Japan: Suzuka track facts

JV at Suzuka
By Phil Huff (08/10/2003)
October 8 2003

Built by Honda as a test circuit in 1962, Suzuka was designed by John Hugenholtz, who also produced Zandvoort and Jarama. The circuit is situated on the island of Honshu, which is also home to Tokyo, Yokohama and Osaka, and is just one component of a giant amusement park and other facilities.

Suzuka itself has an 18-turn figure-of-eight course that is unique in F1. It begins with a fast 5th gear bend that tightens to lead into a series of fast S-bends. Spoon curve and the legendary 130R are the other great challenges on this popular driver's circuit.

Overtaking is normally done into the slowest corner on the track, the 40mph Casio Triangle chicane at the end of the lap. More difficult passing moves can be performed into the 140mph First Corner and very occasionally at the Turn 11 Hairpin.

In 2002, the circuit was reduced in length, courtesy of some realigning of several key corners to provide greater run-off areas. Retaining walls were also moved back and the track slightly altered at the S-Curves and Dunlop Curves. For 2003, this programme of modernisation and reprofiling has continued with 130R, tweaked into a two-radii sweeper to provide a faster and more fluent corner and an earlier turn-in. More changes come at the revised Casino Triangle chicane, which is now more open than before. These alterations have cut a further 14 metres from last year's lap, but it is unclear how much that will affect overall lap times.

• Suzuka is the home of Honda's Racing School whose graduates include Takuma Sato, reserve driver for BAR Honda.
  
• Suzuka circuit was built by Honda over 40 years ago and was the first full-scale race track in Japan.
  
• Honda-powered drivers have won the Japanese Grand Prix three times: Ayrton Senna in 1988 and 1989, Gerhard Berger in 1991.

Race Distance Circuit Length Race Start

53 laps, 191.126 miles (307.573 km). 3.608 miles (5.807 km). 14.30 local time (06:30 BST)