A little more about FCJ

There is really barely any info on the internet about this series, so these notes might shed a little more light for those who are curious.



At Suzuka, we went full throttle in 6th gear through the 130R at around 230km. Turn one is just slight trail brakes while in 6th gear starting from 240km. The cornering forces are incredible - over 2.6/2.7 Gs at somewhere like Suzuka's 130R or Fuji 100R (The 180 degree right hand turn). Braking is also fun due to downforce - over 2.4 initial Gs in the braking zone after 130R before the Chicane.

My top lap time was 2:04.5, which is faster than most Super GT GT300 class cars. F3 is about 1:55 and Super GT GT500 is around 1:50 in qualifying.



My advisors are Tanaka Tetsuya and Kageyama Masami - both championship-winning factory Nissan drivers. They instruct a group of 8 of us. Toyota and Honda have similar groups, and we are all encouraged to speak with all advisors. There is very little partinsanship in the series - the entire organization is very united in the goal of raising the best possible race car drivers.

We are only allowed to adjust tire pressure on the car.

The cars are equipped with a 34 channel data logger and we are provided everyone else's data after every session. I usually look at RPM, speed (they have overall max speed, left front wheel, right front wheel), steering angle, throttle, brake pressure, and lateral and cornering Gs.

The overall format of the series, where multiple manufacturers are funding and promoting the program in completely equal cars, and sharing everyone's data with everyone, is probably first time ever in history of motorsports.