Formula Challenge Japan was an
open wheel racing
An open-wheel car is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, Sports car racing, sports cars, Stock car racing, stock cars, and Touring car racing, touring car ...
series based in Japan. The first season was in 2006 and carried on from the defunct
Formula Dream series. It is promoted as a young driver development project jointly by
Honda
commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...
,
Toyota
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...
and
Nissan
is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...
and is positioned as an intermediate level of the domestic motorsport in Japan, lower than the
All-Japan Formula Three Championship, but above F4.
Formula Challenge Japan ended after the 2013 season, and was replaced by
Japan Formula 4 and later
F4 Japanese Championship.
Overview
Being backed by the three major automobile manufacturers in Japan, the driver of the series generally consists of the drivers graduating from the racing schools managed by those three, plus a number of privateers meeting the prerequisites.
To participate in the FCJ series,
a driver needs to be younger than 26 years old and possess a National A racing license, but not having raced in
Formula Three
Formula Three (F3) is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers.
History
Formula Three (adop ...
or above to participate, with a year's subscription fee of around 7.5 million yen.
Despite being a series primarily catering the upcoming Japanese drivers, as of 2009 there were foreign drivers competing in the series.
The cars are
open wheelers, running on a Tatuus chassis
and is mated to a 2.0 L 200 hp engine and a six-speed sequential gearbox, similar to a
Formula Renault
Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to auto racing, motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before mov ...
2.0 car. The engine is a Renault F4R unit badged as FCJ and maintained by Nismo. The tires are manufactured by Dunlop. To ensure parity of the cars, the engine and gearbox are both sealed prior to being delivered to the competitors so that no private tuning could be carried out in between. Moreover, the cars are centrally maintained by the organizers for this purpose.
As of 2009 the series is run on the same weekends as the Formula Nippon race weekend, and visits the major circuits in Japan like
Fuji Speedway
is a motorsport race track standing in the foothills of Mount Fuji, in Oyama, Shizuoka, Oyama, Suntō District, Shizuoka, Suntō District, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It was built in the early 1960s. In the 1980s, Fuji Speedway was used for the ...
,
Suzuka Circuit
The , the , is a long motorsport race track located in Ino, Suzuka, Mie, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan and operated by Honda Mobilityland, a subsidiary of Honda, Honda Motor Co, Ltd. It has a capacity of 155,000. It is most well known by i ...
,
Twin Ring Motegi and
Sportsland Sugo
}
is a motorsports facility in the town of Murata, Miyagi, Murata, Shibata District, Miyagi, Shibata District, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.
Course
The track was opened in 1975 and is one of the largest motorsports facilities in Japan, with a total ...
.
Scoring system
* Points were awarded to the top 10 race finishers with a bonus point for pole position and the fastest race lap.
Champions
See also
*
Formula Nippon
*
Formula Dream
References
External links
Formula Challenge Japan official website
{{Class of Auto racing
Formula racing series
Formula racing
Defunct auto racing series
Recurring events established in 2006
Recurring events disestablished in 2013
Auto racing series in Japan
Defunct sports competitions in Japan