The fastest single-seater outside F1?

Closely guarded behind the garage doors of two of the world's largest automotive manufacturers, a car with a claim to being the fastest racer outside Formula 1 was rolled out last year.

If you missed it, so did many others - and that is precisely the problem Super Formula hopes its new 550bhp monster will crack. It's a creation based around a simple mantra: to re-establish Japan's premier open-wheel series as an international force.

To do that, Dallara was recruited to build a chassis compliant with 2010 FIA F1 safety standards around two briefs: quicker and lighter.

As a consequence, weight has dropped by more than 50kg, while a new two-litre turbocharged powerplant has been adopted, offering similar top-end performance but far greater torque and driveability. After early tests, it's already proving around one second faster than its predecessor - genuine GP2 territory, if not quicker.

"It's a boost for the championship, no doubt," says Hiroshi Shirai, president of series promoter Japan Race Promotion.

"It's a world-class chassis, a very good overall package - and it's also cheaper than other categories like GP2 and Formula Renault 3.5.

"We hope that combination reinvigorates the series, and attracts the attention of more international drivers."

Ralf Schumacher made his name in Japan's top single-seater series © LAT

It's not so long ago that the series - in Formula 3000 and Formula Nippon iterations - was booming, with an influx of foreign drivers and a reputation as an effective, and moreover lucrative, training ground for youngsters.

Michael and Ralf Schumacher (the latter champion in 1996), Tom Kristensen, Pedro de la Rosa and Eddie Irvine were among those to chance their arm in Japan en route to the sport's highest rungs.

Grids have since weakened and become less cosmopolitan, but the series still has massive draws, chief of which is the factory support of Toyota and Honda.

Manufacturer rivalry at this level has become something of a rarity in modern single-seaters, but the two giants are firmly committed to the championship.

Significantly, their natural competitiveness is also balanced by a mutual acceptance of practical financial limits. That helps avoid an arms race and in doing so pushes budgets down, rather than up, with both companies subsidising drives.

"Ours is a very strong commitment," Toyota general project manager Yoji Nagai says. "Firstly, it's important for us to support domestic motorsport. Next, it allows us to develop our technology and train our engineers.

The series wants to expand around Asia

"We want to demonstrate our qualities to the world, and Super Formula is a vehicle for that. Our dream is to expand beyond being a domestic championship, and to have other Asian races.

"We need more European drivers too - the potential of the championship has increased with the new car, and we want drivers to reflect that."

Further down the pitlane, Honda has equally bold goals.

"Competition is the key," chief engineer Masahiro Saiki reflects. "Neither company wants to dominate, because competition makes the series better. We fight with Toyota, but we also work with them to promote the championship, and to help push it back to the level it had in the 1990s.

"The upgraded car was a step the series needed - now the car is world class and the engine is world class, so it's a very good training ground for young drivers. That's important for us, to help push young drivers to the top."

The car certainly looks the part, taking visual and design cues from Dallara's HRT F1 programme. The chassis is longer and thinner than its predecessor, with a narrower rear wing aimed at improving stability when running in the wake of another car.

Carbon brakes come in - steel brakes were used on the preceding Swift - while there is even a ready-made space for an energy recovery system should JRP choose to incorporate it.

The new car should be close to F1 pace

"We booked the place for KERS, let's say," Dallara project manager Walter Biasatti explains. "The car is ready, as requested, to host the system without further modifications.

"It's a top-level car, and very similar to GP2 in terms of performance. We pushed to reduce the weight [compared to its predecessor] as much as possible, and there was some carry-over from our time with HRT. Feedback from drivers has already been very good."

Costs have increased as a result of the upgrades, but sweeteners come in the form of sponsor-subsidised drives and a significant prize pool, with eight million yen - roughly £46,000 - split between the top eight per race.

Though budgets vary from team to team, JRP president Shirai says the series has been "careful about pricing," and that costs will be comparable to competing in FR3.5.

For their money, drivers get three pre-season tests and seven race weekends, comprising 90 minutes of practice, F1-style qualifying and 155 miles of racing, sometimes split over two races.

That ticks the main boxes, but most importantly of all is that the series has to convince drivers its benefits outweigh the obvious geographical and logistical stumbling blocks. That means having a clear idea of its position in the market, and the future it can offer.

One option is to use Super Formula as a springboard into the lucrative world of Super GT, a path recently trodden by serial F1 tester and sportscar convert James Rossiter. Tie-ins with Honda and Toyota are an asset, but there's still a hole when it comes to F1 hopefuls.

At present a lot of Super Formula drivers transfer to Super GT rather than heading overseas © LAT

"It's true we don't have an immediate F1 connection," Shirai acknowledges, "but this is our ambition, especially with Honda returning to F1. First we must focus on the show - make it more popular for drivers and fans, and more sponsors will arrive, and that means better links.

"We're cheaper than its European equivalents, we have a quicker car, and we have the support of very good companies like Toyota, Honda and Bridgestone. It's a very attractive package we hope.

"But we're well positioned: the Asian economies are growing, and we want to spread to include races in other countries like Korea and Thailand. The goal is not to spread into Europe, but to grow across Asia and in doing so attract international drivers."

It's a strategy already bearing fruit. Alongside Rossiter and Andre Lotterer, Le Mans 24 Hours LMP2 victor Bertrand Baguette joined a late-2013 Fuji test, as did former Jordan and HRT grand prix driver Narain Karthikeyan, who raced in the series in 2001 and is edging closer to a full-time return in '14.

"It seems to have become more difficult for foreign drivers to come here, but I think the new car is a major asset," Karthikeyan says. "I think it will be the fastest thing outside F1 - it's comfortably faster than the old car, which did 1m37s around Suzuka compared with 1m35s for the HRT.

"If you go with an established team straight away you're OK, and in terms of the new car arriving it's a perfect time to be joining. I raced here in 2001 so I know what it's like - it's a bit isolated, but even so if you do well here people know your quality because it's a very high level."

The one thing Super Formula doesn't want to become is a national championship. It has an exceptional history, manufacturer links and financial incentives, but it has still faded as an international force. The SF14 could be just the shot in the arm it needs.

THE FIRST FOUR DECADES

Super Formula started out as Japanese Formula 2000 in 1973, and then went through an evolutionary transition to Formula 2 and then Formula 3000, before Formula Nippon was launched as an open formula in 1996.

In its new guise the series went through something of a boom, with manufacturer interest driving an influx of foreign drivers. In its first year, Ralf Schumacher - fresh from Macau Grand Prix victory in 1995 - claimed the crown, winning three times and claiming four podiums from the 10 races. He was the first of nine foreign champions.

In that same year Tom Kristensen, Pedro de la Rosa - champion in 1997 - Michael Krumm and Norberto Fontana also competed. Others followed suit, including 1999 champion Tom Coronel and future Jordan grand prix driver Ralph Firman, with five champions and six other racers making the jump into F1.

In 2003, following the bankruptcy of Reynard, the championship followed its F3000 European counterpart by becoming a one-make series, with Lola producing the chassis and Mugen-Honda the engines, which could then be privately tuned.

The rules changed in 2006, heralding the arrival of Honda and Toyota powerplants, and again in '09, when American constructor Swift was commissioned to produce the chassis.

Foreign drivers still prevailed during the transitions - Richard Lyons in 2004, Benoit Treluyer in '06 and Andre Lotterer (pictured below) in '11 - but the series' outlook became increasingly national, attracting just three foreign entrants last year.