CHASING MIDNIGHT
KANAGAWA, JAPAN. I’m deep in the bowels of a Tokyo Police Station, wondering quite what the hell I’m doing here. It’s taken 45 minutes, so far, to pay a parking fine that took all of five minutes to receive. And as I sit here, alone, in some random quiet corridor in this labyrinthine building, I can’t help but wonder if I’m about to become a diplomatic incident.
It’s somewhat ironic, too, that I should find myself in trouble with the law for this most minor of indiscretions, given the last 24 hours I’ve had. I’ve been hot on the tail of the mysterious Mid Night Club, the exclusive and secret clique of street racers that streaked across Tokyo’s public expressways at speeds of more than 300km/h, in the ’80s and ’90s.
No retelling of the story of Nissan GT-R would be complete without delving into its starring role in this most infamous of underground street racing scenes. Formed in 1982, the Mid Night Club, or Mid Night Racing Team, would meet, as its name suggests, in the middle of the night, and host full-blown races up the multi-lane expressways that skirt Tokyo’s Bay Area. While other underground clubs focused on street drifting or point-to-point time trials, the Mid Night Club was all about top speed.
It was difficult to join and there was only ever an average of 30 members at any given time. It legendarily attracted a well-to-do membership of accomplished
