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March 29 -30 2008 and the D1 GP drift competition kicked off Rd. 1 in Japan with a bang with at Ebisu south course.



The rain held off but there was still cold winds and cloud cover making a very cool day to see the pro Japanese drift drivers bring out there drift machines and rival each other around the tight but fast Ebisu south course.

The top 16 was made up of the usual bunch of drivers.

Kumakubo (Lancer Evo) and team orange team mate Tanaka (WRX Impreza) made it to the top 16. They actually had to battle each other in the first heat and Tanaka beat Kumakubo to go through to the next round. However, Tanaka was knocked out in the following round.

Drift Samurai in the yellow FC RX7 side swiped his opponent in the first round so he was eliminated.

A new drift machine made it's debut D1 appearance in the season opener. More like a family car rather than performance Drift car, was a fully decked out JDM Toyota Crown.

Usually, only Japanese highway police and wealthy semi-retired Japanese business men drive these cars but done up in Drift spec, these cars are pretty bad ass!

Yes, there were a few crashes too! The beautifully made pink S15 Silvia ended up hitting the tire barrier at the end of the first straight, going really fast. The tires didn't cushion the blow much at all. His car was finished for the day.

Then there were the front wheel drive cars that were supposed to be an attraction but one was running like crap and broke down, then his mate lost it at the entrance to the front straight and ended up in the wall. That was the end of the mini car FF drift attraction. The crowd loved to see it bend its fenders though. Truly a great addition to the D1 GP experience!

The winner of the D1 GP series Round 1 opener was Kawabata in the blue Toyo Silvia. He was the overall champ of the 2007 D1 series so he still has the drift skill after the off season.

He battled out the final heat with Nomuken (R34 Skyline) but beat him in a snap. After the final lap and the winner was annunced, we all rushed to go home out of the snow top mountain driven wind.

D1 GP Round 6 is at Ebisu too, so it should be fine without a beanie and hopefully my favorite driver Kumakubo can make it a bit further next time!

Cheers,
Stuart
www.DriftinJapan.com

Labels: 2008, D1, d1-gp-japan, D1GP, drift, drifting, ebisu, kumakubo, nomuken, round-1, tanaka, team-orange

Hi drift and Japanese import car fans!

The average Joe drifter doesn't know how to import a car from Japan, so today I want to tell you a little about how to get your favorite Japanese car into your country.

Most people go about importing a Japanese car through an agent or dealer. This is fine, but it can be expensive when unseen expenses arise.

Basically, you give him your "dream" car description to and he goes out to find one by searching the Japanese used car auctions or looks through ones he already has for a car that matches.

He then purchases it on your behalf, puts it on a boat to your country and arranges all the import and customs forms. It arrives and another agent picks it up and arranges the customs clearance and pays import fees/taxes etc.

After that, it's ready to be registered and driven on the street!

You're all happy....untill,

Untill, your jaw drops when you see the bill for the services and then all the 'extra' unseen charges that have added up! You've got your car but not any money left for gasoline to drive the darn thing! But there is a better way to go about importing a car from Japan.

You can actually save a whole lot of money when you import a Japanese car by yourself!

Here's how to do it.... There is a membership website full of expert guidance that will show you the easy way, step-by-step on "how to import a car from Japan by yourself".

The lifetime membership will set you back a little under $40, but when you consider the hundreds, if not thousands of dollars you will save by importing your Japanese car by yourself, it makes sense to get the expert and personal help.

For more information and help about how to import a car from Japan, click here to visit www.ImportaJapCar.com

I highly recommend it for anyone looking to import their very own Japanese performance car without wasting money on an expensive agent.

Happy drifting,
Stuart -www.DriftInJapan.com

Labels: help-import-japanese-car, how-to-import-a-car-from-japan, how-to-import-a-japanese-car

The line-up of cool drift cars in Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift is what made the movie as memorable as it is. With nothing less than the best Japanese drift cars making the cut for the movie, its drifting fans heaven.

Lets have a closer look at some of the cars of Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift....

By far the star car of the Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift has to be the FD Mazda Rx7 with the black and orange duco over the Veliside bodykit. I actually know the guy who sold them that FD and I saw the original while it was still a junker :)

The Mafia's bad guy's black Nissan 350Z which everyone gasped as they watched it drift up the spiral driveway in the car park. That stunt was done by NZ/USA drifter Rhys Millen without any CG, he did it all with just the car!



The red Lancer Evo was a head turner too as Evos are generally known as all wheel drive cars that don't really drift. This is the car he practiced and learned to drift in.

Japanese drifting and racing legend Keiichi Tsuchiya made an appearance as a fisherman when the red Evo was practicing at the wharf.

I remember he says "kountaa wa osoi ne" which means "He's too late with his counter steer."

The 'girl' car, sky blue Mazda RX8 appeared an was driven by Australian actress Nathalie Kelley. I love RX8's but not this one. The color and body kit weren't the best suit for it. I guess they were trying to make it girly.


The 1967 Mustang Fastback was thrown in the plot to mix up the cars a bit. We see new Mustangs drift but hardly ever old school classics like this one drift! But this one was a little different. It had a Nissan RB26 powering it instead of the old ford V8 engine.

At the time of the movie's release, I asked Kumakubo san (Pro D1 Driver) about the cars of Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift (he was a stunt driver in the movie) and he said the Mustang was the worst car to drift out of all of them. He mentioned the Evo was the best drift car...and that's probably the reason he built his Evo 9 drift car for the Japanese D1 competition.

The Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift is a movie you can switch on and watch anytime. You don't need to follow the story, just watch the cars, girls and drifting. That's more important anyway!

Drift hard, live safe.
Stu - www.DriftinJapan.com

Labels: 350z, cars-of-fast-and-furious-tokyo-drift, fd-rx7, japanese-drift-cars, lancer-evolution, mustang, rx8, tokyo-drift