How the Night Came From the Sea Reading Street
Speed is a drug. Yous could literally confuse amphetamine with going fast, that's simply the effect that pushing downwardly a pedal has on humans. Sadly, in some ways, we have lost the thrill of speed because it is but so accessible, specially now when you can hire an electric car and go quicker than pretty much anything ever made. A few good years back you actually had to work for it. You had to take a machine that didn't break down every fourth dimension it scraped the redline. And there is ane group of people that were about notorious almost keeping their pedals pressed all the way downwardly and you lot have most likely heard about them… Mid Night Lodge.
Watch our video almost Mid Night Club
Pretty much everyone that's into Japanese car civilisation has heard of Mid Night Club. And if they don't know virtually the underground racing squad specifically so they probably have heard of the manga series "Wangan Midnight" or the computer game "Midnight Club". Both of them were directly inspired by the street racing squad which is more than widely known as Mid Nighttime Club just as a bottom-known fact is officially called "Mid Nighttime Racing Team" or simply "Mid Nighttime". If y'all haven't heard near Mid Night Racing Team at all then just put they were a group of underground street racers.
Rumours most Mid Night Guild
Earlier going deeper into the story there are some things that need to be addressed about the team. Rumors. Firstly, the team was founded in 1982 (not in 87 or in the 90s). Secondly, they never disbanded because of a clash with the bosozoku (the squad is still alive). The rumor was started past a journalist who had written most information technology in an article for an unknown reason. Thirdly, they weren't bearding "businessmen". They were regular dudes with all kinds of different careers but the deviation is that they weren't afraid to have function in illegal street races during the night. Also, Smokey Nagata was never part of the team. There are a lot more than rumors which are spread by some bigger car media companies because they used unreliable sources. Like the Wikipedia article that existed near the society only was filled with a lot of fake data, original members tried to edit the article as well to make it better but in the end, it got taken downwards.
Prologue
Mid Night Racing Team was founded in 1982 by four founding members: Yoshida, Kato, Terazawa and Yamada. The well-nigh important of them for the team was Yoshida who also became the chairman of the team. But earlier starting the club Yoshida was part of another group called the American Car Lodge (ACC), which was in the belatedly 70s and early 80s. During that time tuning big American cars was popular and they used to drag race and do top speed attacks on the highways. One of the notable figures of the car scene was the head of ACC, Koichi Okawa. He was someone Yoshida had big respect for and in the stop, they both had like paths. Subsequently being in ACC for some years Yoshida decided to suspension off from the club and when he was independent he met with the other founders. The iv founders went racing together to the highways and in the finish, decided to create their own society. In the early days of Mid Dark Club, the average age of the members was but around 22-23 years old.
For extra context near the scene at the time, it is suiting to also tell the story of G. Mitsunaga (non a member of Mid Night Club). In the early on 80s, he was famous for his peak-speed runs. He used a DeTomaso Pantera with a chevy V8 in it. The person who tuned his machine was none other than Masaru Hosoki from ABR, one of the most famous Japanese tuners and besides NASCAR skilled Mario Rossi helped. Together in 1981, they were the first in Japan to officially go over 300km/h (307.69km/h, at Yatabe). That was a landmark achievement and became the benchmark for all the street racers and tuners to shell. Before that, the previous record was 264.71km/h by a Trans-Am so it was a huge bound forward. Sadly though Mitsunaga died tragically in an accident a bit later on setting the record. But this record was something that in a mode inspired the next generation of Japanese racers and tuners and certainly the creators of Mid Dark Club who were all hungry for records likewise.
Yoshida's Porsche 930 Turbo
Yoshida and his 911 (1979 930 Turbo) accept become synonymous with the team and is certainly the most famous car of the whole grouping. The appeal of Porsches at that time was very high for different reasons. Ane of them being the gentlemen's understanding of 1977 that limited domestic Japanese cars to 180km/h, because it was a strange automobile it bypassed that. Porsche was besides a serious histrion at diverse sports motorcar races like Le Mans which gave information technology a good reputation for speed and reliability. Since it was European it was also seen as something a scrap more exotic. The overall build of the 930 was likewise very capable and packed nifty potential for tuning. Combining the light body with an air-cooled 3.3L flat-six engine and a turbocharger made the car become over 260-270km/h without breaking a sweat. The Porsche quickly became a height choice for serious highway racers.
