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20-702: The series was sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and ran by the GT Association (GTA). Autobacs has served as the title sponsor of the series since 1998. The JGTC (Japanese Grand Touring Championship) was established in 1993 by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) via its subsidiary company the GTA (GT Association), replacing the defunct All Japan Sports Prototype Championship for Group C cars and

40-631: A car in the Japanese Grand Prix . In 1974, the first of the Autobacs stores, the "Autobacs Higashi Osaka Store", was opened in Daitō , Osaka. The following year, Autobacs would run its first franchisee store, the "Autobacs Hakodate Nakamichi Store" in Hakodate , Hokkaidō . In 1977, Autobacs would start to develop and sell its own motor oil and tires to be sold in its own stores. At

60-570: A good percentage of his body which may have been prevented if JGTC, at the time, had sufficient emergency response. Ota filed a lawsuit against the racing club plus organizers for negligence and won the sum of ¥90 million ( US$ 800,000 ). Although there are presently no fatalities during a JGTC or Super GT race meeting, Shingo Tachi , the 1998 GT300 champion, was killed during a testing accident in TI Circuit Aida on March 11, 1999. Tachi's GT500 Toyota Supra, belonging to Team LeMans, suffered

80-584: A result of the Lost Decade . In 2001, it was acquired by Autobacs, which renamed its car manufacturing arm ASL (Autobacs Sportscar Laboratory), thus allowing the aftermarket parts manufacturer to continue trading with its usual name. The first car planned to be produced by ASL was the Garaiya . As none were sold, there is not much known about ASL nor the Garaiya, only that it is a small sports car based on

100-750: A team formed by Autobacs and Japanese former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki . After the Super GT rule changes in 2012 that prohibited low-volume production cars from entering races, the Garaiya is no longer able to race in the series. Similarly, the Garaiya RS01 (also known as simply the RS01) was a second attempt at the ZZII , which was to be a larger and faster accompaniment to the ZZ with a variety of engines ranging from 2.0 to 3.5 litres to fit various racing regulations, as it

120-479: A technical failure and was unable to slow down for the first corner; Tachi crashed into the tyre wall at unabated speed, suffering massive chest injuries from the steering wheel and was pronounced dead an hour later. Masahiko Kageyama and Morio Nitta are tied for the record of most drivers championship won in GT1/GT300 class with three. Masahiko Kageyama was the first driver to win multiple championship as well as

140-506: Is notable for surviving a fiery multi-car pileup he was involved in during a JGTC race at Fuji Speedway on May 3, 1998. The accident was initially caused by an oversaturated track. Ota then aquaplaned and left the track which put him directly into an already crashed Porsche. At the time of the accident, the Ferrari Ota was driving had a full cell of fuel which was ignited by the impact. Ota was severely injured due to third-degree burns on

160-464: Is permanent, and may only change hands when the team exits the series. In addition, only defending team champions in GT500 are allowed to use number 1, although it isn't mandatory for defending champions to use that number. For easy identification, GT500 cars run white headlight covers, windshield decals, and number panels, while GT300 cars run yellow versions of those items. Japanese driver Tetsuya Ota

180-503: The Japanese Touring Car Championship for Group A touring cars, which instead would adopt the supertouring formula. Seeking to prevent the spiraling budgets and one-team/make domination of both series, JGTC imposed strict limits on horsepower, and heavy weight penalties on race winners in an openly stated objective to keep on-track action close with an emphasis on keeping fans happy. In its first season,

200-529: The Tommykaira ZZ , with an output of around 180 hp (130 kW) from a Nissan SR20VE engine and a weight of approximately 900 kg (2,000 lb). Customers would take part in the final development of their car's suspension to tailor it to their preferences or driving style. A modified Garaiya was fielded in the GT300 class of Super GT from 2003 through 2012 by Autobacs Racing Team Aguri ,

220-558: The American series join the field. The 1000 km Suzuka also saw a greater variety of competitors, with Group C prototypes, Group N touring cars, and GT cars from Europe and IMSA all joining the field. For the following season, the series would undergo a rules overhaul, creating a class for the FIA 's GT1 category, and another for the GT2 category. The JSS series would altogether dissolve into

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240-439: The GT500 and GT300 classes continue to form the top level of Japanese sports car racing today. The cars are divided into two groups: GT300 and GT500. The names of the categories derive from their traditional maximum horsepower limit - in the early years of the series, GT500 cars would have no more than 500 horsepower while GT300 cars would max out at around 300 hp and have far less downforce than their GT500 counterparts. While

260-581: The JGTC grid mostly consisted of Japan Super Sport Sedan  [ ja ] cars, with the only genuine JGTC cars being a Nismo -entered Nissan Skyline GT-R and Nissan Silvia S13 , of which the GT-R was a modified AWD Group A car. An exception was the first race of the season, which was also an exhibition race of the IMSA GT Championship , and therefore saw a contingent of GTS and GTU cars from

280-407: The current generation of engines in GT500 and GT300 cars produced a horsepower output in excess of the traditional limit, the limit stayed in place throughout the entirety of the JGTC era. In both groups, the car number is assigned to the team, in which each team is allowed to choose whichever number they want as long as the number isn't already used by any other team. The number assigned to each team

300-480: The end of the 1995 season, as the cost of obtaining and running a GT1 car had dramatically increased, the JGTC would go through another rules overhaul in order to lower costs and avoid the fate of the JSPC series it had replaced. The newly formed GT500 and GT300 regulations were adopted, which capped cars with air restrictors depending on their amount of weight and horsepower. While the regulations would continuously evolve,

320-532: The end of the decade, Autobacs opened its 100th store, and in 1984 opened its 200th store. The company's name was officially changed from Fuji Shokai to Autobacs in March of 1980. On 11 July 2005, Autobacs entered a collaboration agreement with UK retailer Halfords . On 13 December 2005, Autobacs acquired 5% of the company (11,400,000 shares) at approximately ¥7.5 billion. In the late 1990s, specialty car manufacturer Tommykaira ran into financial difficulties as

340-571: The latter category. What made the series more significant was that compared to other racing series, JGTC teams at the time had the freedom to enter whichever cars they preferred, even if it was the JSS cars from the inaugural season or spaceframe racers from the IMSA GTS class. However, the Group C prototypes, whilst easily showing dominant form, were banned from the series from the 1995 season onwards. By

360-661: The products the company provided prior to its renaming to Autobacs in 1980: "Seven" in the company name is said to reflect Autobacs's philosophy of searching for seventh products for customers. Autobacs was founded by Toshio Sumino in 1947 in Fukushima-ku , Osaka as Suehiro Shokai Co., Ltd. , which was reorganized into Fuji Shokai Co., Ltd. a year later. In 1960, Sumino opened the Fuji Drive Shop, Japan's first large-scale automotive goods store, and in 1969 he became involved in motorsport sponsorship by sponsoring

380-573: The sport's first two-time and three-time champion, all of them won consecutively. Autobacs Seven Autobacs Seven Co., Ltd. ( 株式会社オートバックスセブン , Kabushiki-gaisha Ōtobakkusu Sebun ) ( TYO : 9832 ) is a retailer of automotive parts and accessories based in Japan , with branches primarily in Asia and stores also located in France . Autobacs was given a backronym as follows, which reflects

400-571: Was designed to be an FIA -spec racing car with a road version and a target weight of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). The prototype was fitted with a modified RB26DETT engine producing 542 hp (404 kW) and also featured the R34 Skyline GT-R 's ATTESA-ETS all-wheel drive system. Shingo Tachi Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include

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