Suzuka 8 Hours
The 8- hour race at Suzuka is a long distance race for motorcycles.
It takes place annually in July at the Suzuka International Racing Course held in Japan and one in continuous use for FIM Endurance World Championship since 1980.
The race is, as the name suggests, designed for a duration of eight hours. For each team go two to three per motorcycle drivers who drive alternately, at the start.
The event is the most important motorcycle race in Japan and attracts about 85,000 currently viewers per year. The four major domestic works Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki go with each plant machinery at the start. Be piloted in the bikes from some of the best pilots in the motorcycle and Superbike World Championship since the date of the race is chosen in each case so that there are no scheduling conflicts with events of the motorcycle and Superbike World Championship.
History
The 8- hour race at Suzuka was the first time in 1978, when the race for racing prototypes of the Tourist Trophy Formula One ( F1 TT ) discharged. In the following years, the regulations have been adapted to the standards of the FIM, the maximum engine capacity for the F1 machines was limited to 750 cc. In the 1980s, the race attracted about 130,000 visitors each year, the previous attendance record of 160,000 dated from 1990.
In 1993, then followed by another major change in the regulations. Once in previous years Superbike racing had been growing in popularity, the technical regulations were aimed at Superbike machines.
List of winners
1 - The race was shortened to 6 hours due to bad weather.