IT’S AWESOME!Introduction to SUPER GTSUPER GT is Japan’s premiertouring car competitionfeaturing heavily-modifiedproduction cars (or those designedto be commercially available). GTstands for Grand Touring – a highperformancecar that is capableof high speed and long-distancedriving. SUPER GT is a longdistancecompetition driven by acouple of drivers per car sharingthe driving duty. The cars lining upto compete in the top class GT500are from the Big 3 Japaneseautomakers while domestic andoverseas manufacturers go upagainst each other in the otherclass GT300. One of the greatestexcitements of SUPER GT is amixed format that GT500 and 300cars run the same race as a pack.It has brought the series to the topfavorite motorsport in Japan.■SUPER GT has a full of world-class drivers and team directorsDrivers participating in SUPER GT are well be ranked among the world topdrivers. Many of them started their career from junior karting competitions, andeventually stepped up into higher racing categories. Just as with baseball andfootball, SUPER GT has many world-class talents from both home and abroad.Furthermore, most teams appoint former drivers to team directors who haveachieved successful career in the top categories including Formula One andthe 24 Hours of Le Mans. This has made the series establish a leading positionin the Japanese motor racing, creating even more exciting and dramatic battlesto attract millions of fans globally.■Championship battles to go down to the wireSUPER GT car is driven by two drivers sharing the driving duty. Driver pointsare awarded to the top ten finishers in each race, and the driver duo who earnsthe most points over the course of the season becomes the champion. Toequalize competitiveness and avoid any runaway champion, a weight handicap(success ballast) is assigned to carsaccording to the drivers’ pointsscored in the previous race. Itreduces any single car’s chance ofdomination over the season, therebythe championship is highly likely to godown to the wire!2
■Two types of motor racingMotor racing is classified roughly into twogroups according to forms of racecar used.One is “formula car racing” featuring openwheel,single-seated cars designed exclusivelyfor races. F1 is the best-known category in thisgroup. The other is “touring car racing” withheavily-modified street cars. SUPER GTbelongs to this group.Touring car racingCars seen on the streets, with closed cockpitare referred to as “touring cars”. Touring carracing has many series worldwide. Somefeature production vehicles that remainunmodified, whereas others, such as SUPERGT, involve considerably modified cars.Formula car racingFormula cars come with open-wheel andopen cockpit. The cars are lighter thanproduction vehicles and have excellentacceleration and cornering speed. As thesecars are primarily intended to produce higherspeed, they are single-seated.■Big race with over 20-year history1994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015The All-Japan GT Championship begins with a total of five series races.Regulations include a two-class system (GT1, GT2) and a weighthandicap. The first champions are the GT-R (GT1) and Porsche (GT2).Six series racesClass names changed to GT500 and GT300 to represent expectedhorsepower of the cars. Having two drivers per car became arequirement starting this year. First all-star race held in addition to the sixseries races (Central circuit)With the Honda NSX joining the race officially, the GT500 competitionnow stretches between three large manufacturers, including Toyota(Supra) and Nissan (GT-R). Six series races and an all-star race (Motegi) held.Maximum race distance now 500km. Seven races and an all-star race (TICircuit Aida) held.Seven races and an all-star race (Autopolis) held.Japan GT festival in Malaysia special race (first ever abroad) held on topof the seven series races.Seven series races and a continuation of the special Malaysia race fromthe previous year.Eight series races held, one of which is the first regular overseas race inMalaysia (fourth round).Eight series races.Seven series races and an all-star race held in California, United States. InGT500, the Fairlady Z appears in place of the GT-R.Series name changed to SUPER GT. Eight series races.Nine series races. In GT500, the SC430 appears in place of the Supra.Nine series races, making a running total of one hundred (The ninth race inFuji; including special races).Nine series races. In GT500, the GT-R appears in place of the Fairlady Z.Nine series races.All cars in GT500 become FR racecars with 3.4-liter V8 engines to meetwith basic technical regulations. In GT500, the HSV-010 GT appears inplace of the NSX. Eight series races and the JAF GP (Fuji) held.Eight series races and the JAF GP (Fuji) held.Eight series races and the JAF GP (Fuji) held. Hybrid vehicles appear in theGT300. The first female driver from abroad participates in GT300.Eight series races and the JAF GP (Fuji) held.GT500 introduces new technical regulations in line with the basicspecifications used in DTM (2.0-liter four-cylinder direct injectionturbocharged engines and standardized monocoque chassis).First official race in Thailand.The new mother chassis concept car first came on GT300. The cars nowshare a number of common components including the monocoque, and itallows the teams to develop competitive cars more freely and at low cost.SUPER GT, originally named the All-Japan GTChampionship, launched in 1994. The race mainlyfeatured Japanese sports cars as well as foreigncars such as Porsche, Ferrari and Lamborghini.Its popularity has grown tremendously as thenumber of participants increased, and the seriesbegan expanding into overseas in the 2000s. Thisinternationalization led to the series name changeto SUPER GT in 2005. Seeing that FIA GT3 carparticipations have considerably increased inrecent years, SUPER GT is going more global thanever before. The 2014 season saw the new GT500technical regulations which had been unified withthose of DTM.1996The McLaren F1GTR makes a splashyentrance. Following fanvoting, an all-star race(non-title race) is held.2002The Malaysian leg, whichhas joined as a specialnon-title event since2000, is made an officialrace.2004All-star race is held inthe US. This marks thata race series of Japaneseorigin appear for the firsttime in the US.2012Hybrid cars (ToyotaPrius and Honda CR-Z)first appeared in GT300.2014The Thai leg of theseries was made anofficial race.3
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