Sunday 11 September 2011

Suzuka 8 Hour Endurance Race 2011

  There's certain things that happen in your life that you'll never forget. Getting married, having kids, jumping out of airplanes would all have to rate up there as unforgettable experiences. To that list I have now added 'visited Suzuka for the 8 hour.' That might not be memorable event for most,  but for me, Suzuka is a kind of Mecca.


It's been the battleground of the four most succesful motorcycle manufacturers the world has ever seen since 1978. Sure, there's been great battles fought between riders and manufacturers at other tracks and other races, but here, on the track that Honda own and had built, the racing is about more than just a charge for the chequered flag, it's about pride and boasting rights in the home of modern motorcycling.

 Honda had the track built in 1962 as a test track and the design is basically a figure eight. It's built inside a natural amphitheatre created by the surrounding hills. The infield is heavily built up and this restricts the view of the track. Probably the best vantage point is on the hill at the back of turn 12. From here you can see Spoon Curve (massive hairpin) at turn 13/14 as well as down to the hairpin at turn 11. The S-Curves (turns 3 to 7) are the purview of those with a grandstand pass only, but probably the best piece of motorcycle track in existence and certainly worth the price of admission.



Honda have won something like 24 of the 34 8 Hour races including this one. Suzuki have been their arch-rival since the beginning (taking first place in the very first race!) so you know its going to be ON at Suzuka. It's a hot contest for the fans too! The 38ÂșC midday sun beat down but ice cold Kirin's helped equalise the temperature.
 Practice and qualifying saw Yukio Kagayama hammer the Yoshimura Suzuki onto pole with a stunning 2.08.001, however the next three places were within 1/4 second of that time. The Yoshi team got a good start too, but Ryuichi Kyonari on the FCC TSR Fireblade caught him within a few laps and pressed on to a decent lead before throwing his bike down the road on lap 11. As luck would have it, the bike was not damaged and Ryuichi was able to remount having lost only 1 place! The Honda's best racing lap was 2.08.634, around 0.3 seconds off its pole time.

At a press conference after the race, Ryuichi was heard to say something along the lines of " I felt obliged to do my best to get the victory for my team," and that's exactly what he did. By lap 20 the TSR Honda was back in the lead. A lead which, as far as I know, the team of Kyonari, Kousuke Akiyoshi and Shinichi Ito never let slip. Eventaully, after about 8 hours and 217 laps, the FCC TSR Honda got the chequered flag a little over 38 seconds in front of the second placed Yoshimura Suzuki.
A race like the 8 Hour always attracts a few of the big names from various genre's of bike racing. Attending this year on the number 77 ELF Honda CBR1000RR was the TT Legends racing team featuring John McGuiness, Cameron Donald and Kieth Amor. I saw the bike circulating rather quickly for the first couple of hours and it was only later I found out that while Mcguiness was doing the first round the bike developed a problem with the back wheel. Donald nevertheless took the bike out for its second stint, but unfortunately when he pitted the bike was DNF'd. Unfortunate.
Of great interest to me where the BMW S1000RR's on track. The Motorrad France number 99 bike qualified a respectable 7th and ended up taking 4th place. Sounds good but that's actually 5 laps behind the winning bike. The BMW seemed slow in the corners, but by God did it shift when it was upright!