An Insane Night of Touge Drifting With CSS - Juiceboxforyou

After a lovely evening at N-Style, and a rather uncomfortable afternoon, we were exhausted. We hadn’t slept much the previous night for obvious reasons, and this night was shaping up to be no different.

I had been in touch with two of the other members of CSS, and I wasn’t aware that they weren’t speaking to Chogo anymore. They had asked to meet us the night after Chogo and a separate touge closer to Nikko and be honest here. We were so tired from all the other stuff we had seen that we almost didn’t go.

I was going to text the lads and tell them we were exhausted. That’s when we realized, fuck it, we are here to see this stuff, let’s suck it up and go and meet the lads, they were nice enough to want to hang out in the first place, and it would be cool to see their faces again.

We drove to our accommodation, which was in the mountains not too far from Nikko, dropping off our luggage. We headed down to a car park where the guys would meet us. When we rolled in to meet them, we couldn’t believe it. The red 180sx looked the same as it did three years earlier.

This Chuki was lurking in the car park.

Both of the lads were standing there waiting. It was fantastic to see them. .Number one crazy street driver, as he’s known in the last video, he had the R34. Unfortunately, he had crashed that Car in the previous three years and had his little aw11 mr2, which he has had for many years, he wouldn’t be drifting tonight, but he wanted to tag along regardless.

I couldn’t believe the 180sx was still the same. Again these lads are very rarely active on Facebook. They have no other forms of social media, from what I can gather. The fact that we managed to find a time to meet up was a miracle, it’s a shame their group had broken apart, but it was great to see them nonetheless.

It was refreshing to see an AW11.

They asked us to follow them up the mountain, so we tagged along, pulling in to get fuel, and then we began what felt like hours climbing the mountain road. Following that red 180SX up the hill took us right back to 2016; it was a weird feeling.

Once again, the suspense started to grow. We were following two lads we had met three years previous up some roads to see a few skids. To a non-car related person, this might seem insane.

The drive went on for well over an hour and a half of climbing. A few other cars joined in behind us. It had been a long 17 days of madness, but we trucked on. Honestly, at this point, we didn’t know what to expect, there were two cars behind us, and the two guys in front, we were trusting them, and we had no idea what we were going to see at the top of this mountain.

We eventually hit a peak and started to descend. I was baffled as I figured we might be going nowhere, then I began to see tyre marks and then more cars, and then we turned the corner, and I couldn’t believe my eyes. There must have been thirty or more cars, all parked in a layby. They even had a fucking tent set up as a pit stop. There were cars everywhere, all young and older adults, at least over 50 people here, it left us speechless.

It appeared to be in a valley, with a touge road going up one side of the mountain and then one-up the other, cars going in and out of the car park, refuelling, changing tyres, it was almost like an organized event with the amount of activity that was here. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Just as we started walking up for a look, more and more cars arrived. There wasn’t a foreigner insight. What a scene! I asked if it was ok to shoot a video. No one seemed phased by us being there. We had hit the jackpot. I had no idea this stuff still went on in Japan or, to this extent, it was like looking into the days gone where these mountains would be flooded with drivers.

Everyone looking out for each other, hazards on, people being mindful of the situation. Cars were zooming in and out of the layby like something from a track-day. Instead, we were on the side of a mountain in a valley in the pitch black in the dark. It’s hard to believe this stuff still happens, but we were thrilled to see it’s still going on.

There wasn’t any drifting happening when we got there, and we figured out why. Everyone got together to walk further up the road and try to clear an oil spill.

Once everyone pitched in to get the road sorted, the madness began. Every time a few guys went up. Some new cars would make it down. They would throw on the hazards to let people know

I jumped in with the red 180sx, and it was like being transported back to 2016 all over again. He was a little nervous once again, as we had the camera out and kept making mistakes. I tried to tell him to relax a little, and eventually, he settled into the skids.

There was one crazy chap who hacked the roof off of a sedan and had a massive exhaust. It was lawless, to be honest. I don’t have many words for what we saw, except for the fact we loved every second of it. Nights like this are the reason we came to Japan; this is why we love cars.

Japan is such a conservative place, everything needs to fit in its box, and these guys can express themselves through cars, let loose, go wild for a few hours and feel free. It must be highly intoxicating for them. I loved seeing how many young people were on the mountain; it gave us a bit of hope in knowing that there is still growth in the community here, that it hasn’t ultimately died off.

Once they all got into a groove, it was on, Car after Car, train after train, up and down, V8s, 1JZ’s, RB25’s, roaring and echoing off of the cliffs. The hills were alive with drifting, and it was one of the most extraordinary things I’ve ever witnessed. Getting to see that many cars skidding at the same time in the dark on the side of a mountain, working like a well-oiled machine, were something ill take to the grave.

You look up above, and you could see the lights as the piece of road comes out over the one below, the roar and screech of tyres, the headlights and smoke. Some cars didn’t even have plates, but they didn’t care. It was all part of the madness.

Eventually, the locals started warming to us and started showing off for the camera. It was good banter.

It was relentless, car after car, tandem after tandem up and down the mountain pass until the sun came up. Our brains had reached capacity, at about three in the morning, we decided to call it! Fuck we had peaked. We had just witnessed the motherload, more than we could have ever wanted. We still had to get back to our hotel, which was two hours away, try to sleep for an hour or so, and then drive to Nikko circuit in the morning to the BM cup!

We said our goodbyes to the CSS lads and thanked them for what would go down as one of the most unforgettable experiences of our lives.