What is Touge Racing ?
Touge (峠, tōge) Is a Japanese word literally meaning "pass?"
It refers to a mountain pass or any of the narrow, winding roads that
can be found in and around the mountains of Japan and other
geographically similar areas.
There are 3 types of Touge battles.
Cat and Mouse
The
lead car wins if the space between the cars increases considerably,
while the following car wins if the gap between them stays the same,
decreases from start to finish or the following car overtakes the lead
car. If any car spins out or crashes, the other one wins the race.
This
method is used when the road area isn’t wide enough to allow passing,
but if the car in front does indeed SOMEHOW get passed, they
automatically lose.
This genre of Touge Racing, is what Kinzuru will be following at the Bont. As it is narrow
Straight up
If the road is wide
enough, this method comes into use. Instead of the lead and chase type
of start. The cars are lined up next to each other. If there is a
handicap in the horsepower, a rolling start would be used up until the
1st turn. Whoever is in front at the end of the "touge" road, is the
winner.
Random battle
A challenge is communicated
through the use of the hazard lights. Then according to the road, use
one of the 2 prior types of battle.
Misconceptions
Stemming
from this surge in popularity, the term has been pirated and misused by
overzealous enthusiasts (often incorrectly as a verb) to erroneously
describe almost any event involving street racing, even when there are
no mountain passes involved.
Another common mistake is the
association of drifting with touge, implying at times that the words
share a common definition. While drift is considered a style or form of
driving, touge does not necessarily have any binding relationship to
motor sports. In most occasions, a touge driver only drifts his car to
shake off excessive entry speeds. Another use of drifting on a touge is
to prevent the chaser from his line or to mess up his line. For example
if there was a chaser and one were to drift the drifter has now
eliminated about 60 percent of the chaser's possible lines forcing him
to choose lines that can be predicted. also in doing this one can cause
the chaser to slow down in order not to crash into the drifting car in
front, which might cause complications due to keeping rpm's high and
traction and all other variables to consider in slowing down for a
corner.