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31-613: In the 1990s, Sendai hosted rounds of the Japanese Touring Car Championship and Japanese Grand Touring Championship . It also hosted All-Japan Formula Three Championship races until 2007. On October 17, 2010, the Japanese mountain race track hosted the sixth race in the 2010 Super Taikyu Endurance Series. The raceway was damaged by earthquake in 2011 until it was closed in September 2014. As of today

62-424: A bottom piece that could be unscrewed and moved forward, acting as a splitter, and a rear spoiler with a pair of extensions, giving the car more downforce. When Alfa Romeo won the first five rounds, Ford, supported by Vauxhall, made a complaint to the race stewards. TOCA soon decided the aero devices were illegal and Alfa Romeo were stripped of the points they earned at Snetterton and Silverstone (although this decision

93-472: A minimum of four doors and no smaller than the Euro NCAP ' Small Family Car ' class, although ' Large Family Car ' tends to dominate the category. Until 1995, teams were only permitted to fit aerodynamic device that were available through dealers, but that changed when, in 1994 BTCC season, Alfa Romeo entered a 155 with Gabriele Tarquini and Giampiero Simoni as drivers. The car had a front spoiler with

124-513: A restricted size. Restrictions varied depending on body type, with Volvo having to revert from the 850 Estate to their four-door saloon model the following season when they found themselves to be disadvantaged by the new rules. In the Italian Supertourismo category, teams entered extended spoilers without complaints. Some series however, would change the rules to suit crowd demands and competition from rival series. One example

155-576: A void left after the end of the 2.5-litre V6 -powered Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) in 1996. In 2000, the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (keeping the 'DTM' acronym) resumed with 4.0-litre V8 -powered cars. The Super Touring cars were required to be a minimum of 4.20 metres (13.8 ft) in length, with four doors, effectively requiring a small family saloon car as a minimum. No more than 2 litres engine capacity, maximum of six  cylinders were permitted, and

186-493: The British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) in 1990. The FIA organised a World Cup for the category each year from 1993 to 1995, and adopted the term "Super Tourer" from 1995. Super Touring replaced Group A as the norm in nearly every touring car championship across the world, but escalating costs, and the withdrawal of works teams caused the category to collapse in the late 1990s because of

217-544: The British Touring Car Championship after leaving the JTCC, however those programs were run by their respective European branches with independently managed budgets and teams. In 1999, a new formula using spaceframe cars, renamed Super Silhouette Car Championship came to nothing and the series was abandoned altogether as by then, Japan's big three auto manufacturers had works entries in the JGTC, now known as Super GT . The JTCC

248-587: The E110 Corolla . The final round of the inaugural Supertouring-era season was also part of the 1994 Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship . 1995 saw the Supertouring-era's only all-foreign championship victory with Steve Soper in a Team Schnitzer BMW 318i . By 1997, as the Class II formula cars became more expensive and complicated - a problem that started to plague international series using

279-671: The Fuji Grand Champion Series . The series was incorporated and then later dissolved in 1984 by the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship . The series then saw a revival in 1985 for Group A cars, and as was done in other countries, there were three divisions and by the late 1980s, division 3 would be fought between Toyota Supras , Nissan Skylines and the European Ford Sierra RS500 , whilst division 2

310-576: The TCR Japan Touring Car Series in 2019 , under TCR regulations and as support to Super Formula ; TCR cars had been previously allowed to race in Super Taikyu Series in 2017. During the championship's life, one fatal accident occurred: Akira Hagiwara was killed in a 1986 Sportsland SUGO testing session after he crashed into a barrier and his car burst into flames. ( Italics indicates co-driver who scored

341-605: The TCR Japan Touring Car Series , began in 2019, using TCR regulations. The series had its start from the late 1960s and was dominated by the C10 Skyline GT-Rs until the Mazda Savanna RX-3 ended its dominance of the series. With the emergence of Group 5 cars in the latter half of the 1970s, the series was succeeded in 1979 by the Super Silhouette class, which was held as a support race to

