Remember watching Initial D and thinking how cool it would be to race down winding canyon roads in real life? Battling the local touge; running nose to tail, back and forth across narrow slivers of sketchy pavement, blasting into blind turns dusted with pebbles, victory determined not by lap times but the gap created over the course of the run. However; if you are averse to run-ins with local law enforcement or just aren’t looking to test your luck with a rescue team/tow truck, The Touge Society has something that might be of interest to you.
This was only the second Touge2Track Touge Battle, and while the reigning champ (an older Civic with a K series intimidatingly protruding through the hood) was unable to attend, there was still a healthy turnout from the H brand including quite a few S2000s as well as a handful of ZN6 cars; however, the biggest surprise was the Fiat 124 Spider that ended up running for third. While we managed to pull a qualifying time of 1:11 out of somewhere. Going into the battle we had better tires but the mechanical whine of a supercharged FRS said otherwise.
The faster you went the narrower the road became. While the streets weren’t actually real, the dangers of dropping a wheel and/or going very much were. It was wonderful not having to keep your head on a swivel, worry what will happen when you cross the yellow line, and those pesky cyclists. Horse Theif Mile was very technical with tight switchbacks, headfirst downhill dives, and a very fast chicane leading into a long uphill sweeper. It was no wonder that any BMI title worth buying had a Hot Version Touge Showdown segment.
