Driving with Drivers Lounge

A Lancer Evolution VI tackling the touge roads up Mt. Tsukuba, filmed during the Drivers Lounge x G.Base Tsukuba driving tour. The Evo VI is my all-time favourite JDM machine, so this one was special.

Renting a JDM legend to carve through the Japanese mountains is a bucket-list dream for any enthusiast. Drivers Lounge in Kawasaki makes it happen, with guided tours across Hakone, Tsukuba, Mt. Fuji and Daikoku PA.

For this leg of the Drivers Lounge tour, I was behind the wheel of their Spoon-tuned Honda S660, trying to keep an R32 Skyline GT-R, an R35 GT-R and a GR Yaris in sight up the Hakone Turnpike, in heavy mountain mist and rain.

This one pulls together my favourite touge drives from Japan: the Hakone Turnpike, Gunma, the Tsubaki Line and Izu's legendary mountain roads, in an R32 GT-R, FD3S RX-7, S15 Silvia, Alto Works and Lancer Evo IV.

There is a specific kind of adrenaline that only a Japanese mountain pass can provide. Last month, as part of the Drivers Lounge JP Hakone and Izu tour, I found myself behind the wheel of a legendary Nissan Silvia S15 Spec-R. The mission? Keep pace with a flame-spitting BNR32 Skyline GT-R as we carved through the legendary Izu Skyline.

While the world knows Japan for the bright lights of Shinjuku and the organized chaos of Shibuya, enthusiasts know the real Japan begins where the expressway ends. Last week, I joined the team at Drivers Lounge in Kawasaki for a deep dive into the mountain passes—or "touge"—of Hakone and Izu. Drivers Lounge's Nissan R32 Skyline GTR The Ascent: Hakone Turnpike Our journey began at the base of the Hakone Turnpike (the "MAZDA Turnpike"). Often referred to as Japan’s Nürburgring,

There are bucket-list drives, and then there is Mount Haruna. Day 1 of the Drivers Lounge Gunma Tour put me on the same damp, technical hairpins where Initial D was born, the real-life Mt. Akina, with three very different JDM machines to take up the mountain.