The racetrack was the first in Japan and was the scene of historic moments in Formula 1 and in Ayrton Senna's career
A good Formula 1 racetrack needs to be challenging to exploit the talent of the drivers and the limits of the cars. The Suzuka circuit is one of the most traditional in the category and always yields exciting races.
It has been part of the calendar since 1987 and has been the stage for historic moments. Ayrton Senna’s first championship title was decided at the Japanese track in 1988, which began with the Brazilian’s car dying at the start. For Brazilians, Suzuka has always meant the commitment to TV in the early hours of Sunday.
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The following year there was a controversial collision between Senna and Alain Prost. After the accident, the Brazilian managed to return to the pits and finished the race in first, but had the victory annulled by the FIA for cutting a chicane after the crash, helping the Frenchman to be the champion of the season.
This racetrack only exists thanks to Soichiro Honda, founder of the vehicle manufacturer that bears his surname. The businessman said in 1959 that vehicles cannot be improved if they are not placed on a race track.
At the time, Honda only produced motorcycles and wanted to build a racetrack to be able to test faster models. She had also just participated for the first time in the Tourist Trophy, on the Isle of Man.
As Japan did not have a racetrack to be used as a reference, the team responsible for the project had to visit Europe. It was decided that the track should be 6 km long.
The most favorable location for construction was the city of Suzuka, although the city government interpreted the grandstand project as an incentive to bet. After some conversations, Honda convinced the authorities about the true intention of the track.
The layout of the Suzuka racetrack was made by Dutchman John Hugenholtz, who also created the Zandvoort track. It deviates from the usual because it has the eight-man format, it is the only one of its kind currently qualified for F1.
The track is marked by long stretches of high speed, on the original layout the opposite straight after the Spoon turn ended at the open turn 130R and spliced on the starting straight. In 1983 the Casio chicane was placed after the 130R to slow down.
It also has very unique sections, such as the sequence of these and the slow hairpin. The first corner has a decreasing radius and generates good disputes.
The Suzuka circuit opened in 1962 with a race that attracted 100,000 spectators. The site also began to work as a Honda test track. The Japanese manufacturer owns the track.
Soichiro Honda’s enthusiasm for speed is also seen in the way the brand started making cars. The brand’s first serial production model was the S500, a sports roadster with an engine that reached 8 thousand rpm.
This sporty lineage appeared again in spicy versions of the Civic and the Prelude coupe during the 1970s. Honda’s first supercar was the NSX, which had much of the development carried out at Suzuka and had the help of Ayrton Senna.
Senna’s relationship with Suzuka is so intense that in 2013, Honda’s engineers reproduced the perfect lap of the three-time champion in 1989. They used telemetry data to play with LED lights and the sound of the V10 Honda that equipped the McLaren MP4/5. The show had the exact 1:38.041, which is the time of one of Senna’s best laps on the track.
Today this is the only test track by a manufacturer to be part of the Formula 1 calendar.
