The Hakone Ekiden (Tokyo-Hakone Round-Trip Collegiate Ekiden Race), held every New Year, is a long-distance relay marathon in which 10 runners run from Yomiuri Shimbun-mae in Tokyo to Hakone and Lake Ashinoko.
Of course, the main players are the athletes who run 217.1km over the two days, and the coaches of each university who support the athletes with shouts. However, for car enthusiasts, the vehicles that support the event are also one of the highlights of the Hakone Ekiden.
At the previous competition, the Toyota bZ4X, which had not yet been released, ran as the competition headquarters car and attracted a lot of attention. Predict what kind of car will appear in the 99th competition in 2023.
What does the leading car of an Ekiden do?
Even though they are the leading car of the Ekiden, each role is different.Vehicles that are often seen in TV broadcasts and roadside cheering are the “Tournament Headquarters Vehicle”, “Tournament Chairman’s Vehicle”, “Operation Management Vehicle”, “Public Relations Vehicle”, and “Technical General Affairs Vehicle”.In addition, the Hakone Ekiden is supported by many vehicles, such as the “emergency response vehicle” that runs at the end of the track and responds to troubles of athletes, and trucks for transporting materials.
“Publicity vehicles” and “technical affairs vehicles” are used to confirm the safety of the track and to notify spectators along the route that the athletes are approaching, and relatively compact vehicles are used. In addition to the coaches and assistants of each university, the “operation management car” can also accommodate a large number of people, as it will also carry tournament management committee members.minivanis often chosen.
The “tournament headquarters car” and “tournament president car” are cars that carry the referees, and they often run behind the leading group, so they stand out, so they are large.sedanIt has been a trend so far that many cars with topicality are used.Since 2011, Toyota has supplied all race-related vehicles, and the drivers of each vehicle are instructors from the Toyota Driving School, which is directly managed by the company.
Toyota bZ4X became a hot topic in the previous year’s Hakone Ekiden!
In the 98th Hakone Ekiden in 2022, the new Noah/Voxy, which was scheduled to be released in January, will be appointed.As I thought, the management cars that the directors ride were Alphard and Vellfire.
Instead,You can see the bZ4X before the release in the competition headquarters car.bZ4Xwas jointly developed by Subaru and Toyota.Electric carAnd it actually went on sale in May of that year.At that time, the world premiere of the bZ4X had already been completed, but the unexpected appearance of the car created a big topic on social media, asking, “What is that car?” It seems that the 98th Hakone Ekiden was the first public road run for bZ4X.
For technical general affairs vehicles, it was just released in September 2021corolla crossis used, and the publicity car, which was also fully remodeled in OctoberGR86appointed.It is said that there are only two presidential cars in the world, just like the previous year.Century GRMNserved.