Yoshida's car did a meridian speed of 302.52km/h officially on a Yatabe test but the engine blew on that try. Yatabe was notoriously known for being a hard testing ground. On the highways, information technology went at to the lowest degree 320km/h and maybe even faster. When accelerating the car sounded like a jet engine and information technology was difficult not to find information technology coming your fashion and zooming right by.
For the tune of his 930 Yoshida got assist from Porsche themselves! He actually got information technology shipped to Germany a couple of times and Porsche mechanics worked on his car applying their racing know-how from building cars like the 934, 935 and 959. Upgrading everything from the brakes to the steering bike. The just thing that was left mostly untouched was the body itself with some additions to the front bumper to permit better brake cooling and also some NACA ducts instead of the rear side window. As a sign of a truthful street racer, his speedometer was tilted 45 degrees to requite a ameliorate view of the top speed and revs, which was quite common at that time. The interior was fitted with a roll bar and leather bucket seats, the dash was also upgraded with temperature gauges.
It is not clear how much coin Yoshida poured into his project but it wasn't cheap that'south for certain. In the end, because of the swapped parts, it looked similar a wolf in sheep'southward clothing. A 930 turbo from the exterior and a Porsche works race auto in the inside. A monster of a auto. Read more than about Mid Night Club Porsche's.
How to join Mid Night Guild?
When you lot applied in the 80s-90s you lot were first tested, your driving skills were closely examined and if you weren't comfortable at high speeds (200+ km/h) for an extended time or drive in an dangerous mode you didn't stand a take a chance. If yous drove well and so you were kickoff an apprentice. While being an apprentice y'all also have to go to all the meetings and you are given a pinkish Mid Night sticker and at the cease of the testing flow all the club's members accept to unanimously accept you. That can have up to v years and then you lot get the silverish Mid Nighttime sticker from the chairman himself. In that location were other special stickers besides like the windshield one and the full "Mid Nighttime Racing Squad" on the side which can be seen on some cars.
In the very kickoff of the club the process was a bit faster and didn't accept years only since the lodge got very popular people started to join the club merely for the silver sticker and sometimes people would fifty-fifty put simulated stickers on their cars. When that happened Mid Night decided to make joining the team harder and they as well trademarked their name and logo because it was being illegally sold. Real members peeled off fake stickers from cars if they encountered them.
Nowadays they don't test and examine your street racing skills since they don't do that anymore but they however accept new members. You take to be extremely passionate for car civilization and committed to the team. If yous actually want to join them y'all might encounter them at machine meets or events in Nippon.
Racing
Every Saturday the team would gather at Yoshida's shop and so bulldoze to the highway together. In the early days, information technology was the Tomei superhighway and effectually 1985 it was the Wangan (Bayshore route). The Bayshore route was a new stretch of thruway that stretched 60 kilometers on the coast of Tokyo and that is where Mid Night really got famous. They were the showtime ones on that road and invited other drivers to race them. Usually, races took identify between checkpoints and the length between them was effectually 10-30km. In that location were 2 types of races. Races inside their squad, which were less serious, and no one was kicked out if they lost a race. And races between rival teams or privateers (drivers without a squad). When y'all raced a rival and lost y'all had to leave the club. But these races simply took place when the chairman of the society canonical it and ordinarily they had pretty high stakes.
The route on the Wangan was from Narashino to Tatsumi which was around 25km long. If yous wanted to race someone y'all would drive upwards the highway and then finish and expect for someone to line up next to you. As an unspoken understanding, the race would start afterward both had lined upwardly next to each other next. The highway was by and large directly but at that place were some corners as well which were passed through 200+km/h. Similar the Overhead Bridge corner which is around 3km after the kickoff and top speed is accomplished before it and speed while cornering is effectually 260km/h. They raced and then hard that every night they had to refuel around 2 times and a set up of tires would last a month. While racing there were also spectators watching you, sometimes fifty-fifty hundreds of people gathered on the sides of the road.
