If you were in Tokyo in the ‘80s, and for some reason out on the roads in the dead of the night, you’d hear them before you saw them. There’d be the tell-tale whine of highly-tuned engines heading closer at near escape velocity, and they’d whiz past you Formula One style, in a blazing streak of lights and deafening sounds. This was Japan’s infamous Mid Night Club, or rather, the Middo Naito Kurabu, were completely illegal and yet idolized for their cars, strict code of ethics, and the very cool way they broke the law.
The Mid Night Club was basically a gang of street racers who would race down the streets of Tokyo. Their favorite stretches were the Wangan Highway between Tokyo and Yokohama, and the Shuto Expressway, a 70 KM stretch that runs alongside the shoreline of Tokyo Bay.
They were notorious but respected, illegal but worshipped and wanted to be completely anonymous. The Mid Night Club evoked mixed feelings in people. They were the bane of the cops, often too fast to be tracked down by any police vehicle. And for the youth of Japan, they were rebels, heroes who stood for everything cool and infamous.
So, who founded the Mid Night Club? And what was the purpose of the club? This is the story of Japan’s Middo Naito Kurabu, the Mid Night Club, and how it became the world’s most infamous street racing gang.
The Anonymity Added To The Aura Of The Mid Night Club
Unlike American Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs who often list out their founding members proudly, the members of the Mid Night Club remain anonymous to this day. No one knows who founded the club in 1982, or the names of the members, or who comprised the core of the club’s members. Anonymity was not only encouraged, it was essential.
Club rules were clear about this, no member would reveal any personal information about themselves to the other members, and they addressed each other only on a first-name basis. If members did know each other outside of the club, they kept mum about it.
To date, the identities of the members have never been revealed but rumor has it that the founders of Japan’s top tuning companies and shops are the same people who once ran amok in Tokyo in the middle of the night in cars too fast for the cops to catch.
The Insane Speed & Cars
Getting into the Mid Night Club was not an easy task. You had to own a car that went at least 160 MPH, and if you wanted to race, then you and your car had to handle speeds of 200 MPH. On Tokyo roads, in the dead of the night.
This was the time when all vehicles in Japan were electronically limited at top speeds of 112 MPH, so you had to have sound mechanical know-how of how to tune the existing engine to belch up nearly double the speed, or engine swap and tune the heck out of your car. Each car of the Mid Night Club jetted an output of 400-600 horses.
Races did not start at 0 MPH, instead, members would start rolling down the highway and when 75 MPH cruising speed was reached, one member would toot their horn and the crazy race would begin. The Mid Night Club only wanted top speed, and it is believed that they considered drifting, point-to-point races, or autocross too weak to be interesting.
The police, meanwhile, were nearly powerless to stop them. Not a single police car had the gumption or the speed to be able to catch any of the Mid Night Club cars… Think 400-600 horse-powered Mazda RX-7, Toyota Supra, Lambos, Skyline GTRs, and one 217 MPH, 700-horsepower Porsche 911 Turbo, called the Blackbird, rumored to be the ride of Middo Naito Kurabu’s leader.
It all sounds unbelievably dangerous but the Mid Night Club was all for safety and had a very strict code of ethics – anyone who could not handle his car at such high speeds would instantly be chucked out. At no point did the Mid Night Club ever want to be a threat to the public, and this is one reason, its fame grew.
And Yet, It Took A Tragedy To End Their Run
The Mid Night Club was still going strong in 1999, having anywhere between 30 and 75 members at any given time, when members of a Tokyo Bōsōzoku gang decided to intercept their high-speed race, for fun.
When the Mid Night Club cars were racing down the highway, the Bōsōzoku motorcycles intercepted them, forcing some of the Mid Night Club cars into the high-traffic zone. A chain-reaction crash followed, killing two of the equally-notorious Bōsōzoku gang members. Two Mid Night Club drivers and another six civilians were injured and hospitalized.
The Mid Night Club, known to follow the strictest code of conduct had inadvertently broken the most important rule and ended up endangering innocent bystanders. The club disbanded with immediate effect and since then, not a single member has come forward. The sudden silence and disappearance of the members, has not made people forget the Mid Night Club but only taken its legacy and mystery forward.
Sources: AutomotiveDelight, DriveTribe