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372-645: The M3s in the secondary category, whereas the JTC-3 division (the top and lowest divisions swapped numbers in 1988) only consisted of Corollas and Civics. For the following year, the series would switch to the FIA Supertouring formula. The cars entered by Japan's big three manufacturers for the then-new formula were initially the Nissan Primera , Honda Civic Ferio , Accord , and Toyota Corona as well as

403-673: The aftermath of the 1999 race. In 2000, in the absence of a rival, the V8 Supercars event took up the Bathurst 1000 name. During the Super Touring's long run, the category suffered two fatal accidents. In 1995, Gregg Hansford at Phillip Island , and Kieth O'dor at Avus , were involved in fatal accidents as a result of a broken neck caused by their cars' being hit side-on . Soon after, rollcages in competition cars with built-in side impact bars, and seats with head restraints on

434-448: The cars look sportier. Cars under Super 2000 regulations were cheaper than their predecessors, to which serious modifications had to be made to allow for wider tires, lower ride height and different suspension. As the width of Super 2000 cars does not need to be the same as that of the production models, development costs can be kept lower. Various national championships use similar rules. Although it bears no resemblance to its predecessor,

465-470: The chance to compete at Bathurst after race organisers could not come to terms with V8 Supercars. Bathurst City Council and V8 Supercars came to a separate arrangement to host their own breakaway "Australian 1000 Classic" race. Super Touring did not become a viable option, and the third and final race was transformed into a motorsport carnival, with several categories attending and the Super Touring event halved to 500 kilometres (310 mi), before collapsing in

496-426: The engine was required to be naturally aspirated. Only two wheels could be driven and steered. For homologation , initially at least 2500 units of the model used must have been produced. In 1995, in a bid to counter the increasing numbers of homologation specials, this number was increased to at least 25,000 units. There was no restriction on body size and doors until 1993, when it was changed to only allow cars with

527-746: The former raceway is now a solar-power park. 1995 action film Thunderbolt has a car racing scene filmed at Sendai. The fastest official race lap records at the Sendai Hi-Land Raceway are listed as: This article about a sports venue in Japan is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a motor sport venue is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Japanese Touring Car Championship The Japanese Touring Car Championship (abbr: 1985–1993: JTC , 1994–1998: JTCC , officially known as All Japan Touring Car Championship , Japanese: 全日本ツーリングカー選手権 )

558-485: The loosely regulated aerodynamics required the team to invest resources equivalent as a professional Formula 1 team, and the 8,500-rpm speed limit required the team to use extremely unusual construction in engine modifications to allow the engine to break through more than 300 horsepower. An example for this was the German Super Tourenwagen Cup (STW) series, which ran from 1994 to 1999, filling

589-589: The race. In 1987 , InterTEC was also part of the World Touring Car Championship calendar. The "Super TEC" name used for the Fuji 24 Hours race serves as a tribute to the former InterTEC race. By 1993, like many other Group A series, the series had ended up becoming a one make affair with the GT-R solely appearing in the top category (which maintained a four-year undefeated streak), followed by

620-502: The ruleset - and due to heavy competition from JGTC , organisers would make changes to the rules to suit fan and attendee demands for closer and more competitive racing. Rule changes included increased body width (allowing Toyota to use the larger Toyota Chaser ) and increased exhaust noise limits, as well as implementing restrictions on front aerodynamic devices. In 1998, the withdrawals of Nissan due to financial problems and Honda leaving to concentrate on its Formula One program (at

651-419: The same number of points as first place, but was classified second due to completing less mileage) The JTC-1 class, also known as Division 1, was eligible for cars with displacements of 2,501 cc or higher. Between 1985 and 1987 it was known as Division 3. The JTC-2 class, also known as Division 2, was eligible for cars with displacements between 1,601 – 2,500 cc. The JTC-3 class, also known as Division 3,

