Should Formula 1 return to Fuji?

japan is an amazing country as long as you stay out of akiyabara seriously that place gets the [ __ ] out of me osaka is where it's at that city is known for its cuisine and another thing and with the stuff that place has on offer you can get lost in the city for quite a while but if you take a not so long train journey out of the city you'll find yourself in the me a prefecture nestled in that region is the city of suzuka which of course is home to one of the best race tracks in the world the suzuka international racing course is one of the more prominent venues on the formula one calendar and the history that comes with this makes it a must-have on the schedule having attended the venue a couple of years ago this circuit is up there with bathurst in terms of undulation narrowness and sheer awesomeness this circuit has played host to the japanese grand prix from 1987 to the present day yeah kind of you see in 2007 and 2008 the japanese grand prix was not held at suzuka and it wasn't even the first circuit to host the national race instead that circuit can be found in the foothills of the nation's most iconic mountain and a track which formula one should seriously consider going back to so the track in question is called fuji speedway named as such because it's pretty close to mount fuji sure there are other things that are closer to the track than mount fuji but the name cola vending machine in a dank street corner in gotempa speedway isn't quite as catchy as the former but anyway fuji speedway was conceived back in june 1964 but it wasn't initially planned for formula one and to further elaborate on this i have drafted in someone who knows a bit more about this stuff than i do what's going on guys it's your boy darien gilliam aka black flags matter and thank you so much to josh for having me on this video the origins of fuji speedway are extremely interesting considering the fact that nascar had a part in starting the track up basically what happened was nascar almost entered asia 50 years ago as an attempt that led to the construction of fuji speedway they had partnered with several japanese officials to assist in the creating of stock car racing in japan the series was going to be called napon nascar and it was set to debut sometime in the late 1960s the series news might have been a minor storyline heading into the 1964 daytona 500 but a big enough one to invite miss japan herself to present richard petty with his daytona 500 trophy and even that trophy was inscribed in japanese the plans were to build a 2.5 mile high bank super speedway at the base of mount fuji construction on the super speedway began in early june and news of groundbreaking was reported in the pages of the new york times and sports illustrated unfortunately that would be the peak of this entire project for the track in the series the money simply ran out the only thing to come out of this was one high banked daytona style turn that was constructed before the cash ran out even as a die hard nascar fan i had absolutely no idea that nascar was seriously trying to do a legit stock car series in japan the one nascar turn was eventually incorporated into fuji speedway but proved too dangerous after several drivers were killed 1974 was the last year the turn was ever a part of the track and i mean there's good reason they never used it for any longer the only thing stopping them from meeting their maker was a layer of armco which was seriously the plastic bag condom of the racing world by 1974 the safety or kind of lack of it prompted a revision and track design namely a hairpin was implemented at the end of the main straight and this would prove vital toward the circuit securing the japanese grand prix for 1976 which was set as the finale for that season and saw the infamous battle between nicki louder and james hunt conclude with hunt taken the title after louder withdrew from the boat race the live television deal also saw worldwide recognition for formula one and the fuji circuit the grand prix circus would return a year later although it was met with tragedy following an accident between jill velnev and ronnie peterson which saw two people kill trackside formula one would not return in 1978 not just to fuji but to japan as a whole and the japanese grand prix would not be held again until 1987 when suzuka entered the fray over the years fuji's speedway was kept in relatively good speed but safety concerns began to arise by the late 1990s in response to this toyota had bought the circuit from mitsubishi and immediately announced plans to bring the circuit up to formula one standards this of course meant they were looking to get the grand prix back to the foothills of mount fuji and would most likely have meant depriving suzuka of its marquee event upon reflection toyota realized this and thought yeah and so to bring the circuit up to formula one standards they employed the services of world-renowned track butcher permanentelke and by 2003 things began to take shape by the time it was 2005 the circuit was reopened and oh boy were there changes apart from the main straight the vast majority of the circuit was reprofiled in some way shape or form so what we got was something that resembled the original circuit but shared little of the original groundworks sounds kind of sad and some purists were pointed that they ruined the circuit and that when formula one returned to the venue it was a god-awful place to race well slow down on that one chief because there are a few people that would dispute that and i'm about to go on to bet for these guys so anyway the folks who ran fuji's speedway managed to convince bernie and his miscreants to say kakitano to suzuka and head over to their neck of the woods for most people this was a big mistake and actually i don't blame people for thinking that way suzuka is a fantastic circuit by all accounts not when it comes to racing i mean it really doesn't do too much for open wheelers at least not ones that require thick track width nevertheless 2007 would mark the circuit's return to the formula one schedule and luckily for them there was a tidal battle at hand between alonso hamilton and the grand prix took place in extremely wet conditions that even caught alonso out yes even on this occasion things were too wet for alonso that sounded really wrong didn't having said that the race was actually pretty decent with some battles up and down the field and some passing which you know was a nice change given the circuit they raced on didn't really oh wait but it was a decent showing nonetheless 2008 also saw a good race let down only by some interesting calls by the steward despite this 2008 will be the last time the race was held at fuji speedway and it will be announced there'll be an alternating schedule with suzuka however it would end up going to suzuka full-time with fuji's f1 aspirations dead in the water i mean this may have had something to do with toyota pulling out of the sport because generally they like one-sided competition when it's curved in their favor but irrespective the events at fuji was plagued with poor ticket sales shitty weather and accessibility which wasn't very good at being accessibility some of the seats had obstructed views basic meals would cost upwards of 10 000 yen at the circuit and there was the alleged buyers from toyota with regards to what flag you can fly around if it was a toyota flag wave it around as you may please ever or anything else you'll find out just how fast toyota employees could break all 10 of your fingers for the 2008 race the organizers realize the issues at hand and responded by restricting the attendance from 140 000 spectators a day to 110 000 but even with this reduction in numbers getting people to and fro the circuit was a pain in the rectum back in 2007 they had attempted to carry 100 000 people to the circuit via shuttle bus which was a good idea in the mind of the idiots who thought of it when all was said and done some spectators were forced to stay at the circuit until 9 pm in the evening and some people would not arrive at the circuit until the green flake had already dropped for the race refunds were issued while others took legal action in a very basic sense fuji's return to the formula one schedule was a total freaking disaster dogged down by a variety of issues which frankly shouldn't have been issues to this day formula one has not returned to the venue and the grand prix has instead remained at suzuka so why should formula one go back to fuji if it was such a problem child the answer is simple racing i know it sounds like a strange response but let me put it you this way for today's cars a race in suzuka isn't terribly exciting as much as it pains me to say the nature of the circuit doesn't really allow for it very often fuji meanwhile is a track which would suit the current copper cars better which in turn would more than likely throw on a better race than what suzuka would having said that suzuka does have that theme park and the history and great vantage points and dragonflies yeah nah this video is pointless wasn't it anyway thank you very much for watching be sure to like this video if you liked it subscribe to the channel if you're awesome and always remember keep it respectful be wholesome don't be a mars and as always i'll see you all [Music] later [Music] you

Channel: Josh Revell

Views: 192,267

Keywords: F1, Formula 1, Fuji Speedway, Fuji, Mt Fuji, Mount Fuji, Japan, Japanese Grand Prix, Japan GP, 2007 Japanese Grand Prix, 2008 Japanese Grand Prix, Josh Revell, NASCAR, 1976 Japanese Grand Prix

Id: aR41DLixN6g

Length: 8min 45sec (525 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 09 2021