Honda Motor Co., Ltd. built Twin Ring Motegi as part of a deliberate strategy to bring CART oval racing to Japan, opening a 2.493 km egg-shaped oval alongside a full road course. The oval hosted the CART-organised Indy Japan 300 from 1998 to 2002, the IRL-organised Indy Japan from 2003 to 2010, and a single NASCAR exhibition race in 1998 before oval racing at the venue was discontinued after the 2010 IndyCar season. In May 2026, demolition of the oval portion began, with the land being repurposed for spectator seating and camping areas.
The road course, running clockwise at 4.801 km, was designed as a largely independent layout sharing only grandstand and garage facilities with the oval. Its layout is described as stop-start in character, built around a sequence of tight hairpins and short straights rather than the flowing medium-speed sections that define other Japanese venues. Elevation change is minimal — the circuit is considered exceptionally flat by Japanese standards — with a slight rise toward the hairpin turn at the top of the lap.
A Honda Collection Hall adjacent to the circuit houses historic Honda racing and production vehicles, and the broader facility includes a second short road course for karting and junior formulae, a dirt oval, and Honda technology demonstration and education centres.
Motegi hosts a round of the Super Formula Championship each April, typically positioned early in the season. The road course's characteristics — tight braking zones, limited overtaking opportunities compared to higher-speed venues like Fuji, and sensitivity to mechanical grip — reward car setup quality and tyre management from the outset of a race. Super Formula's visit to the circuit is among the series' shorter-lap venues, and strategic variation is common given the nature of the track.
The facility also hosts rounds of Super GT each November, Super Taikyu in March, and supports a substantial programme of smaller Japanese domestic categories including Formula Regional Japanese Championship and F4. The MotoGP Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix, one of the road course's headline annual events, visits each October.
The venue's construction purpose — to give Honda direct operational experience of American oval racing ahead of its IndyCar ambitions — shaped everything about the facility's layout and infrastructure. The two-lane public road access, limited accommodation near the circuit, and sightline compromises for spectators at road-course events all trace back to the original oval-first design brief. These constraints remain visible today and have influenced the circuit's reputation as a venue with a distinct character: technically pure in terms of racing challenge, less spectator-friendly than circuits designed from the outset purely for road-course events.
Danica Patrick's first and only IndyCar victory in 2008 at the oval, beating Hélio Castroneves, gave the venue a place in motorsport history for American open-wheel racing. The 2011 IndyCar race, run on the road course due to earthquake damage to the oval following the Tōhoku earthquake, was the series' final appearance at the track.
Mobility Resort Motegi's road course is available in Forza Motorsport 2, 3, and 4, Gran Turismo 4, Gran Turismo 5, Gran Turismo 6, iRacing, and RaceRoom Racing Experience.