Fuji Speedway Banking

[mwoodski]

Ive read that on the old, old, old Fuji speedway, there was a 30 degree banked corner, does anyone have any pictures that show that bank?

 

[MagpieRacer]

What sort of time scale are we talking? how old? 70s, 80s?

 

[mwoodski]

from opening (1966) till around 1977

 

[MagpieRacer]

Ok, here is some info i found, no picture though.

The track was designed to be as a 4 kilometres (2 1/2 mile) high-banked super-speedway, but there was not enough money to complete the project and only one of the bankings was ever designed. Converted to a road course, the circuit opened in December of 1965 and proved to be somewhat dangerous with the banked turn regularly resulting in major accidents.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

That'd probably be the corner that went on after the first hair pin.

 

[amp88]

There's an episode of Best Motoring where Tsuchiya is talking about how he first got interested in motorsports and how he used to watch the old cars racing which contains footage of the banked Fuji course. I can't remember which Best Motoring volume it was though.

 

[L8 Apex]

I'm afraid they demo'd most of, maybe even all of the banking when they remodeled the place. Look at the map on their site and I think it shows an "Ecology Zone" in the area where the banking once was.
It's a shame, really. Hopefully the banking at Monza will stay preserved, or better yet, modernized (I'm sure there's at least one Italian that would enjoy a NASCAR race... )