimal and permitted unlimited engine sizes, virtually unrestricted aerodynamics, and were as close as any major international racing series.The Group 7 cars were specially designed for small distance sprints and not for long duration races. Some of the Group 7 cars wrere manufactured by Nissan and Toyota but these cars did not compete otside their own country.
The origianl form of sports car racing in japan was held till the 1990s. At present the Super GT series provides high-budget exposure to manufacturers, with many international drivers appearing. Moreover the Super GT series, formerly known as the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship or JGTC, is a grand touring car race series promoted by the GT-Association. The JGTC-established in 1994 by the JAF (Japanese Automobile Federation) via its subsidiary company the GT-A (GT Association)-replaced the defunct All Japan Sports Prototype Championship for Group C cars that was terminated by the end of 1994 and in the same year Japanese Touring Car Championship for Group A touring cars, which would adopt the super touring formula which was used worldwide.
Super GT, the series is held only in two countries (Japan and Malaysia); the series can return to be authorized by JAF to be called Japanese Championship. The cars are basically divided into two groups: GT300 and GT500. To ensure high level excitement, both GT500 and GT300 groups are run at the same time but points are awarded separately for each group. The Japanese manufacturers have also been frequent visitors to the US sports car scene (Nissan and Toyota in particular during the heyday of IMSA) and to the European scene, in particular Le Mans, where despite many years of trying by all, Japanese marquees the only victory to have been scored by a Japanese marquee was by Mazda in 1991.
Recommended Reading
- Formula Drifting In Japan
- Champ Car Racing
- Car Racing
- Car Racing Tracks
- History Of Car Racing

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