Wangan-sen, also known as the Bayshore Route, is part of the Shuto Expressway that serves the Greater Tokyo Area. Wangan-sen runs 38 miles along the Yokohama Bay and stretches from Yokohama to Ichikawa and links the ends of all of Tokyo’s ring roads. Construction was completed on the first section of the Wangan-sen in 1976 and the entire route was finalized in 2001. From the late 1980’s through 1999 the “Bayshore Route” was the popular street racing venue in Japan. With long stretches of straight roadway and open, wide curves that allow the racer to hold the accelerator pedal to the floor, it became legendary for the likes of Nissans, Toyotas and Misubishis to show what they had under the hood. But all good things come to an end or at the least greatly reduced, once the police increased their presence along the Wangan-sen. The racing scene has since faded. But you can recreate that great street racing venue with Auto World’s new race set, Tokyo Midnight, Underground Racing (SRS342). The set comes with the new tooling of the 1971 Nissan Fairlady Z (that’s a Datsun 240Z for us racers in the U.S.) and a 1995 Toyota Supra, decked out with some street racing logos and style. The track is tampoed with the corner markers seen in Japan’s expressways. Let’s see what all comes with this set.
All the parts are nicely and securely packaged. The cars are wired down and the track sections banded together.
Here’s the parts list for the contents of the set.
The track layout map shows where all the parts and pieces go. The back of the box has three additional layouts that can be built from the set.
Here’s the layout from the track map. It has a good combination of twists and turns along with a decent sized straight. The set comes with 2 cross-overs sections, a mechanical lap counter, controller, a 16 volt power pack and some scenery boards of Mount Fuji and downtown Tokyo. There are also bridge supports for the other layout designs.
The set has color coded controllers and a 16 volt power pack.
Here’s the mechanical lap counters and Tokyo Midnight terminal track, complete with a start/finish line.
1971 Nissan Fairlady Z – Dark Blue
1995 Toyota Supra – Gold/Black
Here’s some more shots of the cars in this set.
This set captures the cues of a Japanese expressway and the feel of racing the street machines of the island. Just remember, traffic control is out there on the Wangan-sen now and you’ll need to be on the top of your game to beat the other racer and stay off the radar. This set will be at your local hobby store or favorite web store in July 2022.