The city of Mimasaka, Okayama Prefecture, is offering one of the best citizenship benefits we’ve ever seen. The hometown of Okayama Circuit has begun offering residents a circuit license to drive on the famed race track as a reward for paying their taxes. It’s a great way to get precious track time for enthusiasts, but it’s an even better way for the prefecture to get people into motorsports and driving.
To get the license, you need to make a tax donation of ¥120,000 ($1,150 USD) to the city. In return, however, you get free admission and track time on any day where there’s no event being held. Licenses are good for one year, after which you can make another donation.
Since a ticket for a 30-minute track session is usually ¥21,000 ($200 USD) not including admission, this is a pretty sweet deal. The license is required for driving Okayama Circuit, and the program comes with orientation classes as well.
If we lived there, we’d jump at the chance to drive on the venue for SuperGT and D1GP races any time we wanted. If you live in Mimasaka, it’s like having a track in your own back yard.
