-Change, it's said, is the only constant. Consider Fuji International Speedway, now in its fifth configuration. Resting in the foothills of Japan's picturesque Mount Fuji, the historic circuit was founded in 1963 with the intention of building a NASCAR-style 2.5-mile superspeedway. After one banked turn was built, it was evident there weren't enough funds for such a track, so it was completed as a 15-turn, 3.7-mile road-racing circuit with one wicked-fast banked corner; it opened in 1965. After a double fatality in 1974, the banked portion was eliminated, and the rest of the track was reconfigured as an eight-turn, 2.7-mile course. Beyond hosting a pair of landmark Formula 1 races in 1976 and 1977, Fuji had significance for many racing fans as the first real-world racetrack they learned by heart while playing the Pole Position arcade game in the 1980s or, more recently, the Gran Turismo series of video games. The track was extended to 10 turns in 1982 and 12 corners in 1993, the layout it had when Toyota bought it in 2000. A revamped 16-turn track, now 2.8 miles long, opened in 2005; F1 action briefly returned in 2007. READ MORE ››
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