Tokyo Times: motorway adventures

Last time we heard from Tokyo-based MX-5er dfunkyt, he was negotiating crazy car-parking and enjoying the blossoms of Japan in springtime. In this second part of our Tokyo report, it’s Blade Runner all the way.

So the roof is down, but where to go? High speed, windy bits, the legendary shutoko battle boys? Having grown up in London, I feel the attitude here is generally more pedestrian-friendly. Rarely do I see boy racers zooming along the local roads and drivers are far less aggressive. However, there is a certain passive aggressiveness – or is it just blind ignorance? There is a habit of thinking that indicating equals entitlement to meander in front of – or into – rapidly oncoming traffic! Still, the fun and thrills of driving happen where there are fewer pedestrians. So it’s winding mountain roads or the elevated highways (shuto).

To use the highways within Tokyo, there is a 700 yen (£3.50) toll charge. You’re then free to loop around all night… and what a buzz it is! Tokyo lights up like nowhere else, with a unique neon hue that’s both eerie and exciting. Here you see just how fanatical people are about their cars. One day after its launch, I went to a famous boy racer pit stop on the highway from Tokyo to Yokohama and there were no fewer than 10 shiny new GTRs strutting in the car park, bonnets open, stereos blaring, with a captivated crowd of enthusiasts, either gawping or grinning proudly.

Tuning is where it’s at here. I‘ve read a lot about Eibachs on the Forum but shudder to think of the list of kits, bits and accessories for our beloved Roadster!

Anyway, back to the driving. What makes my baby different from what I guess 99.9% of you folks drive in the UK is its paddle shift semi-auto box! Ten years back, I would have laughed in my own face for even being a passenger in a slush box motor but, I have to say, I love it.

Maybe it’s age but it does give you the F1 feeling and saves on those leg muscles in the all-too-frequent traffic jams. I drove both manual and paddle shift before I chose and could not tell any real difference in the acceleration and shift speeds. Moreover, being the poseur that I am, the paddles do look cool illuminated at night.

So back to the sights, sounds and streets of Tokyo. Roads tend to be narrower, buildings taller, neon brighter, adding to the Blade Runner city feel. You really have to see it to believe it. The highways criss-cross the city, so one minute you are zooming by the 15th floor of an office block, the next you are burrowing deep underground to emerge in another part of the city. The highways are built in slabs with metal strips forming a bridge between sections. This allows flexibility in the extremes of summer but, more importantly, in the event of earthquakes. They can also cause the car to skid in the wet. Once I entered a corner too fast in my old RX-8, hit a strip and, had it not been for the traction control, it may not have been as easy to catch the tail slide!

Well, I hope that this slice of Tokyo life gives you some insight into the Zoom-Zoom philosophy of where the car that we all love comes from. Enough for now – there are some cherry blossoms I need to go see...

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