is a Japanese version of motorcycle speedway

Motorcycle speedway

Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. Speedway motorcycles use only one gear and have no brakes and racing takes place on a flat oval track usually...

, but combines gambling

Gambling

Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...

 added into it and is held on an asphalt

Asphalt

Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...

 course, throughout Japan. It is regulated by the JKA Foundation

JKA Foundation

The is the regulating body for pari-mutuel keirin and auto race competitions in Japan. These sports - two of Japan's four authorized where gambling is permitted - were originally regulated by two separate organizations...

.

A typical Auto Race bike is 599㏄. Autorace is predominantly a gambling sport. The first ever meeting was held at Funabashi in 1950, but loose dirt tracks (similar to speedway and flat track) were banned by the government in the sixties because they were considered too dangerous.

Unlike other forms of motorcycle and gambling sport, prior to race day, the rider have to stay over at the dormitory

Dormitory

A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...

 with over 500 riders and refrain from contacting anyone within the outside world including any forms of communications to prevent race fixing which scandalised the sport during the years of the sport when the Yakuza

Yakuza

, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...

 took over the sport and as a result, crowds dwindled and it was saved when a motorcycle federation took over it in 1967. Since then the sport has very much gone its own way to develop into a form of motor sport exclusive to Japan, although in the 1990's, there was non-betting series featuring flat-track motorcycles on paved ovals in the United States, the Motorcycle Asphalt Racing Series.

Raced on tarmac tracks using bikes with two gears, the hard surface dictates riders lean round the corners rather than slide as in conventional Speedway, the sport from which Autorace was derived. As in Speedway, the bikes have no brakes and are designed with the left handlebar higher than the right in order to help maintain stability while leaning the machine on the banked oval circuit.

An average rider usually spends half a year living away from home. A race usually involves eight riders and runs for no more than three minutes. Between races, the bike is kept together with other bikes.

As well as their real names, all the riders have an alias, or nickname, which they go by. There are eight riders in each six-lap race. All are trained in official training schools and have to pass a qualifying examination before being allowed to become competitive riders. Once qualified, riders are graded according to their results and these grades are used to ascertain racing positions, with the higher graded riders starting from the back grids. Riders are identifiable by number and shirt colour.

Although they are better paid than most of their counterparts, unlike their road racing counterparts, the Auto Race riders do not have celebrity

Celebrity

A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...

 status or product endorsements. However, one of the well-known riders is the veteran Mitsuo Abe, better known as the father of late MotoGP

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix is the premier championship of motorcycle road racing currently divided into three distinct classes: 125cc, Moto2 and MotoGP. The 125cc class uses a two-stroke engine while Moto2 and MotoGP use four-stroke engines. In 2010 the 250cc two-stroke was replaced...

 and World Superbike

Superbike World Championship

Superbike World Championship is the worldwide Superbike racing Championship. The championship was founded in . The Superbike World Championship season consists of a series of rounds held on permanent racing facilities...

 star Norifumi

Norifumi Abe

Norifumi "Norick" Abe 阿部典史 , or ノリック・アベ , was a Japanese motorcycle road racer who was previously a 500 cc/MotoGP rider.-Biography:...

.

The sport also spawned a manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 called Speed Star

Speed Star

Speed Star is the second studio album by Japanese singer/voice actress Aya Hirano, released by Lantis on November 18, 2009. On September 1, 2009, the album was announced to be released, on her official website....

.

External links

• autorace.jp - Official site
• autorace.jp - English Auto Race guide