Hakone mountain pass "TOUGE"

Saturday night was unlike anything I'd done before...

Through a friend of mine, a fellow DC2 driver I was invited to observe an underground, high-speed drive through the winding, twisty roads of Hakone mountains otherwise known as "TOUGE"

I was told that I should expect the exact same situation as that portaited in a japanese manga known as "Initial D" and that the only difference between this particular gathering and what's known as "mountain drifting" was they would be doing high-speed grip driving as opposed to high-speed drifting.

This was meant to be my rare opportunity for exposure to the underground, japanese street racing culture and it certainly felt like that ...

Without giving away too much info for obvious reasons, we met in a carpark with this particular night's participants (hashiriya). The cars were definitely highly tuned, majority I'd say illegal as far as shaken regulations were concerned and surprisingly very low key in terms of what was shown to the outside world. The drivers I would say your typical car racers ranging from 22yo all the way to 63yo!

About half an hour past midnight I was told that "the boss" and his "2nd in command" would arrive and I was told every member of this team had to be very respectful to these 2 folks and the rules they had instilled within the team.

The boss arrived in an STI (he was 63yo) and his 2nd in command arrived in a Skyline GT-R (he was in his 40s). Suddenly I was told by my mate to wait by my car as they quickly gathered around the boss to go over some rules. 30 mins later they spread out and everyone was told which "group of cars" they'd be running in and in which order to prevent faster cars catching up to slower cars and to maintain order and safety.

It seemed very well organized ....

Shortly after, my friend said he would try to introduce me to the boss but I only got to meet his 2nd in command, a short, stalky guy but with a very strong aura around him and definitely a likeable character. It was then when I took a closer look at his car and noticed something I had heard of before, a small writing on his door saying "Midnight Club". I was told that he was one of the still remaining original members of this infamous street racing gang and that really took me by surprise because I thought the gang had long discipated. The way people talked about him I sensed the gravity of this guy's experience and authority.

At around 1:30am we all left and headed for Hakone mountains ...