A weekend at Fuji Speedway

THE JAPAN Challenge Cup was participated in by Ferraris, Aston Martins, Lamborghinis, Lotuses and Porsches GT3s.

If you regularly read this column, you will know that I am one of the founders of Tuason Racing School. You will also know that I have a strong relationship with everything motorsports, by virtue of marrying a racecar driver.

Through this predicament of having complete access to everything motoring related—both technical and practical—but still maintaining a lay person’s mentality when it comes to the subject, Chicdriven was born.

So once in a while, besides helping you go through the “men are from Mars” motoring dilemma, I will also give you a glimpse of what my life is like.

I spent a weekend at Fuji Speedway for work. Fuji Speedway is a 4.6-kilometer racetrack at the foot of Mt. Fuji (duh?!) near Tokyo. Originally owned by Mitsubishi but recently acquired by Toyota Motor Corp., the Speedway was built in the early 1960s and hosted the Formula One races in 2007 and 2008 before returning to the Honda-owned Suzuka Circuit.

On an aside, rejoice fellow Chicdrivers. If going to the place at any time in the future, take note that the Gotemba Premium Outlets is only 20 minutes away. It has Prada, Valentino, Tod’s and Bottega Veneta, aside from others.

But that was not the reason we were there in the area. We were there to see the One Make Race Festival, which featured about 200 cars of different makes and models.

As you may have guessed, we were looking at how such events are organized.

Our group was invited by one of the organizers, the TRS Team. We were alongside the team from Toyota Motor Philippines, whose members were like hyperactive kids on a field trip to a candy factory.

The weekend featured the Japan Challenge Cup, which was participated by Ferraris, Aston Martins, Lamborghinis, Lotuses and Porsches GT3s.

The boys felt like schoolgirls in a soiree when the engines of around 15 supercars roared at the drop of the green flag.

Also featured last weekend was the Nissan GT-R Prestige Cup and the Gazoo Racing 86/BRZ Race Cup, which fielded the most number of competitors—at 150.

A TOYOTA concept vehicle

The Gazoo Race had three divisions: Clubman A and B, and the professional class. Since the Toyota 86 and the Subaru BRZ share the same platform, they were able to race together in what could very well be one of the biggest grids I have seen.

We also saw the Dunlop Vita Cup, a one-make race (OMR) for cars that use Vitz engines. The Formula 4 Race Cup, on the other hand, gave the spectators some open-wheel racing excitement: the Inter Proto Race, which shared the grid with the Lexus ISF Cup.

In the Inter Proto class, small Japanese carmakers raced prototypes with 3-liter engines.

Most of well-known car manufacturers today took this route to stardom: They created race machines before producing cars for the road.

When we started organizing OMRs in 2004, beginning with the Ford Lynx Cup, we had only six drivers. Today, there are almost 50 cars competing in the Vios Cup.

In Japan, whose motorsports industry is at First World level, the 86/BRZ Cup has 150 competing cars, showing the success of this kind of racing.

In different parts of the world, there are different one-make series with small cars like the Suzuki Sprint to more expensive machines like Ferraris and Lamborghinis participating.

OMR is an important platform to help promote grassroots motorsports. It is the easiest way for an aspirant to enter the sport.

OMRs remove the headaches from the racers: they don’t need to worry too much about setting up the cars, what tires to use, or how to map the engines—they just have to concentrate on the driving.

Usually in OMRs, the organizers control most of the components, which helps in keeping the cost down. It is also easier to police since everything is sealed, thus preventing cheating. As a training ground, it is also economical, rather than going straightaway to open-class races.

We capped the day by raiding, not the outlet stores, but the track souvenir shop. Affinity to teams and car brands has created another big industry within any sport. A sticker on the phone, and shirt to wear at home are all part of the motorsports experience.

With the aspiration to be part of a winning team and of becoming a racecar driver, One Make Race takes people closer to realizing this dream.

For comments and suggestions, please e-mail me at jnt@chicdriven.com or follow me on Instagram @chicdriven, or on Twitter/chicdriven, or like my page on Facebook.