Doing something for the first time is rarely easy, and especially not when those around you are experienced at it. Have a little sympathy, then, for the plight of the Japan Automobile Sports Association (Jasa) in May 1963, as it hosted the burgeoning nation’s first international grand prix meeting.
The stage was splendid Suzuka, opened just eight months prior. No expense had been spared by Honda in the venue’s construction, it being primarily intended as a proving ground for the manufacturer’s motorcycles.
However, as Autocar put it: “Despite excellent amenities, an interesting field of international drivers and cars and efficient pre-race planning, there was little to attract a spectator back.”
You see, while each day’s top-billing sports car race ran flawlessly (in fact, they were “near carbon copies” that offered “little excitement”, with Lotus 23 drivers filling both podiums), the support races were absolutely chaotic.
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We explained: “There were no efforts during scrutineering to see that the cars complied with [the FIA’s] regulations. No notice was taken of cars normally fitted with three-speed gearboxes which resplendently boasted four speeds.
Other cars had dual electric petrol pumps supplementing their mechanical ones. Several cars shed bumpers and grilles or changed windscreens after scrutineering.”
Team representatives’ loud protests won them reinspections, but Jasa still wasn’t thorough. And then when it became apparent that some Japanese manufacturers had homologated “all sorts of optional gear and axle ratios”, precluding fair comparisons, it announced that no protests would be accepted except in respect of weight and capacity – despite Hillman having previously been told that it couldn’t enter the commercially available twin-carb version of its Minx.
Further still, one of the British drivers mentioned that nobody had asked to see a medical certificate or international competition licence. In fact, we heard that at least two drivers lacked the latter and one had never even raced on a track!
This may explain the “appalling carnage rate” in the touring car field: 23 of the 100 were written off in practice and a similar number in the races, and many drivers complained of being forced off.
The sub-1300cc GT race was hotly contested between five cars but rather spoiled, first on lap 10 by one taking the hairpin on its roof (“did she fall or was she pushed?”), then the winning Austin-Healey being disqualified for an undersized screen, suspiciously to the benefit of a well-known local motorbike racer.