RtG Japan Daily Dispatch - day00 - Flipbook - Page 3
18 September to
16 October 2025
Pre start & scrutineering
Sapporo
As the days grow shorter, 22 carefully selected
crews arrived in the Land of the Rising Sun to make
the 28-day journey from Sapporo, on Hokkaido the
northernmost of Japan’s four islands, to Fukuoka,
on Kyushu the southernmost.
the vehicles for safety and compliance. There were a few
teething issues, including a flat battery in Hermann FryeHammelmann and Gisela Hammelmann’s Escort. Michael
Lutolf’s and Patt Henderson’s Citroen 11B arrived with a set
of fouled spark plugs which needed cleaning. There were
no problems for Oli and Sabine Stastny’s 1936 Ford Model
48, which has been campaigned far and wide by its previous
owners, but today was very much a getting-to-know-you
new car day for the Swiss couple, who were among several
crews engaged in some minor fixing and fettling. If there is
anything a rally car needs, reliable brakes and an accurate
tripmeter are high on the list of priorities.
Once scrutineering had finished and the spanners were
packed away, Gill Cotton offered navigational advice for
the novice crews before the rally was ushered into driver’s
briefing. Rally Director and Route Designer, Fred Gallagher,
promised the crews that this would be an epic trip and we
should expect to share it with the brown bears of Hokkaido,
the black bears of Shikoku, and the famous, mountaindwelling snow monkeys, unique to Japan. Mark Appleton,
Clerk of the Course, outlined the sporting side of things,
with some useful tips to get the most out of the event.
Some free time had been built into the afternoon of
this very busy day, ahead of drinks and a lavish sevencourse dinner coinciding with Manuel and Irene Dubs’ 27th
wedding anniversary. The 48-hour car crew missed all this,
as Dick Appleton and Paul Heal were already on the road
with their portfolio of maps and guidebooks, ready to send
back valuable information on the state of the roads and
advise on any detours we might need to make.
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
A Pacific island nation, Japan is bordered to the west by the
Sea of Japan, to the north by the Sea of Okhotsk, and to the
south by the East China Sea. The archipelago has 14,125
islands and we’ll drive more than 7000km through the four
biggest ones, with 54 Regularities, 17 speed Tests and one
navigational Test giving the rally its competitive edge and
its Marathon proportions.
The Islands of Japan Marathon, the third such event
from Rally the Globe, will take us deep into the culture and
landscapes of this fascinating country, scratching beneath
the typical tourist trail of sake, samurai, sumo, and sushi.
Sapporo, on the Toyohira River, is famous for beer, skiing,
an annual Snow Festival and the 1972 Winter Olympics.
With their cars released from the customs warehouse, the
crews made a beeline for the Premier Hotel Tsubaki, where
they busied themselves with scrutineering and signing on.
Sarah Ormerod and Gill Cotton were once again in the thick
of the action, ensuring that the right paperwork went to the
right people at the right time.
Down in the car park, the sweep team of Andy Inskip,
Charlie Neale, Owen Turner and Russ Smith checked
18 September 2025
www.rallytheglobe.com
