Formula Crane 45

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Formula Crane 45

Category	Single seaters
Country	Japan
Region	Autopolis, Ōita Prefecture
Inaugural season	1991
Folded	1992
Constructors	Sabre Racing Cars
Engine suppliers	Buick

The Formula Crane 45 was a single-seater racing series held at Autopolis in 1991 and 1992.

History[edit]

Owner of the Autopolis circuit Tomonori Tsurumaki ordered 30 Buick powered US built single seater race cars called Sabre FC45 for a race to take place on his circuit's grand opening on November 1990, consisting of a mixture of invited US CART drivers such as Stan Fox, Johnny Rutherford, Dick Simon, Gary and Tony Bettenhausen against local Japanese drivers. The cars were originally built for a spec racing class to have been run by USAC; however, this class was never realized. After the grand opening, Tsurumaki planned on a series with the cars, known as Formula Crane 45. With only a handful of cars during the 1991 and 1992 season the class was not very successful. When Autopolis went bankrupt the assets including the cars were sold to the highest bidder.^[1]

1991[edit]

Round	Date	Winning driver
1	April 21	Masatomo Shimizu
2	June 9	Masatomo Shimizu
3	August 18	Shunji Kasuya
4	November 11	Shunji Kasuya

1992[edit]

Round	Date	Winning driver
1	May 31	Shunji Kasuya
2	September 20	Tetsuji Tamanaka
3	October 18	Fumio Muto
4	November 22	Tetsuji Tamanaka

Champions[edit]

Year	Driver	Car
1991	Masatomo Shimizu	Sabre FC45
1992	Tetsuji Tamanaka	Sabre FC45

References[edit]