The twisty roads of Hakone Turnpike
Even though most of them raced on the highways and straights there were some who battled on twisty roads besides. Similar on the legendary Hakone Turnpike. 13.9 kilometers long twisty mount road section which started 100m from bounding main level and ends over 1km in a higher place. It was raced uphill because that was easier on the brakes and a flake less dangerous, it had slow speed corners as well as loftier-speed sections. The most notorious racer on that road was Kometani from Mid Night. With the official fastest fourth dimension of v.55 and an boilerplate speed of most 141km/h.
Racing there was dissimilar, you lot had to be more than skilled at car handling because at some corners the car would be just 5cm from the guardrail. Before races, Kometani would bulldoze up the rails and clean the corners himself with a broom to ensure that the motorcar wouldn't lose grip while cornering because crashing in that location could hands be fatal. Somewhen, Hakone battles became so popular that people would gather around at dark to look at the spectacle but racers didn't really relish that because it made information technology more than dangerous, quite often they faked that they are going away and then come up back in 2 hours when the spectators were gone to race, that way it was safer. Kometani raced with a 930 turbo, which wasn't heavily tuned because in the corners also much power can be a disadvantage. He had around 260HP.
Funt fact: Kometani was very fond of this Porsche and even named his kids Carrera and Tabo (Turbo)
"What is needed is not horsepower, but the power to accelerate in the corner."- Kometani
Mid Night Society Cars
In the very early days, there were some American brands represented in the lodge similar Pontiac and Chevrolet which was logical since some of the members came from ACC. But as smaller, turbocharged engines became pop that also affected what cars were driven. In the mid-80s most of the cars were either Porsches or Z cars and some RX-7s but thrown into the mix at that place have been brands like Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Lamborghini, Honda, and Toyota.
One of the more popular models in the 90s was the Nissan GT-R. When R32 was released it proved to be quite easily modifiable platform that achieved great results and soon a lot of the cars in Mid Night were GT-Rs and friendly rivalry between the Turbo Porsche and GT-R Nissans began. As well notable is the fact that the current fellow member of Mid Dark Order is Chief Product Specialist at Nissan – Hiroshi Tamura.
List of cars in Mid Dark Club:
1. Porsche 911 (930, 964, 997, 991)
2. Porsche 924
3. Porsche 944
iv. Toyota Supra (A70 & A80)
5. Nissan Fairlady Z (S130)
vi. Nissan 300ZX (Z32)
7. Nissan GT-R (R32, R33, R34, R35)
8. Ferrari 348
9. Ferrari 458
x. Lamborghini Countach
eleven. Mercedes-Benz S-Class (W116)
12. Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG (W204)
13. Mercedes-Benz AMG GT4
14. Honda NSX (First Gen.)
15. Honda Today
xvi. Pontiac Firebird Trans Am (2d Gen.)
17. Chevrolet Camaro (Third Gen.)
eighteen. Mazda RX-7 (FC, FD)
19. BMW M5
Notation: this listing is non exhaustive, some cars might be missing (if you have data most missing cars contact united states here)
Current State
The original chairman and founder of the Mid Night Club – Eichii Yoshida is not running the team anymore. The new chairman is Tadao Tamura. The social club is still stiff with effectually 30 people in it and actively taking part of unlike car events. Nowadays though they are not street racing anymore. Evidently now they are a lot older than at the kickoff of the club and have families and careers and need to be more responsible. You can nevertheless spot some Mid Night cars on the tracks though going faster than ever and they drive cars like the Nissan GT-R, Ferrari 458, Lamborghini Countach or Porsche GT3RS.
For everyone who wants to research the Mid Dark themselves then there are Japanese magazines that have covered the team. Similar AutoWorks and Pick, some of the pictures in this article were too from these magazines and the scans were by Automodejapan. They accept detailed pictures of the cars, which speeds they were doing and what kind of melody they had. For pic content there's #midnightracingteam in Instagram, original members use that hashtag to post about their cars. Edit: Recently the official Instagram account of Mid Night Racing Team has been opened at https://www.instagram.com/midcarspeciall/ . For other like stories check out Auto Team Retro on Facebook. And too don't forget to check out Mid Dark Racing Team's official website: www.world wide web.midnightracingteam.jp/.
Sources virtually Mid Night Order: Carboy (1984), Choice (1989), Auto Works (1994), Max Power (1996), Option (2009)
Extra reading nearly Mid Nighttime Club:
Yatabe Exam
Abflug 930
ABR Hosoki S130Z
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