Heading to the 911DAYS Track Day

I had shared a few tweets about it, but last Sunday, March 24th, I participated in a track day at Fuji Speedway hosted by 911DAYS. This was an event I had been invited to by President Suga of WRP, a Porsche specialist shop in Nagoya where my husband purchased his 964C2 last year. (WRP apparently participates every year)

Since it was spring break for our daughter’s kindergarten, my husband said, “Why don’t you come along and watch?” So the four of us, including our daughters, decided to go as a family.

Last December, my husband had driven the Boxster GTS at Suzuka Circuit, but he was frustrated because the tires weren’t in great shape and he couldn’t drive as he wanted. After that, he upgraded to Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires, and

I never realized how much the ride could improve just by changing tires. Tires really are that important! I definitely want to drive the Boxster with these tires at Fuji Speedway! …But the Boxster only seats two, so the four of us can’t all fit… So why not just go with both the Panamera and the Boxster?

He made this somewhat crazy (but awesome, lol) suggestion, so we decided to head to Fuji Speedway with both cars.

The only concern was the weather on the day. I’m known as a rain woman, fog woman, and storm woman, so my husband joked, “It’ll probably pour rain and the event will get canceled, lol.” But surprisingly, the weekly weather forecast showed clear skies.

Oh… that’s great! (*ﾟ∀ﾟ)

So, we planned to leave on Saturday, March 23rd, stay overnight at a hotel near Lake Yamanaka, and participate in the Fuji Speedway track day the next day.

An Unexpected Weather Forecast…

I thought everything would go smoothly, but reality was less kind. Checking the forecast the day before departure, the weather for Gotemba on Saturday had changed to “cloudy with occasional snow.”

…Snow? (*_*)

With cherry blossoms starting and April just around the corner, snow seemed unlikely. We thought, “It’ll probably just be a light dusting, right?” So we didn’t worry and didn’t bother with snow tires, setting off as planned with both cars. (The air-cooled car stayed home.)

Traffic was heavy around Kyoto Minami to Otsu on the Meishin Expressway, but after that, things went relatively smoothly…

We entered Shizuoka Prefecture fairly smoothly. Then, the skies grew ominous, and rain began to fall, so of course, we couldn’t see Mount Fuji at all.

I thought, “Well, this is within expectations (￣ー￣)” and kept calm while driving, but as we got off at Gotemba IC, the rain turned to sleet.

Here it comes… Since the forecast had predicted snow, I wasn’t too worried and kept driving, but the sleet soon turned into real snow.

Uh oh, this is getting serious.

More and more oncoming cars had snow piled on their roofs, so I thought, “That means the direction we’re heading has snow accumulation, too.” and started to worry a bit…

By the time we reached Kagosaka Pass on the way to Lake Yamanaka, the ground was covered in snow. My husband, driving the Boxster ahead, was being very cautious, so I thought, “He’s being unusually careful.” Then he called me.

This is bad, the Boxster is sliding a lot. Is the Panamera okay?

The Panamera is all-wheel drive, so it handled the snow fine, but the mid-engine Boxster’s tires kept slipping on every curve, which was really scary, he said.

When we finally arrived at the hotel, the snowstorm had stopped, but there was already about 2 cm of snow on the ground. The kids were thrilled with the snow, but…

Both the Panamera and Boxster had their fronts completely frozen.

Both cars really did their best—thank you. After checking in and settling into our rooms, my husband immediately started researching the route from Lake Yamanaka to Fuji Speedway. But every route was under chain restrictions, making passage difficult.

I thought, “Oh no, will tomorrow be okay?” My husband sighed and said,

Whenever I come with Mina, things like this always happen. Nothing ever goes smoothly, lol.

I’m really sorry… (*_*) Hoping that “the snow will melt and the chain restrictions will be lifted by morning…” we all went to bed early.

Will the snow melt by morning and will we make it safely to Fuji Speedway? (Spoiler: we did make it…)

…To be continued in Part 2