On April 4, “R1 SPEED KARTING,” a rental karting facility, held its grand opening in Joso City, Ibaraki Prefecture. Joso City Mayor Takeshi Kamitatsu visited the site and enjoyed driving the karts himself.
The facility, a karting track owned by NASCAR driver Takemitsu Miura, had been pre-opening in October 2025, but officially opened for business on April 4.
Mr. Miura said, “Japan has many world-renowned automobile manufacturers, but the automobile culture is fading or losing its roots compared to the past. Automobiles and motorsports are also not easily connected. F1 has been experiencing a renewed boom for several years now, but while there are people who go to see the sport, there is still not enough interest in riding in a racing kart. I wanted to contribute to the culture of automobiles, and I wondered if there was anything more I could do for motorsports.
I used to be a kart driver myself, and once you get into karts, you get addicted to it,” he said.
The course features two banked corners. This is where NASCAR drivers who mainly compete on oval tracks show their particular attention to detail.
Regarding his commitment to the bank, Mr. Miura said, “I have been participating in the NASCAR race for nearly 10 years now, and it is the second most popular race in the United States after MLB (baseball), NBA (basketball), and NFL (American football). After all, NASCAR is all about banking. It is a common practice during oval racing, so if we can incorporate something like that into a rental kart track, it will be a one-of-a-kind track. Eventually, I intend to change the course, and I would like to plan a tiny short oval race using the banking,” he says.
Regarding the strategy for such banking, he said, “The speed at which you dive into the banking is very important. Visually, it is quite scary because the angle is almost like a wall, but basically, you dive into the bank and press the tires against the road surface, so the key point is that you can dive into the bank unexpectedly. When you take the plunge, you may wonder, “Oh, it turns so much? The feeling you get when you dive into a banked corner is totally different from that of a flat corner, so you can improve your time if you can grasp that.
His concept is “beginners first. We want to expand the range of people, young and old, male and female, children and adults. We want to approach people who don’t know what they are doing yet, or who are not ready to take the plunge, in a gentle way. For children, it doesn’t matter if it’s studying, playing soccer, baseball, or anything else, it’s very important to work hard. That’s why we want to have a karting school, or something like that, where everyone can come here once a week for an hour and learn how to run together,” he says.
After the interview with Mr. Miura, Mr. Takeshi Kamitatsu, Mayor of Joso City, arrived at the event. After Mr. Miura explained the displacement of the rental karts to be used and the features of the course, Mr. Kamitatsu put on a helmet and experienced a five-minute rental ride.
After the run, Mr. Kamitatsu said, “This is fun. I would like everyone to experience it. I would like to consider it as a hometown tax experience.
Fees are 2,000 yen for a single rental ride (5 minutes), 5,000 yen for 3 rides, 8,000 yen for 5 rides, and 5,000 yen each for 30 minutes of unlimited rides on weekdays and 20 minutes of unlimited rides on weekends and holidays. With the grand opening, private rentals (advance reservation required) are also available for 39,000 yen per hour on weekdays and 50,000 yen per hour on weekends and holidays (both include 5 carts).
Located at 1054-4 Sugo-machi, Joso-shi, Ibaraki, Japan. open weekdays 1:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., weekends and holidays 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Closed on Wednesdays.
© Source travel watch