Autopolis

History

The circuit, located within Aso Kujū 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 the art gallery of the auto racing resort, under development at the time.

The circuit was designed by Yoshitoshi Sakurai who was the project leader of the Honda F1 team during the 1960s.

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, in 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 Formula Crane 45. A few races were run in 1991, with only a handful of cars competing.

The only major international race held at Autopolis was the final race of the 1991 World Sportscar Championship season, 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 One race, it sponsored the Benetton Formula One team in 1990 and 1991. The cars featured prominent Autopolis logos. Visitors to the WSC event criticized the track for being too remote to the hotels which required a several hour bus ride and felt that it was unsuitable for an F1 race.

Following the bankruptcy and collapse of Tsurumaki's company Nippon Tri-Trust in 1993 (the year the track was supposed to hold an F1 race), the circuit and other assets he owned ended up in the hands of Hazama who was responsible for the construction of the race track. Ultimately, the track's F1 event slot for the Asian GP on 11 April 1993 was given to Donington Park, and TI Circuit Aida would host a second Japanese race in Formula One calendar in 1994, but suffered from the same location-related criticism and was removed at the end of the following season.

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. Some of Tsurumaki's assets, such as paintings, remained in a bank vault waiting to be sold.

Autopolis first hosted a Super GT race in 1999, the season-ending exhibition race, which was won by Tom Coronel and Hidetoshi Mitsusada in a Honda NSX-GT fielded by Nakajima Racing. After a three-year absence, the circuit has regularly been hosting races in the series since 2003, although with some exceptions. Autopolis first held a Super Formula race in 2006, and with some exceptions, the track has regularly been part of the series since then.

Autopolis was purchased by Kawasaki Motors in 2005.

The circuit currently holds events for the Super GT as well as D1 Grand Prix, Super Formula, MFJ Superbike and Super Taikyu.

In March 2019, the circuit was added to the video game Gran Turismo Sport through a game update. It has also been featured in Need for Speed: ProStreet, Need for Speed: Shift, Shift 2: Unleashed, and Gran Turismo 7.

The circuit

The circuit is located in an upland area of the island which means the air is thin with low atmospheric pressure, similar to Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. It has an elevation change of over 50 m with the first section generally downhill and the latter part of the course runs uphill. The start/finish straight is located at an altitude of 820 m.

Events

; Current

• April: Super Formula Championship, Super Formula Lights
• May: MFJ Superbikes
• July: Super Taikyu
• October: Super GT, F4 Japanese Championship, D1 Grand Prix

; Former

• Asia Road Racing Championship (2009–2014)
• Asian Touring Car Series (2003–2005, 2007)
• Ferrari Challenge Japan (2023, 2025)
• Formula BMW Asia (2004–2005)
• Formula Crane 45 (1991–1992)
• Formula Regional Japanese Championship (2020)
• Formula V6 Asia (2007)
• Japanese Touring Car Championship (1991–1994)
• TCR Japan Touring Car Series (2019–2021)
• World Sportscar Championship
  • 430 km of Autopolis (1991)

Lap records

As of September 2025, the fastest official race lap records at the Autopolis are listed as:

References

References

1. link. (18 May 2010)
2. [https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/01/arts/japanese-developer-buys-picasso-at-record-price.html Japanese Developer Buys Picasso at Record Price - New York Times]
3. [http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/cir-054.html F1 News - Grandprix.com > GP Encyclopedia > Circuits > Nippon Autopolis]
4. [https://books.google.com/books?id=rNNhhuURbLIC&dq=%22tomonori+tsurumaki%22&pg=RA1-PA302 Yakuza: Japan's Criminal Underworld By David E. Kaplan, Alec Dubro]
5. www.japaninc.com]
6. (April 17, 2020). "Why Japan's second F1 race didn't take off".
7. [http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns00349.html F1 News - Grandprix.com: Autopolis going to the wall]
8. [http://www.khi.co.jp/ba/2005data/ba0503-03.html Kawasaki Takes Over Autopolis Racing Course - News Releases KHI] {{webarchive. link. (January 2, 2006)
9. (5 March 2019). "Gran Turismo Sport 1.34 Update Now Available: Five New Cars, Autopolis Circuit and More".
10. [[Google Earth]]
11. "Autopolis Fastest Lap Comparison".
12. (15 November 2020). "2020 Autopolis Super Formula".
13. (27 May 2012). "2012 Autopolis Formula Nippon".
14. (27 October 1991). "Sportscar World Championship Autopolis 1991".
15. (19 July 1992). "1992 Autopolis Japanese F3000".
16. (24 October 2021). "2021 Round 6 Autopolis GT500 Results".
17. (15 November 2020). "2020 Autopolis Super Formula Lights - Round 10".
18. (9 September 2017). "2017 Autopolis Japanese F3 - Round 17".
19. (12 December 2020). "FRJC Autopolis Round 14 Results".
20. (15 October 2023). "2023 Autopolis GT 450km Race GT300 Official Result".
21. (13 October 2007). "2007 Formula V6 Asia Autopolis (Race 1)".
22. (7 September 2024). "2024 MFJ All Japan Road Race Championship Series Round 6 - Kyushu Superbike Race - Autopolis - JSB1000 Supported by ETS Racing Fuels - Race 1 Result".
23. (25 May 2025). "2025 Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli Japan Round 2 - Race 2 - Official Results".
24. (20 November 1994). "IMSA GT Autopolis 1994".
25. (20 October 2024). "2024 Japanese F4 Round 12 Results".
26. (20 September 2020). "2020 MFJ All Japan Road Race Championship Series - Autopolis - ST600 Supported by Bridgestone - Race 2 Result".
27. (5 September 2004). "2004 Formula BMW Asia - Round 9 - Autopolis - Race".
28. (25 April 1993). "1993 All-Japan Touring Car Championship 2nd round - Autopolis".
29. (14 November 2020). "2020 TCR Japan Autopolis Round 4 Saturday Race Results".
30. (8 September 2024). "2024 MFJ All Japan Road Race Championship Series Round 6 - Kyushu Superbike Race - Autopolis - J-GP3 - Race Result".
31. (24 April 1994). "1994 RRC Touring Car Champions in RACING PARK N-T 1st Result".
32. (13 September 2025). "2025 MFJ All Japan Road Race Championship Series Round 5 - Superbike Race in Kyushu - Autopolis - JP250 Dunlop - Race Result".