Tsukuba Circuit

Tsukuba Circuit in Ibaraki Prefecture is run by the Japan Auto Sports Center. Planning started in 1966 and the track came into service on 22 June 1970. According to Wikipedia the main course is 2.045 kilometres long with twelve turns for cars; a separate motorcycle configuration with 13 turns and 2.070 kilometres is listed. There is also the roughly 1,000 metre Course 1000, a gymkhana area and further practice grounds. The back straight measures 437 metres, there are 32 pit garages, and the venue holds 8,500 spectators. MFJ Superbike rounds and the Tsukuba Time Attack Challenge are run here. Anyone wanting to ride needs the circuit's own licence: the operator issues it separately for two wheels and four wheels and additionally offers taster sessions, track days and single-day bookings. Over that short distance the hairpins and the wider sweepers sit close together, and lap time is made almost entirely on turn-in - which is why the track became the reference of the Japanese time attack scene. If your bike pushes over the front wheel in the tight corners, top of our cause list is a front end riding too high, which makes the geometry lazy. Let the fork tubes stand a little further through the triple clamps and the bike turns in more sharply.