Are We There Yet? Touge or Not Tougue

In my last article (Spoiled Wings), I made mention that there are car enthusiasts who engage in an activity called Touge. One who is too lazy to use a popular search engine to find out might ask ‘what is ‘Touge’? For starters, it has nothing to do with our beloved mung bean sprout. That vegetable is spelled differently. Touge or Toge is a Japanese word that literally means ‘pass.’ In this case, pass is a noun (which has been incorrectly used by many enthusiasts as a verb) referring to any mountain pass or narrow, winding roads. A local example of such pass is the Transcentral Highway.

Because of the way these roads are built into the sides of the mountain, the series of ‘S’ bends of such roads allows heavy trucks and other vehicles to manoeuvre up and down a mountain at a less steep angle and with slightly less effort. This twisty layout, however, also has its share of dangers. As the road itself is carved into the mountain’s side, there are parts of the road that become invisible to oncoming traffic. And sometimes this becomes the reason why we read news about incidents at the Transcentral Highway which have led to injuries and even fatalities.

Despite knowing the possible dangers of these types of roads, car enthusiasts and street racers are drawn to these passes like a moth to a flame. There are local groups of car enthusiasts who wake up early Saturday mornings (by early, I mean assembly time is at 5 a.m.) and head towards the Transcentral Highway for their weekly Touge. So what happens during a Touge?

From a designated starting point, Cars race up or down the mountain to an agreed converging point. The task of the lead car is to increase the gap between himself and the trailing car, while the trailing car’s job is to maintain or decrease the gap and even to pass the lead car. If the gap is increased, the lead car wins. But if the gap is reduced, the trailing car wins. If the gap is neither reduced nor increased, the race is run again with both cars switching positions. This is called the ‘Cat and Mouse.’

If the road is wide enough, racers can opt to race via Grip Gambler. This method of Touge has both racers starting side by side instead of nose to tail. There is also what they call Ghost Battle which is more of a time attack challenge with the racer posting the quickest time declared the winner.

Is Touge like the popular anime series Initial D? Yes and No. Initial D placed heavy emphasis on the cinematic impact of drifting, or the waste of good horsepower, momentum and tire rubber as I affectionately call it. In Touge, good traction, maintaining your momentum and knowing the racing line (which I will discuss in another article) are the keys to winning. Any circuit driver knows that.

Touge takes a lot of driving skill, car knowledge and guts. The most important thing to remember if you participate in a Touge is to always drive within your limits. The local group of car enthusiasts use Touge to hone their driving skills and sharpen their reaction time; which is pretty useful when you have to play slalom with the many unskilled daredevil drivers who zigzag their way through city streets.

From zipping up and down a tight, treacherous mountain pass at a very fast pace, to optimizing the road to maintain your momentum as you negotiate the tight bends, Touge is fast becoming a recreational choice for many car enthusiasts who have nothing else to do on an early Saturday morning.

But why on an early Saturday morning? Because the traffic enforcers are still in bed at 5 a.m.