On saturday last week together with my friend James we drove to Fuji International Speedway to try out a new (to us) circuit. It's worth mentioning that there are many circuits/courses at Fuji, the main one being the 4km international racing course I usually drive on, a gymkhana course, a drift course, a kart course, but also a much shorter less known under 1km racing circuit hidden behind a foliage of trees in a valley within the complex.
Shown below is the track layout with the long yellow rectangle representing the pit area. The start/finish line is just below that represented by a checkered flag with an arrow showing direction of movement. Our route for the day was A1/B3/C2.
This track is about 810 meters to 920 meters long depending on which route is designated for the day, has a few uphills and downhills and is generally a very enjoyable little track. Read on for my full impression and if you're interested in more (and can read japanese) click on this link and head to SHORT COURSE.
The traffic to Fuji was a shocker ! James and I left Tokyo seperately but we both got stuck in the same 40km saturday traffic jam which lasted almost 2 hrs. Luckily we both got to the circuit just in time for the 3pm session (the 1st of the 2 sessions we were hoping to attend).
After getting our cars ready we headed out onto the track.
My first lap was about setting up the start/finish line in my PerformanceBox so I basically went out there wearing my usual street seat belt and after registering the correct GPS position I pulled back into the pits and swapped into the racing harness. From then on I drove a few laps trying out different racing lines and getting used to the feel of the car on this somewhat demanding track. After mentally registering what I thought was the best racing line I was ready to attack the circuit.
Shown below is the track layout with the long yellow rectangle representing the pit area. The start/finish line is just below that represented by a checkered flag with an arrow showing direction of movement. Our route for the day was A1/B3/C2.
This track is about 810 meters to 920 meters long depending on which route is designated for the day, has a few uphills and downhills and is generally a very enjoyable little track. Read on for my full impression and if you're interested in more (and can read japanese) click on this link and head to SHORT COURSE.
The traffic to Fuji was a shocker ! James and I left Tokyo seperately but we both got stuck in the same 40km saturday traffic jam which lasted almost 2 hrs. Luckily we both got to the circuit just in time for the 3pm session (the 1st of the 2 sessions we were hoping to attend).
After getting our cars ready we headed out onto the track.
My first lap was about setting up the start/finish line in my PerformanceBox so I basically went out there wearing my usual street seat belt and after registering the correct GPS position I pulled back into the pits and swapped into the racing harness. From then on I drove a few laps trying out different racing lines and getting used to the feel of the car on this somewhat demanding track. After mentally registering what I thought was the best racing line I was ready to attack the circuit.
James chasing me in his red Alpha !
The in-car video below shows a number of laps with the best lap for the day being 37''50 (I dont know why but my PerformanceBox suffered from a few dropouts during my runs and so the sync of video with the GPS location is slightly off)
So how did the track rate ?
Besides finding the 1st corner (entry to A1 route) very tough on my left upper arm I really enjoyed the track ! I especially liked the high speed entry to that very corner ! I know James enjoyed it also because he was flooring it and his left rear was lifting off the ground !
An entry and a subsequent exit (from B3 route) into the back straight was particularly enjoyable !! The car felt great and suffered no understeer ! In fact there were a few moments when I needed to correct oversteer and overall I felt very competitive. I hate to say this but I prefer this track over Tsukuba 1000 ! Tsukuba 1000 is too flat, Fuji short course has the added excitement of uphills and downhills, different angles, speeds.
Big thanks to Tom for showing up and taking nice action shots of the car !
Note to myself, drink plenty of fluids before and during a track day ! I suffered from bad heat exhaustion and felt terrible in the middle of my stints. Had it not been for ice cold water and loads of cool air conditioned air I probably would have called it a day after just 10 mins !
The in-car video below shows a number of laps with the best lap for the day being 37''50 (I dont know why but my PerformanceBox suffered from a few dropouts during my runs and so the sync of video with the GPS location is slightly off)
So how did the track rate ?
Besides finding the 1st corner (entry to A1 route) very tough on my left upper arm I really enjoyed the track ! I especially liked the high speed entry to that very corner ! I know James enjoyed it also because he was flooring it and his left rear was lifting off the ground !
An entry and a subsequent exit (from B3 route) into the back straight was particularly enjoyable !! The car felt great and suffered no understeer ! In fact there were a few moments when I needed to correct oversteer and overall I felt very competitive. I hate to say this but I prefer this track over Tsukuba 1000 ! Tsukuba 1000 is too flat, Fuji short course has the added excitement of uphills and downhills, different angles, speeds.
Big thanks to Tom for showing up and taking nice action shots of the car !
Note to myself, drink plenty of fluids before and during a track day ! I suffered from bad heat exhaustion and felt terrible in the middle of my stints. Had it not been for ice cold water and loads of cool air conditioned air I probably would have called it a day after just 10 mins !
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