Honda constructed Twin Ring Motegi in 1997 with a dual purpose: to host the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) series in Japan and to accelerate the company's understanding of American open-wheel racing technology. The name referred to the venue's two distinct racing circuits — a 2.493 km egg-shaped low-banked oval and a 4.801 km road course — which operated as entirely separate tracks sharing grandstand and garage infrastructure but unable to run simultaneously. The oval's tighter turns three and four distinguished it from a symmetrical speedway.
On 28 March 1998, CART held the inaugural Indy Japan 300 at the oval, won by Mexican driver Adrián Fernández. CART continued racing at the oval from 1998 to 2002. In 2003, Honda joined the Indy Racing League and the event transferred to IRL's schedule. The oval hosted IndyCar through 2010, though the 2011 event moved to the road course due to damage caused by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake. The oval's final competitive use was in 2010. On 13 May 2026, demolition of the oval began; it is being repurposed for additional spectator seating and camping areas. On 1 March 2022, the venue was renamed Mobility Resort Motegi to coincide with its 25th anniversary.
The road course began hosting motorcycle Grands Prix in 2000, when it took over from Suzuka as Japan's MotoGP host. The Pacific motorcycle Grand Prix ran at Motegi from 2000 to 2003, after which the event was renamed the Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix from 2004 onward. Motegi has since remained Japan's home round on the MotoGP calendar.
The 4.801 km road course runs clockwise — the opposite direction to the oval — and features a stop-start character defined by multiple hairpins fed by medium-length straights. The course layout is notably flat by Japanese standards, with only slight elevation rise toward the hairpin section. This layout rewards strong braking performance and aggressive drive out of slow corners, putting emphasis on rear traction and power delivery.
Access and logistics at Motegi have historically been constraints for attendance. The venue sits in Tochigi Prefecture, poorly served by public transport: neither JR East nor Tobu Railway service the area, and the circuit's road access is limited to two-lane public roads. The stated capacity of approximately 65,000 is dictated more by traffic flow than by physical seating, which is estimated at nearly 100,000 for road-course events.
The 2011 race attracted controversy when Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo proposed boycotting the event over fears about radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant following the Tōhoku earthquake. Independent scientific bodies including the World Health Organization confirmed the race venue — more than 120 km from the plant — was within safe parameters, and all teams ultimately participated.
During the oval years, Motegi produced several memorable moments outside motorcycle racing. The 2008 IndyCar race saw Danica Patrick become the first woman to win an IndyCar Series event, beating Hélio Castroneves. The circuit also hosted a NASCAR Winston Cup Series exhibition race in 1998 — the Coca-Cola 500 — won by Mike Skinner, notable as the first oval-track NASCAR race in Japan and the first race in which Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. competed against each other. Honda's own drivers did not win on the oval for the first six years of the circuit's operation; Dan Wheldon finally delivered that win in 2004.
Beyond the racing circuits, Mobility Resort Motegi houses the Honda Collection Hall, an extensive museum of historic Honda racing and production vehicles. Honda Fan Fun Lab demonstrates next-generation Honda technologies including robotics, fuel-cell vehicles, and aviation. The venue also operates educational centres, a technology demonstration facility, dirt track and karting areas, and an outdoor trials course for the FIM Trial World Championship.
Mobility Resort Motegi was conceived as a tool of motorsport development, built by a manufacturer to win at a specific type of racing. That original mission achieved — Honda won IndyCar championships during its oval program — the circuit evolved into Japan's most important MotoGP venue. Its dual-circuit heritage, the distinctive Honda Collection Hall, and the circuit's appearance in numerous racing video games and Japanese popular culture have given it a profile that extends well beyond its calendar position. The demolition of the oval in 2026, nearly three decades after it was built, closes one chapter while the road course continues as the venue's central purpose.