.

Formula Nippon

Wikicars, a place to share your automotive knowledge
Revision as of 15:37, 6 September 2009 by Red marquis (talk | contribs)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigationJump to search
Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination

Formula Nippon is a type of formula racing and the top level of single-seater racing in Japan.

Formula Nippon has a fairly long history, evolving from the Japanese Formula 2000 series begun in 1973 by way of the Japanese Formula Two and Japanese Formula 3000 championships. For the most part, the Japanese racing series have closely followed their European counterparts in terms of technical regulations, but there have been some important exceptions.

When European Formula 2 ended in 1984, its Japanese counterpart did not follow suit, continuing to use Formula 2 regulations (with almost-exclusively 2.0 L Honda engines) for another three years, finally switching to the open Formula 3000 standard in 1987. Once again, Japanese and European regulations paralleled one another, until 1996, when the International Formula 3000 series became a one-make format to lower costs. The Japanese Formula broke away at this time, and made it official by changing the series name to Formula Nippon.

Until recently, Formula Nippon was an open formula, where a variety of chassis builders and engine manufacturers could compete. Chassis were supplied by Lola, Reynard, and G-Force, while Mugen-Honda supplied the vast majority of the engines (though Cosworth engines were found in the Formula 3000 era). However, with the bankruptcy of Reynard in 2002, and the withdrawal of G-Force a year earlier, Formula Nippon once again followed F3000's lead in becoming a one-make series. Formula Nippon cars are now all Lola B03/50 chassis powered by Mugen-Honda engines; however, unlike F3000, engines in Formula Nippon are open-tuned by private companies.

In 2006 Formula Nippon underwent a drastic revision of its regulations. The current Lola B03/50 chassis was replaced by a new Lola FN06 chassis, while the engine formula underwent drastic revision. Blocks were provided by Toyota and Honda, using the same block specifications as found in the 2005 Indy Racing League, with open-tuning still permitted.

The 2006 season got off to one of the strangest starts in motorsport history. The opener at Fuji was cancelled after two safety car laps. Benoît Tréluyer was given the win, and half points were awarded.

However, despite the more technically demanding regulations, Formula Nippon remains a national series, with second tier status compared to the pan-European GP2 Series and its predecessor Formula 3000. While foreign drivers have always been regular participants in Formula Nippon, these are very often second string drivers who had difficulty in finding a top-level Formula 3000 drive. Nevertheless, there have been several drivers to come from a Japanese Formula 3000 or Formula Nippon drive to a prominent Formula One role; the best-known of these are Ralf Schumacher, the 1996 Formula Nippon champion, and Pedro de la Rosa, the 1997 Formula Nippon champion.

Swift Engineering in San Clemente, CA is currently producing the chassis that will be contested for the 2009 season.

Champions

Japanese Formula 2000
Year Champion
1973 Template:Country flagicon Motoharu Kurosawa
1974 Template:Country flagicon Noritake Takahara
1975 Template:Country flagicon Kazuyoshi Hoshino
1976 Template:Country flagicon Noritake Takahara
1977 Template:Country flagicon Kazuyoshi Hoshino
Japanese Formula Two
Year Champion
1978 Template:Country flagicon Kazuyoshi Hoshino
1979 Template:Country flagicon Keiiji Matsumoto
1980 Template:Country flagicon Masahiro Hasemi
1981 Template:Country flagicon Satoru Nakajima
1982 Template:Country flagicon Satoru Nakajima
1983 Template:Country flagicon Geoff Lees
1984 Template:Country flagicon Satoru Nakajima
1985 Template:Country flagicon Satoru Nakajima
1986 Template:Country flagicon Satoru Nakajima
Japanese Formula 3000
Year Champion Runner-up Third
1987 Template:Country flagicon Kazuyoshi Hoshino Template:Country flagicon Aguri Suzuki Template:Country flagicon Geoff Lees
1988 Template:Country flagicon Aguri Suzuki Template:Country flagicon Kazuyoshi Hoshino Template:Country flagicon Emanuele Pirro
1989 Template:Country flagicon Hitoshi Ogawa Template:Country flagicon Ross Cheever Template:Country flagicon Kazuyoshi Hoshino
1990 Template:Country flagicon Kazuyoshi Hoshino Template:Country flagicon Hitoshi Ogawa Template:Country flagicon Mauro Martini
1991 Template:Country flagicon Ukyo Katayama Template:Country flagicon Ross Cheever Template:Country flagicon Volker Weidler
1992 Template:Country flagicon Mauro Martini Template:Country flagicon Toshio Suzuki Template:Country flagicon Ross Cheever
1993 Template:Country flagicon Kazuyoshi Hoshino Template:Country flagicon Eddie Irvine Template:Country flagicon Ross Cheever
1994 Template:Country flagicon Marco Apicella Template:Country flagicon Andrew Gilbert-Scott Template:Country flagicon Ross Cheever
1995 Template:Country flagicon Toshio Suzuki Template:Country flagicon Toranosuke Takagi
Template:Country flagicon Tom Kristensen
Formula Nippon
Year Champion Runner-up Third
1996 Template:Country flagicon Ralf Schumacher Template:Country flagicon Naoki Hattori Template:Country flagicon Kazuyoshi Hoshino
1997 Template:Country flagicon Pedro de la Rosa Template:Country flagicon Takuya Kurosawa Template:Country flagicon Norberto Fontana
1998 Template:Country flagicon Satoshi Motoyama Template:Country flagicon Masami Kageyama Template:Country flagicon Juichi Wakisaka
1999 Template:Country flagicon Tom Coronel Template:Country flagicon Satoshi Motoyama Template:Country flagicon Hidetoshi Mitsusada
2000 Template:Country flagicon Toranosuke Takagi Template:Country flagicon Michael Krumm Template:Country flagicon Satoshi Motoyama
2001 Template:Country flagicon Satoshi Motoyama Template:Country flagicon Naoki Hattori Template:Country flagicon Yuji Tachikawa
2002 Template:Country flagicon Ralph Firman Template:Country flagicon Satoshi Motoyama Template:Country flagicon Juichi Wakisaka
2003 Template:Country flagicon Satoshi Motoyama Template:Country flagicon Benoît Tréluyer Template:Country flagicon Juichi Wakisaka
2004 Template:Country flagicon Richard Lyons Template:Country flagicon André Lotterer Template:Country flagicon Yuji Ide
2005 Template:Country flagicon Satoshi Motoyama Template:Country flagicon Yuji Ide Template:Country flagicon Richard Lyons
2006 Template:Country flagicon Benoît Tréluyer Template:Country flagicon Tsugio Matsuda Template:Country flagicon André Lotterer
2007 Template:Country flagicon Tsugio Matsuda Template:Country flagicon Benoît Tréluyer Template:Country flagicon Takashi Kogure
2008 Template:Country flagicon Tsugio Matsuda Template:Country flagicon Loïc Duval Template:Country flagicon André Lotterer

Footnotes

1 }}
     | references-column-width 
     | references-column-count references-column-count-{{{1}}} }}
   | {{#if: 
     | references-column-width }} }}" style="{{#if: 
   | {{#iferror: {{#ifexpr: 1 > 1 }}
     | column-width: {{{1}}}; -moz-column-width: {{{1}}}; -webkit-column-width: {{{1}}};
     | column-count: {{{1}}}; -moz-column-count: {{{1}}}; -webkit-column-count: {{{1}}}; }}
   | {{#if: 
     | column-width: {{{colwidth}}}; -moz-column-width: {{{colwidth}}}; -webkit-column-width: {{{colwidth}}}; }} }}">
<references group=""></references>

External links