Yesterday, I came across this news story.

Porsche Celebrates 70 Years of Sports Cars: 919 Hybrid Evo May Take to the Roads in Hakone
→ AUTOCAR JAPAN later added a correction to its website: the car’s name was incorrect; it should have read “919 tribute.”

The 919 Hybrid is a prototype race car Porsche developed in 2014 to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It won Le Mans three times and delivered some spectacular performances in the WEC.

But Porsche announced it would leave the WEC after the 2017 season, which meant the car would no longer be seen in competition. Today, it’s a race car we can only dream of seeing on track.

Faster Than an F1 Car

The “919 Hybrid Evo” is a modified version of the 919 Hybrid, which Porsche gave a full-scale makeover after leaving the WEC. Freed from the restrictions of the WEC’s LMP1 regulations, the car could unleash its full potential. It made headlines when it set a new lap record at Spa-Francorchamps, beating the previous F1 record by 0.783 seconds.

That’s incredible—it beat an F1 car! I wrote about it in an earlier post.

→Porsche Goes All Out on the 919 Hybrid: Beats F1 Lap Time to Set a New Record at Spa

The 919 Hybrid Evo has been touring the world this year, making appearances at various events as part of its farewell tour. I’d assumed “there’s no way it’ll ever come to Japan.”

Then, out of the blue yesterday, came the announcement: the day after this weekend’s Porsche Experience Day 2018 at Fuji Speedway, the 919 Hybrid Evo is set to drive the Hakone Turnpike.

Amazing! I don’t know who made it happen, but thank you!(Maybe Porsche Japan arranged it?)

We Can Make It to the Hakone Turnpike on the 18th—At Least in Theory

Our family is heading out on Saturday the 16th. We’ll leave our daughters with their grandparents, attend Porsche Experience Day at Fuji Speedway on Sunday the 17th, then head back to pick them up on Monday the 18th. So I really, really want to see the 919 Hybrid Evo run on the 18th.

This may be our last chance to see it.

So I emailed my husband, and he replied:

“Absolutely! We have to go, no matter what. I’ll look up the details.”

But when he checked, he found out that the Hakone Turnpike would be closed to the public until the evening on the 18th, as it was being rented out for the run.
→Notice of Road Closure for an Event on Monday, June 18

It sounds like they’ll be filming a video on the Hakone Turnpike to upload to YouTube, so the public won’t get to watch from up close. What a shame… Maybe we’ll at least hear the engine roar if we’re nearby! (Haha.)

Still, there’s a chance we might catch a glimpse of it at Fuji Speedway. If we do, I’ll be sure to take photos and burn the sight of it in action into my memory.

And just like that, Porsche Experience Day is the day after tomorrow. I thought it was still ages away… time flies.

And wait—it’s already almost halfway through 2018!

This year is going by way too fast! Haha!