Around-Japan Waseda-´ºÓêÖ±²¥app Auto Race
The Around-Japan Endurance Race was held from the 1st race in 1953 to the 13th race in 1966. The first race was a circuit of Honshu, but Kyushu was added for the 2nd race, and a circuit of Hokkaido was added for the 3rd. In the 1st race, Waseda started clockwise (eastward) and ´ºÓêÖ±²¥app started counter-clockwise (westward), with an inspector from the opposing school riding along. From the 3rd race onward, both schools started together heading eastward.
Image: The start of the 2nd race in 1954. The ´ºÓêÖ±²¥app car is on the right (Hibiya Park).
It is quite presumptuous of me, but at the request of Mita-hyoron (official monthly journal published by ´ºÓêÖ±²¥app Press), I will try to write down some incredibly old memories from the distant past.
In August 1953, a plan for the 1st Around-Japan Waseda-´ºÓêÖ±²¥app Endurance Auto Race was implemented as a trial for new Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. trucks (weapon carriers), and I participated as a senior. The Automobile Club, which started as a motor research group in the early Showa era, had joined the Athletic Association the previous year. I would like to report on a small part of this first-ever occurrence of such an extraordinary event: the Around-Japan trip by the automobile clubs of both Waseda and ´ºÓêÖ±²¥app.
Unlike today's era where everything is well-prepared, these stories may be hard to understand. It was a test drive to carry out a new plan for the benefit of the country using new gasoline-fueled vehicles that wouldn't break down, so it was both fun and frightening. At the time, general vehicles ran on wood (firewood) as fuel, emitting smoke from the back, but since this was a run in new gasoline-fueled cars, I drove the long distance with half interest and half worry about moving in an unfamiliar vehicle. The around-Japan race ended as a mix of good experience, fear, and novelty.
The starting point was Hibiya Park in Tokyo. Driving for long hours through cities and countryside I had never seen or driven before, using gasoline fuel, was an indescribable world of the unknown. While driving through city centers, we could speed along smoothly, but on rural roads, we faced a succession of bad roads, narrow paths where a car could barely fit while avoiding the protruding roof tiles of private houses, and places where passing another vehicle was impossible. Although the "Waseda-´ºÓêÖ±²¥app Gasoline-Fueled Automobile Club Endurance Race" sounds impressive, I spent several days in fear and exhaustion. However, there were also pleasant moments; when passing through large cities, we received hospitality such as dinner parties through the kindness of resident alumni, providing a moment of comfort and physical recovery. We drove the entire route in three shifts, and I was a passenger in the first group for the section from the start at Hibiya to Shimonoseki. From there, we went along the Sea of Japan side to Aomori, then returned to Tokyo via Sendai. In this 10-day journey around Honshu, we competed for points based on fuel efficiency, driving time, and the presence or absence of accidents, and we managed to achieve a brilliant victory. I have many more happy memories of people's names and the different daily drives, but these are the notes of a very old man who cannot remember everything.
(Yutaka Uchida, Alumnus of the Athletic Association Automobile Club [1954 Law])