Nestled in the mountainous area that overlaps the cities of Toyota and Okazaki is the Toyota Shimoyama Technical Center, which covers a total area of 6,508 square kilometers and includes three separate test circuits.
Interestingly, the so-called Third circuit or country roadhas a total length of 5.3 km and is modeled on the famous German Nürburgring Nordschleife (20.8 km excluding the GP track), which was completed before the first and second laps in 2019.
The remaining two projects will be completed this year.
The facility itself was commissioned by Toyota Motor Corporation President Akio Toyoda when he was still the company’s president and CEO, and is designed to do more than just collect data for vehicle development.
As a former racer who raced in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, Mr. Toyoda (also known as Morizo Kinoshita when racing), described the test center’s three laps as where the vehicles would be tested. their limits and more.
“I have been building these circuits as both a road to car training and a way to break cars,” he said.
Speaking specifically about the Third Track after it was completed in 2019, when he also got a chance to ride it, Toyoda said: “With its intense ups and downs, an endless series of turns… It really makes me feel like I’m driving the Nürburgring.”
It was conceived with the help of test drivers using knowledge and know-how from countless hours of testing at the Nürburgring, and is designed to test new models for enhanced durability.
“The Nürburgring is known for its exceptional ability to detect problems in cars, even cars that have been tested many times in Japan can crash after just a little driving,” he said. .
“If something goes wrong, we take the car back to the pit, fix it, and drive it again. By repeating this, we can tune the car.”
While the Third Circuit is designed with uphill, downhill, right and left corners, aiming to create a mountainous road in the countryside, the first Circuit is oval in shape with a long straight line. most, while the Second Circuit includes the straight line but also some other tracks.
With the remaining two laps due to be completed later this year, it’s likely we’ll get to test the facilities at Shimoyama, especially the ‘Country Road’ and hopefully get a little something special from Gazoo Racing.
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