RtG Japan Daily Dispatch - day00 - Flipbook - Page 22
Day 10: Akita to Niigata, 28 September 2025
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
At the first Test, some 34.5km from Akita, two laps of
Shinkyowa Kart Land allowed the crews to explore the
limits of their talent, grip, and quick-fire navigation on a
small, but perfectly formed, circuit built on the site of an
abandoned copper mine.
A Regularity from Arakawa came next, before the rally
was gifted a short break at the Time Control in the Michino-Eki Roadside Station in Nishime. Loren Price took charge
of the time cards, whilst Sally Gardner dealt with the locally
produced patisserie. Today’s treat was a handmade variant
of an apple strudel, bearing a personalised, handwritten
inscription on the label.
Mike and Lorna Harrison, 1959 Volvo PV544
The countryside was beautiful today, but had been a
mere warm-up for the Passage Control on the Hakodate
View Terrace halfway up Mount Chōkai, a 2,236 metre high
volcano. Considered a sacred mountain by the Shugendō
branch of Shinto it is still active, erupting twice in the
1970s. Having escaped any major eruptions, the crews
made their way down the highway to the Time Control in
the delightfully modern Shonai Hotel Suiden Terrasse for
a fine buffet lunch. Bordered by rice paddies, the elevated,
shady and airy terrace was just the place to eat and retreat,
as the midday mercury crept up to a sultry 30°C.
The afternoon’s session brought us the Myojin River
Regularity, via some rock formations along the Sea of
Japan and a patchwork of paddies, before it reared into the
hills now ringing with insect life. Finally, after traversing
across various highways and byways, we finished the day
as we began it, with a track Test. This time at the Speed
Park Niigata.
Tonight we bed down in the ANA Crowne Plaza in
Niigata, the so-called “good luck city”. A label earned for
being the alternate target to Hiroshima in case of bad
weather in August 1945. The skies remained clear and the
rest, as they say, is history.
Peter and Griz Gordon, 1967 Mercedes-Benz 250 SL
Bob Harrod and Dana Hradecká, 1974 Porsche 911
www.rallytheglobe.com
