Autopolis

Motorsport venue
Name = Autopolis Circuit


Location = Kamitsue village, in
Hita City, Ōita Prefecture, Japan
Opened = 1990
Owner = Kawasaki Motors Corporation Japan
Construction_cost = ¥47 billion
Architect = Yoshitoshi Sakurai
Events = D1 Grand Prix
Super GT (JGTC)
All Japan Road Race Championship(MFJ Superbikes)
Formula Nippon
All-Japan Formula Three
Layout1 = Full Circuit
Length_km = 4.574
Length_mi = 2.842
Layout2 = Main Circuit
Length_km2 = 3.022
Length_mi2 = 1.877
Layout3 = Lakeside Circuit
Length_km3 = 1.761
Length_mi3 = 1.094

Autopolis (オートポリス) is an international racing circuit located near Kamitsue village in Ōita Prefecture, Japan. Opened in 1990, it hosts a range of domestic and international motorsport events throughout the year. Although the track meets a high standard in terms of its facilities, it has never hosted a Formula 1 race. Due to the circuit ending up in financial difficulties, it has changed hands several times but still operates to this day.

History

The circuit, located within Aso Kujiyu National Park, was built at a cost of $500 million by the wealthy real-estate developer and investment banker Tomonori Tsurumaki who made headlines in 1989, when during a Paris auction, he successfully bid a Pablo Picasso painting "Les Noces de Pierrette" for $51.3 million from his Tokyo hotel room. Following his successful bid, he announced that his painting was to hang at at the art gallery of the auto racing resort, under development at the time. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DEFDE1238F932A35751C1A96F948260 Japanese Developer Buys Picasso at Record Price - New York Times] ]

The circuit was designed by Yoshitoshi Sakurai who was the project leader of the Honda F1 team during the 1960s. [http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/cir-054.html F1 News - Grandprix.com > GP Encyclopedia > Circuits > Nippon Autopolis] ]

Tsurumaki ordered 30 Buick powered US built single seater race cars called "Sabre Cars" for a race to take place on his circuit's grand opening, on November 1990 consisting of a mixture of invited US CART drivers such as Stan Fox, Johnny Rutherford, Dick Simon, Gary and Tony Bettenhausen, against local Japanese drivers. After the grand opening, Tsurumaki planned on a series with the cars, known as FC-45 "Formula Crane". A few races were run in 1991, with only a handful of cars competing.

The only major international race held at Autopolis was the 1991 World Sportscar Championship season final race, the 1991 430km of Autopolis which was won by Michael Schumacher and Karl Wendlinger in a Mercedes-Benz C291 fielded by Sauber.

To promote the venue's intention to host a Formula 1 race, it sponsored the Benetton Formula 1 team in 1990 and 1991. The cars featured prominent Autopolis logos. Visitors criticized the track for being too remote to the hotels which required several hours bus ride and felt that it was unsuitable for an F1 race. By then, hopes were fading, Tsurumaki turned up at the 1992 Portuguese Grand Prix. Whilst staying in Estoril, $250,000 of cash and jewels was stolen from his hotel room.

Tsurumaki also invested in race horse [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE1DC1539F936A15754C0A966958260 SPORTS PEOPLE: HORSE RACING; Sold! For $2.9 Million - New York Times] ] A.P. Indy [ [http://www.racingmuseum.org/hall/horse.asp?ID=349 National Museum of Racing - Hall of Fame] ] and paintings of renowned painters such as Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, Chagall, Renoir and Magritte before his company, Nippon Tri-Trust collapsed, leading to his bankruptcy in 1993. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=rNNhhuURbLIC&pg=RA1-PA302&lpg=RA1-PA302&dq=%22tomonori+tsurumaki%22&source=web&ots=SBmPJJlG0L&sig=xaiE_xRCaTx0SXXlaI-qgqMj8Vw#PRA1-PA300,M1 Yakuza: Japan's Criminal Underworld By David E. Kaplan, Alec Dubro] ] The circuit plus the painting and contents ended up at the hands of Hazama who was responsible for the construction of the race track. [ [http://www.japaninc.com/article.php?articleID=211 The Art of a Failed Economy | www.japaninc.com] ]

By 1995, the company offered the site for sale at 10% of its build cost which consisted of three hotels, swimming pools and an artificial ski slope. The paintings by then remained in a bank vault waiting to be sold. [ [http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns00349.html F1 News - Grandprix.com: Autopolis going to the wall] ]

Autopolis was purchased by Kawasaki in 2005. [ [http://www.khi.co.jp/ba/2005data/ba0503-03.html Kawasaki Takes Over Autopolis Racing Course - News Releases KHI] ]

The circuit currently holds events for the D1 Grand Prix as well as Super GT.

References

External links

* [http://www.autopolis.jp/ Official website in Japanese]
* [http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/cir-054.html Article about the origins of the Autopolis circuit]
* [http://www.autopolis.jp/whats_ap/facility/course_map/overall.html Circuits' Map]
* [http://www.j-formula3.com/ Japanese Formula 3]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Hita,+Japan&layer=&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=14&ll=33.035959,130.971457&spn=0.032811,0.084028&t=k&iwloc=addr Satellite picture by Google Maps]