Think "Extreme Makeover: Race Track Edition," in which a great, older race track is reworked into one of the world's most outrageous motorsport facilities. After one year of rebuilding, the Fuji Speedway in Fuji, Japan, can now handle the F1 circus for a Japan GT round, and keep Tokyo car folk drifting, spinning, rocking, camping or watching Japanese GT cars fight it out.
This is one hell of a facility.
The track is impressive, a 2.84-mile ribbon of glass-smooth tarmac making up 16 turns and bending its way around the spectacular grandstand. Beautiful, freshly paved parking lots are everywhere and even the restrooms look like contemporary office buildings.
To celebrate Fuji Speedway's new kickass-ness, Toyota held an all-out re-opening event. It pulled out all the stops in hopes of one day wrestling the F1 race away from the Honda-owned Suzuka Circuit. Festivities ranged from the mundane (ribbon cutting by industry and government big wigs) to the outrageous (an F1 car triggering a fireworks display).
The party started with an F1 car screaming down the front straight for a parade lap. We could feel it grip every corner, hear every throttle blip, and sense exactly where it was on the track. An incredible pyrotechnics display that looked like a wave of fire trailed the car as it made a full-song pass down the front straight.
And that was just the opener. Out came several vintage sports cars that are rarely seen on race tracks anymore. One was the Toyota 7 sports racer, brought to life by the same man who brought the world the 2000GT. The 7 won its debut race in the fifth Japan Grand Prix held at Fuji Speedway in 1968. The other was its archrival, the Nissan R382, the sports racer that, after a hard-fought battle with the Toyota 7, won the sixth Japan Grand Prix in 1969.
Both cars sounded magnificent. After a few warm-up laps, their drivers put the hammer down on the twin-cam race engines and with tires squirming and suspensions straining for a few short, brilliant moments, both cars relived their glory days. Few sounds in motorsport can match the wail of the vintage V12 (Nissan) and V8 (Toyota) bouncing off the hillside. We could feel the long-simmering Nissan/Toyota rivalry as the cars strained to put power down on the new circuit.
Next came what was likely the world's largest gathering of Toyota 2000GTs. There were so many GTs, we figured some of them had to be kit cars. They were all in near-perfect condition and led several parade laps for other vintage racecars.
Some exotic old-school Japanese metal spent the better part of the day parading around the track as well. Cars like an Isuzu GTO, Toyota S800, Honda S600, Nissan Fairlady, Prince Skyline GT-R and several Mazda Cosmos put a few black stripes on the virginal Fuji tarmac.
Attendees could also take a helicopter ride and watch the events from the air. Or head to the brand-spanking-new gymkana area or drift circuit, or the huge driver education facility with a low-friction skidpad and short course. The drifting circuit had several of the top D1 drivers on hand offering demonstrations on the purpose-built drift course. This place had everything, and Toyota had something for everyone.
We love drifting, but the sounds of the GT cars on grid for practice-the highlight of the day-called us to the starting line. Twenty-some GT500 and GT300 cars jammed pit row like they would for a real GT event. With the GT cars came the GT circus, complete with a grid packed with fans and flag girls.
This practice was a first for the GT cars on the new course and it was clear the teams were anxious to gather new data. As cars rolled onto the track, drivers were at first tentative. But, before long, they began to push as Fuji's newness wore off and the track's spectacular turns, kinks and dives again inked themselves into each driver's brain.
The facility was first class and so was the event. Fuji is no longer just a track, it's a destination for car crazies and their families.
On our drive back to Tokyo, given the choice between a five-hour parking lot or a long canyon session through some of Japan's best back roads, we opted for the latter. This pitted our M-sport-outfitted BMW 525i wagon against a tricked-out Honda Le Great (basically a Japanese Odyssey minivan), an Audi S4 and Renault Clio Sport V6. Our caravan of nuts shaved at least 30 minutes from the trip and didn't sit in traffic the entire way home.
Like we said, Fuji is for real car people. Makeover and all.