Fuji 339

Fuji

Built in the shadow of Mount Fuji, plans for this circuit originally called for an American-style 2.

Built in the shadow of Mount Fuji, plans for this circuit originally called for an American-style 2.5-mile superspeedway with 30-degree banking and a road course. But the money ran out before both ends of banking could be built, leaving a 6 km road course with a fearsome banked curve at one end. In 1974, the organisers changed the direction of the circuit to clockwise and added a new downhill right-hand first corner that bypassed the banking. Fuji first held a round of the F1 World Championship two years later, in which James Hunt struggled through the rain to snatch the title. A year later, Gilles Villeneuve's Ferrari somersaulted into a prohibited area, killing a marshal and the spectator he was trying to move. Fuji lost the Grand Prix after that and a round of the World Sportscar Championship was the highlight from 1982-88. Now owned by Toyota, Fuji was rebuilt in 2005 and it twice held the Grand Prix that decade. The 2007 event was hampered by transportation woes and poor spectator facilities and the following year's race was run in torrential rain.

Circuit

Type

Permanent road course

Length

2.835 (Miles)

Change

Circuit rebuilt using the same start/finish straight

Fastest Race Lap

Felipe Massa (Ferrari F2008), 1m18.426, 130.135 mph, F1, 2008

Fastest Qualifying Lap

Felipe Massa (Ferrari F2008), 1m17.287, 132.053 mph, F1, 2008

Type

Permanent road course

Length

2.734 (Miles)

Change

Suntory Chicane built after first corner

Fastest Race Lap

Naoki Hattori (Reynard 01L-Mugen), 1m17.728, 126.626 mph, Formula Nippon, 2002

Type

Permanent road course

Length

2.759 (Miles)

Change

Dunlop Chicane built at the last corner

Fastest Race Lap

Klaus Ludwig (Porsche 962), 1m21.795, 121.431 mph, Sports Cars, 1988

Fastest Qualifying Lap

Oscar Larrauri (Porsche 962), 1m16.519, 129.804 mph, Sports Cars, 1986

Type

Permanent road course

Length

2.709 (Miles)

Change

Banking bypassed and direction reversed to clockwise

Fastest Race Lap

Jody Scheckter (Wolf WR3-Ford), 1m14.3, 131.258 mph, F1, 1977

Fastest Qualifying Lap

Stefan Bellof (Porsche 956), 1m10.02, 139.280 mph, Sports Cars, 1983

Type

Permanent road course

Length

3.728 (Miles)

Change

Original circuit with banking at eastern end of the circuit. Early races run in anticlockwise direction before being changed on safety grounds

Latest Races

3,413

Championships

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19,330

Results

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25,216

Drivers

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14,546

Teams

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917

Circuits

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