Japanese Auto Racing

Thanks to Brian at British Ironworks  I'm of to trawl the internet to find out what sort of racing lunacy produces this!



Here is the Auto Race website, not easy to make sense of as I'm not conversant in Japanese and Google translate does weird things!  But I found this bit in English

	How many riders are in a race and how many times do they go around the circuit?
	In general, eight riders compete against each other for six laps on racing circuits that run counter-clockwise. When there are not enough riders, races may be held with seven riders. Each motorcycle is numbered from 1 to 8, and is a different color making it easier for the audience to distinguish the riders.
	When and where do these auto races take place?
	Two tournaments are held within a non consecutive eight day period for four and four, three and five, or five and three days, and on each day there are one to twelve races. Since each rider can only participate in one race each day, usually there are 96 riders that participate in a day (8 riders x 12 races). Winners are decided based on tournament results from each of the group tournament days.
	How fast do these motorcycles go?
	150Km on the straights, 90Km on corners, and 105Km on average.
	How are racing and commercial motorcycles different?
	Auto Race motorcycles are unique in that they are small in size and light in weight with only the bare minimum on the body.
	There is no break The left side handle bar is set higher than the right There is no gauge Diamond shaped frame Unique custom-made suspension systems Knee guards Two speed transmission Triangular tires

So it looks like we have the bastard child of  Speedway and Flat Track racing on Asphalt with gambling thrown in,Tokyo's version of a night out at the dogs?