Mt Fuji raceway
The day arrived for my trip to Mt Fuji raceway and at 10 sharp the driver and the limousine were waiting. After a three-hour drive, we arrived at the circuit. Mr. Taki and Mr. Hayashi were standing in the pits by the Alfa Romeo 8C Monza. I was thrilled to be there and the car looked very nice. I had seen many photos of this circuit because it was the scene of James Hunt’s battle with Niki Lauda when he secured his only World Championship for McLaren at the Japanese GP in 1976.
The weather was typical of the area with heavy mist and lots of rain just like the day when Hunt won the championship all those years ago. This wasn’t the least worrisome because the nice thing about pre-war GP cars is that they run on very narrow tires which slice neatly through water without aquaplaning.
There was a really nice group of historic cars for the race with a variety of Bugattis Rileys, BMWs, Jaguars, and an interesting assortment of Italian Barchettas which are much loved by the Japanese collectors.
There was a practice session in the afternoon and with little effort, I was able to put the Monza on pole for Sunday’s support race to be held just before the six-hour marathon for the World Sports Car Championship of makes.
That evening I spent the night in a local Ryokan, a traditional Japanese Inn. It was lovely with lots of bamboo and wood everywhere and that evening after dinner, I was advised by Mr. Taki to take a mineral bath located downstairs in the Ryokan. I thought this was a great idea and went to get my robe and go for a good relaxing soak. Mt Fuji is still an active volcano and there are many hot pools located in the region and this was one of them. I stayed in the lovely warm water for more than an hour and felt wonderful. The Japanese have some really good ideas on how to enjoy life and this was one of them.
When I returned to my room I was in for a big shock. When I entered the hall leading to my room there were five large Japanese men lying comatose on their backs along the hallway.
I had to step over them on my way to my room. I had no idea what was wrong with these men, but I couldn’t speak Japanese to ask so I retired for the night and saved my questions for the following morning. At breakfast, I asked Taki-san what these guys were doing lying in the hall. He howled with laughter and told me that these men were old guard Japanese and liked drinking.
Evidently, they drink until they drop which is the custom. So these guys were actually dead drunk and had passed out before they could enter their rooms. This happens often on the weekends. I was really surprised at this but took it on board as part of my exposure to Japanese culture. I thought of the bottles of Johnnie Walker black label that I had given the mechanics in Tokyo a few days before and wondered if they were lying on the floor at home on this Saturday evening.
After breakfast, it was time to go racing so we loaded into the limousine and headed for the circuit. It had stopped raining but was very misty and gray. We went to Mr. Hayashi’s private museum to collect the Monza. I had never seen it before and it was full of some of the World’s best cars like GP pre-war Mercedes, Alfas, Blower Bentleys. Evidently, his passion was to collect two of each model and I saw many pairs which were mind-boggling in itself. I climbed into the Alfa Romeo 8C Monza started her and drove her out of the Museum and followed Taki-san.
Keep following the tale Time to race with Alfa Romeo 8C Monza
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