Yoshikazu Saeki

An unmapped forest road that recreated a snowy road in summer

To raise the four-wheel-drive performance that was made the new RAV4's biggest appeal, Saeki asked the team at the Shibetsu proving ground in Hokkaido for driving tests that recreated a slippery snowy road in summer. What the team thought of was an unpaved red-earth forest road, not on any map, known as the "No. 6 circuit". They cleared fallen trees, filled ruts and holes by hand as they walked, and laid gravel, turning it into a slippery surface that could be driven at low and medium speeds. Saeki's wish to have the Shibetsu team take part in development whatever the season, right up to completion, came true, and the Shibetsu proving ground became the new RAV4's "sacred ground of development".