Asia’s motorsport jewel fades

SUZUKA: Suzuka circuit, Asia’s most prestigious track, is suffering a sharp decline as motorsports fade in popularity in Japan and it is also losing key racing events to rival circuits. Built in 1962 on top of a hill in the otherwise quiet countryside of Suzuka, the circuit was long Japan’s bastion for the sport, hosting major international events such as Formula One Grand Prix and MotoGP.

Some 73,000 fans gathered at the 5.8-kilometer (3.6-mile) track on Sunday to rejoice over a victory by Japanese Honda riders Shinichi Ito and Takeshi Tsujimura at the Suzuka Eight Hours motorcycle endurance race. The audience, however, was less than half of the peak in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a sign of the fizzling out of Japan’s motorsport boom.

When a record 160,000 flocked to the circuit for the world endurance championship event in 1990, local authorities reportedly attempted to pressure the circuit to limit sales of tickets for safety reasons. Nowadays, by contrast, authorities are lining up to pull in more spectators to the circuit which along with Honda manufacturing factories are the central Japanese town’s main source of income.

Bad news struck Suzuka in March. The circuit, owned by Honda Motor, lost the right to host the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix next year to rival Fuji Speedway controlled by Toyota Motor. Suzuka, which staged the Grand Prix until this year, is trying to persuade Formula One organiser FIA to let Suzuka host a second F1 race, possibly a Pacific Grand Prix.

But Honda Motor President Takeo Fukui said Sunday it was “difficult” for Suzuka to host the event next year. “We want a revival, even by seeking to host the event every other year with Fuji after 2008,” Fukui said, as quoted by the Yomiuri Shimbun.

Suzuka has already lost the Motorcycle Grand Prix, now renamed MotoGP, since former 250cc world champion Daijiro Kato died at the circuit in a horrific high-speed crash in April 2003. Dozens of bouquets and portraits of his smiling face still lie close to the accident site, where fans wearing T-shirts with Kato’s number 74 joined hands in prayer during Sunday’s race. MotoGP’s Japan Grand Prix is now held at Twin Ring Motegi, which was built by Honda in a vast forest northeast of Tokyo where Indy car racing events also take place.

In an effort to improve its image and regain an audience, the Suzuka circuit has attempted a makeover. Last year it built a futuristic, gigantic audience box for VIPs on top of ordinary spectators’ seats. But the efforts have yet to bear fruit.

The Suzuka Eight Hours race, the biggest event here after Formula One, was long considered by hopeful young riders as a platform to success in their motorcycling careers.

Suzuka has also made a series of minor course changes to improve safety, although it is up against newly built circuits, notably in Qatar and Shanghai, for the right to host MotoGP-class races. Suzuka circuit officials blamed the decline in audiences on lower interest in motorsports by Japanese people, who have many other choices of entertainment.

“Japan has now become mature in terms of motor sports,” said a circuit official who declined to be named. “The popularity of motorsports, especially motorcycle events, is relatively high in developing countries and Japan is no longer a developing country,” he said. “Therefore, we should not expect another boom. Rather, we are at the stage where we must maintain current levels of popularity for many years to come,” he said.