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  *Comments on Twin Ring Motegi Superspeedway:*
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  1.   Cooper posted:
  03.14.2010 - 4:36 pm
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Twin Ring Moteg is an automobile racing track located at Motegi, Japan.
Its name comes from the fact that there are two race tracks at the
facility: a 2.493-kilometer (1.549 mi) oval and a 4.8-kilometer (2.98
mi) road course. It was built in 1997 by Honda, as part of Honda's
effort to bring the IndyCar Series to Japan, helping to increase their
knowledge of American open-wheel racing.

The oval course is the only one of its kind in Japan, and currently is
only used once a year for racing. It is a low-banked, 1.549-mile-long
egg-shaped course, with turns 3 and 4 being much tighter than turns 1
and 2. On March 28, 1998, CART held the inaugural race at Twin Ring
Motegi Speedway. The race was won by Mexican driver, Adrian Fernandez.
CART continued racing at Twin Ring Motegi Speedway from 1998-2002. In
2003, Honda entered the Indy Racing League and the race became a part of
the IRL schedule. In addition to IndyCar Racing, the track has also
hosted a single NASCAR exhibition race in 1998.

Honda, which had built the oval for the express purpose of developing
its oval-racing program for Indycar Racing, did not win a race at the
track for its first six years of operation. In 2004, Dan Wheldon took
the first win for Honda on the oval. In 2008, the Motegi oval gained
additional publicity when Danica Patrick became the first woman to win
an Indy car race there.


  2.   RaceFanX posted:
  03.31.2010 - 2:25 pm
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Mostly an Indy track Montegi held a major milestone in the history of
NASCAR when it held a Winston West race in 1999, the first points-paying
NASCAR race ever held outside North America. To date it is still the
only one.

The track also hosted a NASCAR exhibition of mainly Cup and West series
drivers in 1998 that was won by Mike Skinner. That race is often
remembered as the first time Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr raced
against each other.

This track is drivable in the popular video game Forza Motorsports III
and was a downloadable add-on for Forza 2.


  3.   DieselDan posted:
  03.25.2011 - 9:23 am
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Track's future is uncertain after a 9.1 earthquake and tsunami raved the
region. The track surface is cracked, but resources are used for
humanitarian needs.


  4.   RaceFanX posted:
  08.17.2011 - 9:08 pm
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The 2011 IndyCar race is going ahead as scheduled but the oval is
currently unusable because of the quake. The race will instead be the
first and only race for the series on Montegi's road course, Honda had
already announced 2011 would be the final year for IndyCar racing at the
track.


  5.   Unser1 posted:
  04.16.2020 - 2:22 pm
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As of 2020 the 2011 earthquake damage to the oval still hasn't been
repaired. I've seen mixed reasoning for this, some say the foundation
was damaged while more common are reports it could be fixed but there's
no demand or financial reason to do so. Takuma Sato supposedly ran a few
laps and said it's relatively fine but I've heard there are undulations
in the pavement.


  6.   Anonymous posted:
  04.18.2020 - 2:59 pm
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IndyCar iracing on it today. Track looks fine.


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