Autopolis International Racing Course, Racing Circuit

Autopolis International Racing Course sits high in a mountainous national-park region of Oita Prefecture on Kyushu, Japan's southern main island, near the towns of Kikuchi and Hita. It was the ambitious project of real-estate developer and investment banker Tomonori Tsurumaki, who envisaged a mountain retreat combining motor racing with art and luxury, and it opened to great fanfare in late 1990. The circuit was laid out by Yoshitoshi Sakurai, a former Honda Formula 1 project leader from the 1960s, and exploits its alpine setting with sweeping changes of gradient and more than fifty metres of elevation difference around the lap. In its first year it staged a round of the FIA World Sportscar Championship, won by a Sauber-Mercedes crewed by Michael Schumacher and Karl Wendlinger. Financial troubles dogged the venue, however, with Tsurumaki's bankruptcy in 1995 leaving it as something of an expensive white elephant before Kawasaki acquired it in 2005. Under Kawasaki's ownership the circuit has become a regular stop on the Japanese domestic calendar, hosting Super GT, Super Formula, Super Taikyu, MFJ Superbike and D1 Grand Prix drifting. It is offered in a longer International Circuit and a shorter configuration, both rated to FIA Grade 2 standard. The remote, scenic location and flowing layout give Autopolis a distinctive character among Japan's permanent circuits.

Operated by: 株式会社オートポリス (Autopolis Co., Ltd., Kawasaki Heavy Industries group)