Ghost Car 42

 May 5, 1963, began as a great day for auto racing fans in Japan. The country’s first Grand Prix since the war was to be held at the ultramodern Suzuka circuit in Nagoya. Favoured to win was Masao Asano, driving a white Austin-Healey. Its number: 42.

The choice of the number astonished the crowd, for 42 is one that more Japanese avoid if possible. The Arabic numerals for 42 translate as shi ni, which is related to the Japanese word shingu (“to die”). But Asano dismissed worried comments as “old superstitions.”

 

Towards the end of the first lap. Asano took the lead. Then, as he approached the final, tricky bend at more than 130 miles per hour, his Austin-Healey went out of control. Bouncing across the track, it ripped through crash barriers and hurtled into a ravine. By the time officials reached the wreck. Asano was dead.

A few weeks later, the Japan Auto Federation, which controls all of the country’s motor sports, banned the use of number 42 on any vehicle racing in Japan.

A year later, some 150,000 fans arrived at the Suzuka circuit for Japan’s second Grand Prix, a much larger event than the first. Two teams of spotters took up their positions in the control tower; they would check the running order of the cars every time each completed a circuit, and after the race they would compare notes for accuracy.

During the race, with the crowded track, the spotters had no time to think, only to call out numbers on the cars as each flashed by. But when they compared notes after the race, they discovered that a car with the number 42 had passed by in no fewer than 8 of the 25 laps.

No one could describe the kind of car it had been, or its driver. Had Masao Asano returned to the course to run one final race in the sport he loved so much?