SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - Preview: 2004 Japanese Grand Prix

I will be taking the course during the 2004 season using EA's F1 Challenge '99-'02 and Ralph Hummerich's excellent RH 2004 Season carset that's available from this link.

A Lap of Suzuka

The straight is on a downward slope which can lead to all sorts of fun when starting (ask Michael Schumacher!) You then go into the first corner at about 130 mph in 5th gear (though I am pretty sure 4th or 3rd are normally used there) — it then tightens up to 3rd and about 95 mph you then climb up to the S curve which is a left-right taken at 130 mph in 4th and then immediately into the Dunlop Curve which is a right hander taken at 115 in 4th.

The course then swoops up to the left before the double apex Degner curve (the first apex is taken at almost full pelt in 6th while the second is taken at 75 mph in 2nd (there is also not much run off there if you get it wrong so crashes can be both spectacular and painful!).

You then accelerate under the cross over point of the circuit up to the hairpin which is taken at 45 mph in 2nd. You then accelerate downhill arcing around to the right before you hit the Spoon Curve.

This corner is undoubtedly one of the most difficult to get right in Formula 1. Hill and Coulthard both got it hideously wrong in 95 and it was probably this which cost both men their jobs at Williams. It is a double apex corner on a gradient in a sort of irregular bowl shape (hence the name) you hit the first apex at about 140 mph in 5th gear and then accelerate slightly before braking to take the second apex at 100 in 4th or 3rd. A great deal of feeling is required to get this right as you must get as much speed on the exit as possible due to the long straight that follows the corner.

On this straight you go over the cross over point and are normally going around 180-190 by the time you arrive at 130R. This corner is so named because it is a 130 degree right hander. This can (supposedly) be taken flat though you have to be either brave or mad to attempt this and Allan McNish showed last year what happens if you get it wrong when he destroyed his Toyota and nearly destroyed himself in the process!

This then leads to another straight (with the pit entrance 4/5ths of the way down on the right hand side) and this signals the braking point to the main overtaking point on the circuit the Casino Chicane which is a right/left chicane taken at 35 mph in second. You then accelerate around to the right to the start/finish straight.

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