What is a touge?
Tōge (峠) is the Japanese word for a mountain pass. In car culture it means a tight, twisting mountain road — and the driving done on one — a term spread worldwide by Japanese street-driving culture and the Initial D manga and anime. Today drivers use it for any technical mountain road.
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What makes a touge road
Elevation, tight corners and few interruptions: a two-lane road climbing or descending a pass in a run of switchbacks and esses, with no towns or junctions to break it up. Corners per mile is the quickest way to compare them.
Driving one well
A touge is a public road. Drive it in your lane, at a pace that leaves room for a car, cyclist or animal around every blind corner, and save racing for a track day. Early mornings on weekdays are quietest.
Drive a new road once at an easy pace first. Pace notes help: knowing a corner tightens before you see it is worth more than any amount of speed.
Touge roads in the US
The Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap is the best-known American example, and the mountains of California, Arizona, Virginia and the Carolinas are full of others. The routes below were mapped and named as touge runs by Road & Rally drivers.
Touge runs mapped by Road & Rally drivers
Curated drives first, then by how much they bend.
- Lakeside TougeNear Bigfork57 mi708 corners12.4 / mi
- Touge 17 Mad river gapNear Waitsfield16 mi159 corners9.9 / mi
- Mt lemon tougeNear Mount Lemmon24 mi233 corners9.7 / mi
- lone’s tougeNear Snohomish14 mi104 corners7.3 / mi
- Dead ends tougeNear Snohomish4.3 mi29 corners6.7 / mi
- ROUTE 14 TOUGENear East Randolph24 mi152 corners6.4 / mi
- IF Touge RouteNear Swan Valley3.7 mi19 corners5.1 / mi
Questions
- What does touge mean in English?
- Mountain pass. In car culture it also means driving a twisty mountain road.
- Is touge driving legal?
- Driving a mountain road is. Racing on one is not. Keep to your lane and the speed limit, and take racing to a track.
- How do I find touge roads near me?
- Look for two-lane roads crossing hills or passes with a high corners-per-mile count. Road & Rally's Road Finder measures and ranks every road in an area for you.
Keep reading
- What are pace notes?Pace notes are a rally co-driver's shorthand for the road ahead: each corner's direction and severity, the distance to the next, and any hazards. How they work, how corners are graded, and how to use them on a road drive.
- How do I find twisty roads near me?How to find the best curvy driving roads near you: what makes a road good to drive, how to measure it, and how Road Finder scores every road in an area on curvature and flow.
- Tail of the Dragon: what to know before you drive itUS 129's Tail of the Dragon packs 318 curves into 11 miles at Deals Gap on the North Carolina–Tennessee line. Where it starts, the speed limit, when to go, and what to drive next.