Japan's 9.0 Earthquake and Ebisu Circuit Damage

On March 11 2011, Japan experienced one of the worst earthquakes in history (a 9.0  on the Richter scale) which set of a sequence of devastating events.

You would have seen the news of the Tsunami which flattened the north-east coastline of Japan in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures.

Soon after the tsunami hit, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant started overheating which fueled fears of a meltdown, and at this time, is still in critical condition.

So how did this all affect Ebisu circuit?

Thanks to Kuma and his blog, we're able to see some of the damage done to the tracks at Ebisu from the EARTHQUAKE!!

Driftland.. just a few more cracks.. probably won't even notice!

School course pits!! wow!

The cliff perched garages.. ouch! That's Kuma's first WRX that he sold to the italian drifter Federico Sceriffo.

Andy from PowerVehicles.com also mentioned their garages where they work from and store their $$$ cars was badly damaged too, but luckily his D1SL spec JZX100 only got minor damage.

It's a big shock to see the beloved Ebisu circuit receive so much damage, but the crew there have been hard at work and re-opened today after a 2-week closure.

Kumakubo really has a heart like a lion though. According to his blog, he has been providing shelter, food and water to those who lost their homes or had to evacuate due to the disasters.

Also, some folks have been wondering if drift matsuri will still be on at the end of April.

At this time, it is still going ahead. No news of cancellation. The only concern is the gasoline shortage that the whole of east Japan is suffering from.

If gasoline tankers can't start moving soon, there won't be enough hi-oku for the 200+ cars that attend matsuri - the next one coming on April 29th.

But, my inside source says that gas delivery should be back on track by the end of this month, so it seems there will be gasoline, but will there be enough for the gas guzzling drift machines! Let's hope so.

Disco Stu
www.DriftInJapan.com

"The Drift Muscle" Japan's New Amateur and Pro Drift League

Big news for Japanese Drift fans!

"The Drift Muscle" is the name of the new Drift league Keiichi Tsuchiya and Daijiro Inada are starting up here in Japan.

(photo credit noriyaro.com)

If you didn't know already, Tsuchiya and Dai-chan founded D1GP back in the day but split from D1 after some disagreements with the management at the end of last year.

The split left us D1 drift fans wondering what would happen to drifting in Japan. There were rumors that the pair would start their own "rival" league but there was little word as to when or what kind of league it would be.

But now it's official... "The Drift Muscle" league is starting up this year in 2011!

(kind of a weird name huh? but what else do you expect from Japan...)

And here is what the schedule for it's debut year is going to look like:

Round 1: 8th May, Nihonkai Maze Circuit
Round 2: 6th June, Bihoku Highland CIrcuit
Round 3: 17th July, Nikko Circuit
Round 4: 10th October, Suzuka Twin Circuit
Round 5: 3rd November, Sportsland Sugo West Course

Wait a minute... no Drift Muscle in Ebisu? 

Yeah a little disappointing... I'm not sure as to why but it might be something to do with the lads from Team Orange's association with D1 and certain sponsors.

Anyway it's a shame - but we still get D1 at Ebisu and Team Orange is looking good with Kuma's 1000HP RB26 Laurel progressing nicely. (update about that coming soon)

So what's "The Drift Muscle" all about?

From what I've heard, there are going to be two classes. The "Muscle" class for middle and "Super Muscle" class for the experts.

Drivers are placed in there classes according to their skill level, not their car's horsepower level - the only way it should be IMO.

Keiichi (Dorikin) said on his site that “It’s begun for the sake of all lovers of drifting”. Info about regulations and entry into the comps should be appearing on that site "in a couple of days".

With the addition of Drift Muscle,we now can enjoy a new flavor of drifting in Japan. Can't wait to see the action from those circuits - especially Sugo's west (go-kart) course!

Disco Stu
www.DriftInJapan.com

p.s. Thanks to Alexi at Nori Yaro for the info and use of the pic.