90s Japan was certainly quite the era for some, a crippling remnant of the mega spending sprees often associated with mid 80s Japan. Sure, businesses were thriving, technological discoveries and advancements was at an all time peak, but the 90s undoubtedly marked an end to the excessive consumerism brought by the last years of the Showa era. Motorsports on the other hand, never could have been better at this time. Formula 1 still had their seasonal calendars booked in for Suzuka Circuit. Mitsubishi, Subaru, and Toyota were crushing the competition at the grueling rigors of the World Rally Championship. Mazda brings Japan their first Le Mans victory. So with all these international events, what does Japan have for themselves? Well, Group A racing was at an all time high with their own JTC series, and touring car racing started to become a thing with JTCC. However, out of all the exclusive Japan-only motorsport series', one was and still remains to be considered the meta of Japanese production car racing, the All Japan GT Championship, or affectionally abbreviated as JGTC.
The idea of a race consisting mainly of grand touring cars came about in 1993, where the abolishment of Japan's World Sports Prototype Championship and Touring Championship due to soaring costs paved the idea for a much more affordable, yet similarly competitive racing class. In the early years of JGTC, the rules and regulations were based upon JAF's (or short for the Japanese Automobile Federation) N-GT regulations, which stated that a prospective entrant must have a car that is modeled in a 2+2 coupe fashion. However, such a regulation was pretty relaxed at the time, and this resulted in multiple "weird" entries during the first years of the championship. Unorthodox contenders such as a Group B Lancia 037, still with the full Martini livery, and an Advan-liveried Porsche 962C Group C prototype came to surface. It wasn't until 1994 where an association called BPR created a race series comprising of race-converted road cars, known as the BPR Global GT series. Unlike the unmonitored regulations of JAF, BPR introduced a straightforward regulation strictly comprising of commercially available sports cars under the classes GT1 and GT2, in which the cars of the former are much more powerful than the latter.
JAF soon ditched their N-GT regulations and opted to run the GT1 and GT2 regulations of BPR. Soon cars were becoming much, much more balanced, and by 1995, all forms of Group C entrees were banned from the race. However, and as unfortunate as it might seem, the running costs to maintain a GT1 or GT2 class car started to rise, and considering the main purpose of JGTC was to reduce the amount of money needed to spent on running gear, JAF opted to switch the regulations yet again, this time with their own GT300 and GT500 classes. As their names suggests, both classes were strictly based upon vehicle power; GT300 was made for racing cars producing around 300PS, resulting in many privateer entries due to cheaper running costs. GT500 was where the big boys played, running cars with power peaking at around 500PS. One of the many ways to distinguish between a GT500 class car and a GT300 class car was with their headlights, as GT300 cars have yellow lenses instead of clears. In 1995, both classes were dominated by European machines, previously heavy hitter Le Mans contenders; The Porsche 993 RSRs came to conquer the GT300 class, while the GT500 class was completely obliterated by Team Goh's iconic LARK McLaren F1 LM. It wasn't until 1996 where things started to get interesting.
Similar to JTCC, JGTC also utilizes weight penalty systems in 10 kilogram increments for first place winners, allowing rookie drivers placing at the bottom to have a chance at beating the pros, while also keeping the race relatively interesting for fans to spectate. The ever increasing weight penalty and the dynamically changing regulations during the first years of JGTC proved difficult for the European teams to follow. In 1996, Team Goh finally withdrew, retiring the McLaren that everyone tried getting close to. This, on the other hand, opened up new possibilities and fiercer competition for Japanese manufacturers, finally having a chance to fight fair and square against equal technology. Manufacturers begin producing unique one-off systems into their racing cars, particularly of the GT500 class. Nissan swapped out their RB26DETT in favor of a much lighter SR20DET motor to help with massive weight reduction gains, Toyota followed suit with the use of their 503E 3S-GT four-cylinder turbo racing engine on their A80 Supras, replacing the heavy 2JZ-GTE motor. Honda took a very unique approach to re-engineer their NSX's transmission, opting with a 6-speed taken directly out of their Formula Nippon cars, decreasing transmission weight, length, and apparently aerodynamics.
The series would later on be responsible for adding up the already impressive resumes of many drivers. Naoki Hattori, famed driver of the JACCS Mooncraft Hondas, took helm in Team Goh's LARK F1 LM. Masanori Sekiya, staying true with Toyota, became the driver figure of the legendary Castrol TOM'S A80 Supra, along with Frenchman Erik Comas. But no other was as impressive as Shingo Tachi, son of TOM'S co-founder Nobuhide Tachi, who, in his very early years, won consecutive winning streaks and brought Tsuchiya Engineering, Japan's strongest and most recognized privateer to date, a full victory in the 1998 season. Of course, such fierce competition is prone to accidents. One of the most memorable accidents occured during the 1998 Fuji Speedway round, where heavy downpour caused Tetsuya Ota's F355 to aquaplane and hit a damaged Porsche, causing it to burst into flames upon impact. It has since become the worst accident to have ever happened in JGTC history. Another accident involves the unfortunate death of Tsuchiya Engineering's teen prodigy himself, where a technical malfunction caused Tachi to hit the wall at extremely fast speeds, sustaining major injuries upon impact and ultimately causing his unfortunate death.
Even after such horrific accidents, JGTC continued to race on. In the early 2000s, major changes were made to the racing cars. Nissan now opted for a VQ20 V6 as their engine of choice for their R34 Skylines, while Toyota went for their 3UZ-FE V8 engines as a replacement to the now underpowered 3S-GT. Honda tried cramming in a turbocharger into their existing C30A engine, with unfavorable results. At this time, the "Mother Chassis" class was also introduced for GT300, allowing Tokyo R&D's Vemac to enter in their NSX-powered RD320R, proving highly successful in competing against other GT300 machines. Soon after, the series began venturing into abroad territory, and according to FIA regulations, once a certain series will have three or more countries participating to hold the championship, it can no longer go under national jurisdiction. Hence, in 2005, the All Japan GT Championship was re-named as Super GT. Apart from the name change, the series was identically similar to the original JGTC, still having distinguishable GT300 and GT500 classes, only this time having those two classes as more of a placeholder than a class itself, with GT500 cars reportedly making upwards of 600PS while GT300 cars produce 200PS more than their supposed class power cap. Without mistake, Super GT is now a shadow of its former self, but, its spirit continues on where JGTC left off, ultimately becoming one of the last remaining pieces of Japan's 90s era motorsport glory.
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