KEY POINTS:
The main drawcards this weekend at Mystery Creek are the WRC cars and drivers strutting their stuff.
But once a day, other teams, media and those in the know all flock to the pit garage of the Japanese automotive college, Takayama College of Car Technology.
We're there to witness their spectacular `ghost service'.
It's choreographed with a precision that would be the envy of the Bolshoi Ballet. Poetry in motion, it's also been called, and it has to be seen to be believed.
There are people under, over, in front, behind and others cleaning the windscreens of an imaginary car. There's a swarm of worker-bees working on the car and everyone is careful not to get in the way of another. There's no one stepping on hands or toes or getting elbowed out of the way.
The crew practice in the service area while the car is out on the stage. The guy pretending to wash the windscreen looks a little like mime artist Marcel Marceau.
"The practice without a car is to get the students into a mental state of mind to know what they're doing and what each individual has to achieve," said Susumu Sakai, associate professor at the college, speaking through an interpreter.
"The crew go through even the smallest of detailed movements mimicking removing and replacing various pieces of equipment that are damaged and might have to be replaced.
"It helps them to remember which way things come off and go back on. This crew have been training since April."
The practice is so precise, the crew even move back the watching crowd so the `car' can get into the garage and when the car is backed out, they wave it off. Marvellous.
The team have competed in a round of the World Rally Championship every year since 1996, with a mixture of male and female students providing the crew for driver Tomoki Ohashi.
"The purpose of taking part in the World Rally Championship is to equip the students with a good education in the real world," said Sakai.
"We must compete on all three days and we must complete the rally. Our first priority is to finish the rally. We have never failed to finish a rally and we are very much looking forward to finishing in New Zealand."
The team is competing in a Subaru WRX STi and also bring its own recce car, drivers, eight mechanics, six teachers and there are also three New Zealand helpers.
The students complete a two-year course studying car technology, culminating in a national diploma in automotive maintenance.
