The Golden Style of Street Racing

Here in the US, we typically think of street racing as drag racing. Going as fast as possible on straight away in a given amount of distance, whether it's a quarter mile in an industrial business park or on the freeway from a third gear pull. Yes, I do admit that is exciting and definitely gets my heart beating faster than its supposed to be, but I've always been more interested in the touge racing.

For those of you that don't know know what the touge is, the true definition of it means "pass" (in reference to a mountain pass) in Japanese. Narrow two lane roads that have steep inclines, sharp hair-pin turns and s-curves calls for a dangerous driving experience. Well, the illegal street racers in Japan take it as a challenge. It's almost like trying to cheat death.

What these racers do is line their cars up in a single file line at the base of the hill which typically has a toll booth at the bottom. The drivers then drive towards the toll booth with an equal amount of distance between them and as soon as they hit the booth, they floor it and play a game of cat and mouse with each other. The person in front is mouse running away from the car behind them which is chasing after them as fast as possible. The objective for the car in front is to get away from the car chasing them and the person chasing them is supposed to close the gap between them. In most cases, touge racing is a one on one race, but there are plenty of instances where multiple cars race at once trying to either extend or close the gap in between them and their opponents.

Keep in mind that these are public roads and there is oncoming traffic with blind turns which can cause extremely dangerous situations for both the racers and innocent motorists. The cars used for touge racing are modified and tuned very precisely as a small mistake in tuning can easily cause death. Popular vehicles for touge racing include: Nissan 240sx, AE86 Corolla's, RX7's and Honda Civic hatchbacks.

Now, if you're a JDM fan boy like myself, then I'm sure you're familiar with the Japanese arcade game called "Initial D". The game was based off of street racing in the mountains of Japan and has inspired many people here in the US and I'm sure all over the world to race the touge. I'm not saying the game started the idea of mountain pass racing, but it did have a large influence in the now popular canyon racing.

I do not support illegal street racing and believe the lives of other are at risk when selfish actions like touge racing take place. However, I do have the utmost respect for the racers who spend countless hours perfecting the tune on their cars and passion and thrill they have for running the touge. I understand that is a lifestyle for many and has inspired people all across the world. And the amount of skill and excitement caused from touge racing has led me to believe that it is the golden style of street racing.

- Kyle @ XS