Japanese Reverse Driving Trial is potentially the most exhilarating and weirdest motorsport out there
- Japanese reverse driving trial needs to be seen to be believed
- It might be weird – but it’s pretty exhilarating
- The winner reverse accelerated within 1cm of a cone without hitting it
Published on Jul 24, 2024 at 8:17 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Jul 25, 2024 at 11:50 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
This Japanese reverse driving trial might be weird – but it’s a pretty exhilarating motorsport.
It involves reversing as close to a cone as possible without touching it.
This year’s champion from Japan came within 1cm of the target – and wow.
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The aim of the Japanese Reverse Driving Trial
Max Orido was the winner of the Japanese Reverse Driving Trial.
The Rear Stop Championship happened at the All-Japan 4A-G Festival.
It saw the winner come within 1 cm of the cone.
He had previously won two Super GT championships and GT4 Asia competitions for precision driving.
The festival is a celebration of all the cars that the inline-four engine has powered including the Toyota Corolla AE86 and Toyota MR2.
Orido shared a video to X captioned fairly underwhelmingly: “Quite interesting. It was exciting.”
The event sees all contenders take the wheel of the same first-generation Toyota MR2 – a supercharged AW11 model in a teal finish with gold wheels, and a dual-tipped exhaust.
Drivers must accelerate in reverse and time their brake just right.
The winner is whoever comes closest to the cone without making contact.
Toyota’s A-Series engine was discontinued in 2006 – but these Japanese enthusiasts, race drivers, and the charming 4A-G festival are keeping its memory alive.
Other weird reversing skills
Orido might have been precise, but he isn’t the fastest thing in reverse.
That strange honor goes to this Rimac Nevera that reverses faster than a lot of cars’ top speeds.
The Hypercar set a world record for being the fastest car in reverse as it reached 275.75 km/h (171.34 mph) driving backward.
This four-year-old boy shocked viewers by expertly reversing a VW van with a trailer around a race track.
Zayn Sofuoğlu is a little boy from Turkey, and he’s the son of former professional motorcycle racer, Kenan Sofuoğlu.
Kenan holds a record five Supersport World Championship titles, so it’s no wonder his son has got talent.
Struggle to reserve park? A ‘genius’ parking lot feature in Australia has people saying it should be everywhere.
Instead of a simple white line between each space, it has adopted rectangular boxes – and it’s said to make parking way easier.
All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
