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I went to the 40th bi-annual Tokyo Motor Show in Chiba (so not really Tokyo) last weekend with my father-in-law. It was awesome fun. Heaps of nice cars, some crappy ones too and nice promo girls or "KanGaru" (campaign girl) as they say in Japanese.

Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure! Click the "Play" button, NOT the screen....



^^ Click the play button to view!

The Tokyo Motor Show this year was open to press from October 24, and open to the public on Saturday the 27th. On this opening day, almost 90,000 people attended, and on the following day, the Sunday, more than 120,000 people attended. We had originally planned to go on the Sunday but luckily, thanks to Keiko's (my wife) suggestion to go on Monday, we saved ourselves the bother of fighting the crowds.

The crowd favorite was defnitelty Nissan's new Skyline GTR. There were crowds in the hundred around it all day and I had to fight for my position to just take a picture. The new concpets from Lexus were really cool. If they ever go into production, I want one! Honda typically had very cool concepts as well. I really have a soft spot for Porsche and they had some sexy ones there...with a price tag to match.

Thanks for looking!
Stuart

Labels: 2007, japanese concept cars, new japanese cars, review, tokyo motor show, tokyo motor show photos

Feels good to get this much drift angle and still link all the corners...




Rare Drift Footage....ME - Stu, in my Cefiro!!! Whenever I go drift at the circuit and take my camera, I usually take pics and movies of other dudes and forget to get some of myself!

Well, this last time I made sure I could get some vids and pics of me to let you know I can actually drift. Check them out....

This was the first time I actually got the Cefiro out for a drift since May this year...shocking I know..but as you can imagine, I had heaps of fun. This day, I changed the coolant in the radiator to try to keep it cooler but didn't help much. Gets hot after about 5 laps of hard drifting.

I think I'm getting better too. I can "manji" drift (fishtail) all the way up the back straight and link it to the first corner. Pretty scary with the concrete wall there but I'm careful (enough). Look out D1 next year!!.. maybe not (yet)


Some other guy in a schmick candy red S15 Silvia....

There's the Autumn/Fall drift matsuro coming up next month so I will try to get the Ceffy ready for that...at worst, I'll be up there taking some vids and taking pics for you all!

Until next drift day - Drift or die!

Stu Drifter and Owner of www.DriftInJapan.com

Labels: cefiro drift, drifting, ebisu north course, japanese drifting, silvia s15

I know this has video been around for ages but I just saw it again and my jaw dropped from the very beginning until the end. Just shows how practice makes perfect and if this doesn't get you amped up for anythng, I don't know what will!



I thought drifting was an crazy sport but this is EXTREME!

Good luck drifting - I'm going for one later today :)
Stu

Labels: better than bruce lee, crazy backflips, stunts in public

If you're new to drifting, drifting in the rain is a good time to practice. For the more experienced drifter, its a good test of your drifting skills.

The rain makes the road surface very slippery and add that to the fact you're already sliding, can make drifting in a nice line a little hard to control. But practicing drifting in the rain can be more fun for low powered cars and newby drifters because its easy to get the tires spinning and getting good angle.

There are good points and bad to drifting in the rain. Some like it and others don't. Honestly, I kinda like it!

The good points are:

* It's really effortless to get your tires spinning so it makes for really good practice.

* You're tires don't wear out very much - they still do though a little depending how wet the road is.

* You can keep the drift for along time coz you just keep sliding and sliding!

There are some bad points too:

* You can't go too "fast and furious" or you'll wipe out big time! For obvious reasons. (Unless you have awesome tires and brakes)

* There's no white smoke that comes from your smoking tires :( Good for the environment though :)

* Car gets dirty from all the tire crap splashing up in the water.

* Not so forgiving when you make a mistake - coz you jsut keep sliding and sliding!

So next time it rains when you plan to go for a drift, don't worry too much. It will be a good learning and fun experience. Just be careful...as always!

That's all the news for this week .Stay tuned for more soon.
Stu

PS - If you liked this drift tip, join my ezine newsletterfree for more drifting tips! See the subscription form in the top right corner of the site. Later!

www.DriftInJapan.com

Labels: drifting inthe rain, how to drift, when to practice drifting, where to practice drifting

RC drifting isn't really new anymore but its popularity is quickly spreading in Japan and across the world. I know here that when I look in any drift magazine, I see articles on RC drift and ads for rc drift cars typically from YOKOMO and they even advertise at D1 grand prix events.

As the massive drift fan I am, I naturally became interested in rc drift when I first saw it but never got around to getting one. I have a couple of friends who have rc drift cars now and I figured it was finally my time to jump on the RC DRIFT wave!

Here it is! My first RC drift car - MAZDA RX7 FD!

It's a TT-01D base by TAMIYA (made in Japan of course). TT-01 chassis' have been around for ages but the TT-01D is the drift spec model. In the drift spec kit I got a high power output motor, oil-damper suspension, drift tires (but they suck - too much grip) and LED lights!

RX-7 FD body is painted in Metallic Red. This color looks sexy on the FD body. An extra coat of white and a coat of black over the top to make the color strong. Added a GT wing on the back for a bit of extra DRIFT ATTITUDE!

The wheels are YOKOMO chromed - don't know the name of the style but they are sext too. The offset of yokomo wheels are more than the normal TAMIYA so they stick out..again for extra DRIFT ATTITUDE!

RC drift is harder than it looks. But the surprising thing is, the techniques are similar to real drifting. You have to counter steer and adjust your angle with the accelerator and steering.


I've only taken it out for a drift twice so far and starting to get the hack of it. Gutters and walls aren't really forgiving but my FD seems to be taking the beatings OK.

More RC drift and REAL drift news coming soon! Thanks for reading! Stu

Labels: mazda FD rx7, rc drift, rc drift car, tamiya tt-01d