Japanese Formula Pacific

As well as their thriving Formula 2 championship, Japan ran a Formula Pacific championship from 1978 to 1982. In preparation, Masahiro Hasemi bought Chevron B40 which was fitted with a Formula Pacific specification Nissan LZ14 engine, and he ran this in F2 races in 1977. That enabled him to easily win the 1978 championship but when more Formula Pacific cars started to appear mid way through 1979, the championship became highly competitive. However, grids were never very large and when the Grand Champion series moved to single-seater chassis and started to mop up the older F2 cars, Formula Pacific was dropped.

Over the five seasons of this championship, there were 39 races run with an average grid size of just under 10. A total of 52 drivers took part, 14 of whom only competed in the FJ1300 category. Masahiro Hasemi competed in 35 of the races, and Kenji Takahashi in 34. Hasemi won 14 races, Kazuyoshi Hoshino won 11, Takahashi six, Satoru Nakajima five, Takao Wada two, and Toshio Suzuki one. March won 19 races, Chevron 11, Ralt seven and Nova the other two. Of the 378 starts, 170 were in Marchs, 64 in Chevrons, 47 in Ralts, and 37 in Falcons. The Nissan LZ14 engine beat the Toyota 2T-G by 34 wins to five; and also by 219 starts to 91, with another 40 starts by Ford Cosworth BDA/BDD engines, and the rest using FJ1300 engines.