Circuit Track Days In Japan

[13Beast]

Hey there,

I live in Shikoku, and am planning on relocating up to f*kushima/Ibaraki/Gunma early next year. That will put me in close proximity to a bunch of tracks including Ebisu, Sendai Highland, Sugo Sportsland, Twin Ring Motegi, Tsukuba etc.

I own an MR2 at the moment, but will be selling it before the move, and likely getting a modded R33 GTR, Spirit R FD RX7 or possibly even an S2000 in the new place I end up in.

I'd REAALLLLY like to get into regular track days, pretty much every weekend if possible.

However, my Japanese is quite average, and I don't have a clue as to which circuits regularly cater for the weekend racer (many seem to be mostly drifting or a lot of high-end motorsport events).

I fit in the "arrive and drive" type of weekend car enthusiast (grip racing, and probably some quarter-mile stuff), and I'm not interested in doing any serious track-mods (i.e. cage etc) to the car, or paying a small fortune to get out on the track.

So how do I get involved in the scene?

Should I do a google.co.jp search and join a car club/circle? Is that the best method?

Are there any other fellow car-enthusiast gaijin out there with english-speaking/gaijin car clubs or group meets?

Which circuits up Tohoku/Kanto region are the best for the weekend "grip" racer?

Thanks for any advice you have guys

[Beer Baron]

best bet is to form a relationship with a tuning shop in your area. in my experience most of the cool, amateur level track days are private days run by tuning shops. some tracks do also run general open track days too.

once you are in with a tuning shop that's involved in building circuit type cars they will know all the track days that are on in your area and they probably organise some of their own for their customers too.

like saurus organise big track days at fuji speedway (short course and full course) for their customers. the full course at fuji speedway also has open days where you can rock up and drive. have to pay some fees and sit through a briefing etc then you pay by the session.

drift shops often organise drift days too of course.

but yeah, start talking to a tuning shop is the way to go I reckon.

[*LOACH*]

If you are on Facebook do a search for a group. There is a tuning workshop in Nagoya owned by an Australian/American or something or other. His workshop organises track days (I think in Shizuoka but I cant remember and I dont have Facebook anymore) and he might be able to point you in the right direction for the area you end up moving to.

[elrodeo666]

Heaps of tracks do track days from basic gymkhana days to full blown race meets.

Like Baron said go pester your local tuning shop or have a suss on the net with this http://www.terap.org/raceway/japan/ (posted by someone in SAU Japn area)

Basic track days are anywhere from 3000 - 5000 yen for the day from my experiences. Bigger meets usually more but the days i've done have just been roll up Early , register, pay your money, safety lecture then have some fun.

It helps to go your first time with someone e.g local tuning shop, to get an introduction and to say your not some mad gaijin.

Good luck

[13Beast]

Tuning shop sounds like the way to go. I'm in a racing club here, but there is only a small circuit in Ehime prefecture that is open (and not all the time). Ideally, I'd like to be out on the track a couple times each month to get my circuit fix

Would it be a problem that my conversational Japanese is rather basic? Would they let me through the safety briefing and still out on the track?

Which of the big circuits (i.e. Fuji, Sugo, Sendai Highland, Ebisu, Tsukuba) tend to have the most going on for the privateer/weekend racer?

I am relocating in March next year, and plan to live in f*kushima, Gunma or Ibaraki, due to their proximity to several tracks (Ebisu, Sendai, Tsukuba and Sugo).