Japan Cars and Racing

Fans of action and car movies alike watched the third Fast and the Furious movie Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift with a level of scepticism. Not about the actors abilities or the plot (that’s for a different review) but for the realism. High speed car chases are shown all the time in America, but could drifting gangs actually happen in such a place as Tokyo?

Sadly, yes. This isn’t to put a black mark on Japan, many countries have issues with illegal street racing; Japan is merely one among many in this regard. There is nowhere you can go to look up when and where annual street races in Japan so racers have to be covert about where they can race.

Street racing takes place all over the country. Some take place spontaneously, with two drivers eyeing each other off at a stop light. These aren’t ‘official’ amongst the racing members; these are usually done for a bit of a laugh and hold no prize for the winner other than bragging rights.

There are people in Japan who are called the bozozuku, and they “run” the illegal street racing in Japan. Some people have stories about dangerous run ins with this gang, but mostly they are peaceful. Members appear threatening, and they are said to hold weapons like knives and base ball bats to keep pedestrians and motorist off of the roads on which they are racing. The Mid Night Club was an illegal street racing gang in the 80s and 90s. However, they disbanded after a crash killed one of their members.

In Tokyo, highway racing occurs at midnight on Friday and Saturday nights, and they generally occur on the Shuto Expressway.  Some racing enthusiasts see it as the government’s fault that they are forced to race on the street. In Japan, a toll pass (a pass that allows you to drive on the highway) is around ¥1,000. A pass to drive on a circuit can cost at least ¥20,000, so legitimate racers feel that they have no choice but to race on the roads.

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Trucks are large size vehicles that were invented in the last decade of 19th century. They are mainly used to transport goods and materials. The word ‘truck’ had its origin from the Greek word ‘Trochos’, which means ‘Wheels’. Trucks are classified into three groups based on the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating.

They are:
Heavy Duty Used Trucks: The heavy duty trucks are those that can haul the heaviest cargo loads ranging from 19000 pounds to 33000 pounds. They are built heavy and strong to transport heavy goods and materials from the plants or factories to the desired places. Since these trucks come with a lot of features, they are quite difficult to manufacture. Hence, only few companies are manufacturing heavy duty trucks. Some of the prominent names in the market are International Trucks, Ford Trucks, GMC Trucks, Kenworth Trucks, etc. They design and manufacture class 6, 7 and 8 trucks. Some of the popular ones are Ballast tractor, Chipper trucks, Beverage trucks, Packer trucks, Semi-trailer trucks, etc.

Medium Duty Trucks: The medium duty trucks are the trucks that are the most frequently used and popular media of transportation. They are categorized as class 3, 4 and 5 trucks and can haul a minimum load of 10,000 pounds to the maximum of 19500 pounds. These trucks are the most demanded trucks in the market for the transportation of raw materials and industrial products. The most popular types of medium duty trucks are Box trucks, Flatbed trucks, Delivery trucks, Garbage trucks, Lift trucks, Hook lift trucks and Pickup trucks. Ford Trucks, GMC Trucks, International Trucks, Mack Trucks, Chevy Trucks and Kenworth Trucks are some of the prime manufacturers of these types of trucks.

Light duty Trucks: These trucks are classified as such due to their lightest hauling capacity. They come under class 8 category and can haul loads that weigh 10000 pounds. These trucks have better traveling abilities and they are mostly used by the cargo transporters to move raw materials to distant places. The leading manufacturers of this type of truck are Titan, Toyota, Nissan, GMC and Ford. They have rolled out popular models like Tacoma, Sonoma, Titan and F250. The other models which come under this category are Tow trucks, Pickup trucks, SUV, Salvage trucks, Flatbed trucks, Dump trucks, etc.