Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be either purpose-built sports prototypes which are the highest level in sports car racing or grand tourers based on road-going models and therefore, in general, not as fast as sports prototypes. Sports car racing is one of the main types of circuit auto racing, alongside open-wheel racing, touring car racing and stock car racing. Sports car races are often, though not always, endurance races that are run over particularly long distances or large amounts of time, resulting in a larger emphasis on the reliability and efficiency of the car and its drivers as opposed to outright car performance or driver skills. The FIA World Endurance Championship is an example of one of the best known sports car racing series.
The Toyota MR2 is a line of two-seater, mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive sports cars, manufactured in Japan and marketed globally by Toyota from 1984 until 2007 over three generations: W10 (1984–1989), W20 (1989–1999) and W30 (1999–2007). It is Japan's first rear mid-engined production car.
The Toyota UZ engine family is a gasoline fueled 32-valve quad-camshaft V8 piston engine series used in Toyota's luxury offerings and sport utility vehicles. Three variants have been produced: the 1UZ-FE, 2UZ-FE, and 3UZ-FE. Production spanned 24 years, from 1989 to mid 2013, ending with the final production of the 3UZ-FE-powered Toyota Crown Majesta I-FOUR. Toyota's UZ engine family was replaced by the UR engine family.
The 1994 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 62nd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 18 and 19 June 1994.
The Toyota GT-One is a racing car initially developed for Group GT1 rules, but later adapted into an LMGTP car. It raced in the 1998 and 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The Nissan R390 GT1 was a racing car built in Atsugi, Japan. It was designed primarily to gain a suitable racing entry in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1997 and 1998. It was built to race under the grand touring style rules, requiring a homologated road version to be built. Therefore, the R390 was built originally as road car, then a racing version of the car was developed afterwards. Only one R390 road car was ever built and is stored at Nissan's Zama facility, although one of the race cars was later modified for road use. The road car was claimed to be capable of attaining a top speed of 354 km/h (220 mph). However, this claim has never been proven.
The McLaren F1 GTR is the racing variant of the McLaren F1 sports car first produced in 1995 for grand touring style racing, such as the BPR Global GT Series, FIA GT Championship, JGTC, and British GT Championship. It was powered by the naturally aspirated BMW S70/2 V12 engine. It is most famous for its overall victory at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans where it won against faster purpose-built prototypes in very wet conditions. The F1 GTR raced internationally until 2005 when the final race chassis was retired.
The Lotus Elise GT1 is a race car developed for grand tourer-style sports car racing starting in 1997.
The Nissan R391 is a prototype racing car built by Nissan and their motorsports counterpart Nismo for competition at the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was a replacement for the R390 GT1, which was no longer legal in its production-based class.
The Panoz Esperante GTR-1 was a race car developed by Panoz Auto Development and Reynard Motorsport for grand tourer endurance racing in 1997. Although named after the Panoz Esperante roadster, the GTR-1 actually bore no mechanical relation to the production Esperante, instead sharing only minor styling points. Only two road-legal GTR-1s were built to meet homologation requirements set forth by the ruling bodies which the racing cars ran under.
The 2006 Autobacs Super GT Series was the fourteenth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the second season as the Super GT series. It was also the twenty-fourth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on March 19 and ended on November 5, 2006, after 9 races.
The Dauer 962 Le Mans is a sports car based on the Porsche 962 Group C racing car. Built by German Jochen Dauer's Dauer Racing, a racing version of this car went on to win the 1994 24 Hours of Le Mans with the support of Porsche in LMGT1 group.
SARD Corporation is a Japanese tuning company and racing team from Toyota, Aichi, mainly competing in the Super GT series and specializing in Toyota tuning parts.
The Nissan R90C was a platform used for Group C racing cars built in 1990 by Nissan Motors for competition in World Sportscar Championship (WSC) based in Europe and the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship (JSPC). The cars based on the basic R90C platform would compete until 1993 before Nissan chose to withdraw from sports car racing, not returning until 1997. It won three JSPC championships and several significant endurance races during its career.
The Chrysler Viper GTS-R was a successful racing variant of the Dodge Viper developed in conjunction with Chrysler of North America, Oreca of France and Reynard Motorsport of the United Kingdom. Officially unveiled at the 1995 Pebble Beach Concours, it has won numerous championships and famous events in its history.
The Mooncraft Shiden MC/RT-16 is a Japanese Super GT GT300 class prototype race car introduced by Mooncraft in 2006.
The 1995 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship was the third season of Japan Automobile Federation GT premiere racing, and the second under the promotion of the GT Association (GTA). It was marked as well as the thirteenth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. Once again, the GT1 class champion was the #1 Calsonic Nissan Skyline GT-R driven by Masahiko Kageyama, and the GT2 class champion was the #70 Gaikokuya Nissan Skyline driven by Yoshimi Ishibashi and Kaoru Hoshino.
Group GT1, also known simply as GT1, was a set of regulations maintained formerly by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), for Grand Tourer racing. The category was first created in 1993, as the top class of the BPR Global GT Series, and was included in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It fell under FIA regulation from 1997, after the BPR series came under the control of the FIA, becoming known as the FIA GT Championship. The category was dissolved at the end of 2011. The category may be split into four distinctive eras, from its debut in 1993–1996, 1997–1998, 2000–2009, 2010–2011.
Tomiko Yoshikawa is a Japanese racing driver who competed in junior open-wheel racing and sports car categories. She entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times, the 24 Hours of Daytona once and also raced in her native Japan in such series as the All-Japan Formula Three Championship and the Fuji Grand Champion Series. In 1991 she was part of the first all-female LeMans driving team, driving with Lyn St. James and Desiré Wilson.
Japan Lamborghini Owners Club (JLOC) is an organization of Lamborghini car owners in Japan that was formed in 1980 to help information exchange between Lamborghini owners in Japan.
