In the wake of attending 20+ different sports in 2023, pretty much every upcoming event gets promoted on my social media or directly in my inbox. I recently caught sight of a motor-cycle event in Saitama Prefecture taking place over a long weekend in mid-January. I had never heard of the stadium so looked it up on Google Maps and saw that I would be able to cycle there in less than an hour. Scrolling down through the various ticket prices eventually took me to one for just 1000 yen so I bought it without too much thought as it’d give me something new to do on the Friday when I was off work.

After booking the ticket I began to dig a bit deeper for what I’d got myself involved in thinking I was about to see something like speedway or motorcyle racing. It soon dawned on me that I had purchased a ticket for what is basically just a gambling sport in Japan. Whilst I knew about the three main betting sports in Japan (horse racing, keirin cycling and boat race) I was totally unaware that there was a fourth one known as Auto Race. Furthermore, I realised that entry to the main outdoor stand was actually free and that I had unneccessarily spent money for a seat which I really didn’t need!

The day began at 10:00 am and finished around 5:00 pm but I was sure an hour or two would be more than enough so didn’t leave the Tokyo Fox Global Operations Centre in Itabashi Ward until 11:30 am. It was a fairly simple route for me going through Akabane and passing close to Kawaguchi station, and I was able to park my bicycle right outside the circuit which had a rather shabby-looking entrance.

When I went to Boat Race in Miyajima (Hiroshima Prefecture) at the start of last year I was a bit surprised to see quite a few females, and even some families in attendance as my previous experience of witnessing these gambling sports was that the spectators were nearly all old men! That was also the case here at Kawaguchi Auto Race Circuit so normal business was resumed.

My paid seat was a padded one with a little table in front for my drink, notepad, pen, betting slips and newspaper form guide. Well, it would’ve been if I was a proper fan but I didn’t really know what was going on. The answer was not much but after a while the  riders wearing different coloured outfits took to the circuit ready to burn some rubber.

Ready, steady, go! The eight riders began in staggered fashion and rode round for half a dozen laps on their 599cc two-speed gearbox motorcycles. Like keirin cycling, there are no brakes which all adds to the jeopardy I guess. I can’t say I was too captivated by that particular race but maybe that was because I had nothing riding on it!

My thoughts turned to the betting slips for the next race but despite having been to a few of these gambling sport races I still can’t remember how to fill them in! I’ve worked it out on all previous visits but this time I just couldn’t be bothered to look up how to do it so was probably the only person in the whole place watching it purely from a sporting point of view!

There was a race every half an hour or so and I watched a couple of them from my flash comfortable seat on the 4th floor but it wasn’t really fun at all seeing it through the glass windows with the sounds of the roaring engines absent.

Down on the first floor was a far more appealing experience as I’d be able to see the action up close but first I decided to splash out a bit on some food and drink. I bought a glass bottle of coke which took me back to a bygone era. I handed it to the staff member as I paid for it and was expecting her to crack open the bottle and hand it back but she poured it into a paper cup!! Yet more money wasted as I could even have bought a cheaper cola elsewhere in the stadium!! I also spent 250 yen on a huge fried chicken stick which was certainly value for money but the taste was sadly a little disappointing.

You might have to zoom in to see it more clearly but this rubbish bin (below) displays a message saying “no spitting” which is something I’d never seen before. I can only assume this is related to older men having the habit of spitting. They certainly do it when in the toilets (complete with the noisy pre-spit sound effect) so maybe it was a problem with these bins too, especially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

I watched my last race of the day trackside where there was a lot more atmosphere and excitement as the fans cheered on the riders they’d invested their money in.

Watching the bikes flash by at about 150 kilometers per hour around the 500-meter asphalt track was more interesting than I thought it would be. The six laps flew by in no time and I cannot tell you how nice it was to be able to hear the sound of those engines as well as the ups and downs of the spectators willing them on.

Whilst you can stay and watch the action all day I was happy to just sample a few races of a “sport” I didn’t even know existed a few days before! It was also another live sport to add to my growing tally, and one that I learned something new from with the main thing being that I should be a little more careful when booking future sporting tickets!

• Kawaguchi Auto Racing is located at 5-21-1 Aoki, Kawaguchi, Saitama-ken. It is open every day between 09:00 and 17:00. Race days are fairly frequent so please check the official site for more details.

Click here to read ‘I Watched 15 Sports In Japan For The First Time In 2023’

Click here to read ‘The Other Hugely Popular Thing To Do At Miyajimaguchi Station!’

Click here to read ‘Warming Up For Tokyo 2020 Cycling With A Trip To See Some Local Keirin Action’

Click here to read ‘A Day At The Races For The Japan Cup’