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682-643: The series was abandoned altogether, as by then Japan's big three all had works entries in the then- JGTC . In Australia, the series began in 1993 when the Group A regulations for the Australian Touring Car Championship series was replaced by Supercars Group 3A Formula (known as V8 Supercars from 1997 onwards) and Super Touring. The advent of a new management structure and telecast arrangement for V8 Supercars put them in conflict with Bathurst 1000 organisers. Super Touring were offered

713-517: The side would become mandatory. One reason for Super Touring's demise was the cost of preparing a car for competition. In 1990, a Vauxhall Cavalier cost £60,000. By the later part of the 90s a similar car with more sophisticated aerodynamics device and telemetry cost £250,000. The later World Touring Car Championship Super 2000 regulations were inspired by the Super Touring regulations, with production-based four-door saloons powered by 2.0-litre engines. Wider wheel arches are allowed, which makes

744-526: The time, an engine supply operation by Mugen Motorsports ) and also realising it would be less expensive for them to race their NSX in the Japanese Grand Touring Championship left Toyota as the sole factory manufacturer to have cars competing using their Corona EXIVs and Chasers . Occasionally, a pair of independently run Subaru Impreza wagons did race against the factory Toyotas. Both Nissan and Honda did take part in

775-455: Was a former touring car racing series held in Japan . The series was held under various regulations during its existence, including international categories such as Group A and Super Touring , which allowed both Japanese and foreign built cars to compete. The final edition of the championship was held in 1998, although a failed attempt at a relaunch was planned for 2012. A relaunched series,

806-479: Was eligible for cars with displacements of 1,600 cc or lower. Between 1985 and 1987 it was known as Division 1. Supertouring Super Touring , Class 2 or Class II was a motor racing Touring Cars category defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for national touring car racing in 1993. It was based on the "2 litre Touring Car Formula" created for

837-522: Was later reversed by appeal) and in return, walked out from the Oulton Park race. After this, Alfa were forced to run their spoilers in the retracted position (the position in which the spoilers were fitted on the road going version, the Alfa 155 Silverstone – of which only 2,500 cars were homologated to allow the use of the aerodynamic devices and higher rev limits for a 1.8-litre car – though the road car

868-768: Was mainly fought between BMW M3s and division 1 was disputed between the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla . Their biggest race of the season was the InterTEC  [ ja ] 500 km (International Touring Car Endurance Championship) which took place at Fuji Speedway in November, which often attracted the top teams and drivers from the European and Australian championships. Top touring car drivers such as Tom Walkinshaw , Peter Brock , Allan Moffat , Allan Grice and Klaus Niedzwiedz often travelled to Fuji for

899-574: Was sold with two unfitted spoiler extension brackets). In the meantime, Renault and BMW responded by introducing their own limited edition road cars (Laguna Airflow and 318is, respectively) to enable them to run with oversized aerodynamic aids; Renault would win the Oulton Park race that Alfa Romeo had walked out. Soon after that, the FIA changed the regulation in all series to increase minimum number of produced road cars for homologation to 25,000, and allowing cars to only use non-production aerodynamic devices with

930-423: Was the Japanese Touring Car Championship (JTCC), which made increases to body width and exhaust noise while restricting front aerodynamic devices in 1997 (which allowed Toyota to use the larger Toyota Chaser ); it ultimately backfired when Nissan and Honda left the series at the end of the season, leaving Toyota as the only manufacturer that competed. In 1999, a new formula using spaceframe cars came to nothing, and

961-574: Was to be resurrected in 2013, with Super 2000 car regulations and a calendar consisting of five races in Japan and one in China, in partnership with the Chinese Touring Car Championship . The series had originally planned to return in 2012, but this was indefinitely delayed due to Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that occurred earlier , and it was never heard around since 2014. Touring car racing ultimately returned to Japan with

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