Race: 2018 SUPER Taikyu Series – Suzuka Circuit

SUPER TAIKYU (‘TAIKYU’ means ‘endurance’ in Japanese) is a festival of touring car racing for production vehicles. The cars are divided into different classes according to engine displacement or drive system and the competition is contested class, with many skilled professional drivers participating.

The SUPER TAIKYU is an endurance race series with a long history dating back to 1990 that is contested by touring cars modified from production base vehicles. There are different classes based on engine displacement or the drive systems of the cars, with the participants competing for the overall win as well as the class wins. Only a few modifications are permitted on the cars, such as strengthening the safety aspects and adding aerodynamic devices like a rear wing, which must be ones that are available for general consumers. Therefore, the appearance of the competition cars are close to that of the base production cars.

The races are run in a time race format with mainly 3-hour races, but also including an 8-hour race as the longest meeting and the race at Twin Ring Motegi held as the season opener, which lasts for five hours. Two to four drivers may be entered for each car and they may be changed during the race at their pit when the team crew refuel the car and carry out other pit work. The quickness and timing of this pit work is a very important element, often influencing the outcome of the race.

As the competition cars are close in specification to the base production vehicles and the competition conditions are controlled to be the same within each class, drivers’ ability naturally constitutes a large part of the race results. Since many skilled professional drivers enter the SUPER TAIKYU again this season, their driving styles are a big appeal of the series. However, the SUPER TAIKYU is not a race series reserved for the automobile manufacturers but basically for private teams. Therefore, participation restricted in a way that prevents teams from competing with only top professional drivers.

The organizers categorize top professional drivers as Platinum drivers based on their record of achievements. Only one Platinum driver may be registered for each car and he may not drive over 40% of the race distance (time). In addition, the qualifying results for each team are determined by total time of two drivers. Therefore, the performance of the drivers other than the platinum drivers are also important.