In Taiwan, a Karting track follows the Suzuka route

The small track in the city of Kaohsiung is identical to the real one, but ten times smaller.

The Suzuka Circuit, located in the city of the same name in Japan, was built by Honda and opened in 1962. It is the first real racing circuit in the land of the rising sun and is now a regular stop in the Formula 1 World Championship. It is no exaggeration to say that it is one of the greatest circuits in the world, making millions of motor racing fans dream.

Kaohsiung-Suzuka Circuit Park, located about 2,100 km southwest of the southern tip of Taiwan, is billed as Suzuka’s only authorized park outside of Japan. Its centerpiece is a go-kart track that faithfully recreates the legendary 5.8 km circuit. This one is ten times smaller, which is about 500 meters of turns, hairpins and, of course, a bridge.

The video opens just before the start-finish line, where the lap begins. The route is wide enough to cancel out most of the esses, which allows you to move smoothly from one apex to the other. Things tighten up as we approach the bridge, where the hairpin is tight. We then have the right to a long straight which leads to Spoon Curve, or rather to this version of the long left turn. Then comes the final straight, which leads to a shortened version of the 130R. The final chicane isn’t really a chicane, and so we’re back on the line with a time of 40.97 seconds.

According to the video description, the kart was a bit shaken and the track was not in great condition. Again, we don’t care. Engine1 is full of seasoned drivers, but pushing Suzuka to the limit would be a challenge for the best of us. On the other hand, pushing it to the limit on a mini-Suzuka… that might make the worst of us feel like superheroes. When the race is over, there’s even a miniature version of the Suzuka amusement park to enjoy.