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Check out this short slideshow with a few shots and clips from D1 Round 6 2009 today at Ebisu circuit Japan.



Full article coverage coming soon!

But if you can't wait, check out my Drift In Japan Facebook group album with some more pics and vids.

Stu - www.DriftinJapan.com

Labels: 2009, D1, drift, ebisu, japan, round-6, video

D1 round 5 and 6 was held over the 2 consecutive days this weekend at Ebisu circuit.

Yesterday (Saturday) was Round 5 which I missed out on, was apparently sunny and fine. Today (Sunday), the day I chose was showering all day but that's not to say it was bad.



Rain + 600hp D1 cars + a tight Ebisu south course = plenty of hair raising slips and bent fenders!

Luckily it wasn't pouring down so I didn't get soaked but the showers got the track wet enough for some interesting drifting.

Some mentionable fender benders were Orido in his red Aristo and "drift samurai" in his blue Fc Rx7. But a slide into the concrete wall from them wasn't a big shock...they are crazy baka drifters..haha!

The Best 16 was filled with the usual crowd....Kumakubo, Nomuken, Daigo Saito, Kawabata, Hibino etc.




But a few rare entries such as Sakuma in the Toyo S15 was good to see too.

I've met Sakuma a couple of times before and been in the car with him while drifting (awesome drifter obviously) ...and now he's matching up against Kumakubo so good for him.

Other favorites like Tanaka & Suenaga from Team Orange didn't pass qaulifying which was a shame. It would be awesome to see Team Orange take out the final three places one day.

The final battle was between yesterday's Rd 5 champ Suenaga Masao in his white and green FD RX7 and Tezuka Tsuyoshi in the yellow R34 faced R32 skyline who barely scraped in the final entry over Kumakubo in a double "sudden death battle against Kumakubo.

It was Suenaga Masao's lucky weekend as he took the win again today!

Tezuka must have been worn out from the three runs before against Kuma...you could tell he was struggling when he went straight into the door of Masao's FD and lost his front bumper and headlight in the first run of the finals.

This weekend goes down to another great weekend of D1 drift in Japan. I had a great time but would have loved to see Kumakubo take the win...especially since Ebisu is his home track.

Stu - www.DriftinJapan.com

Labels: 2009, chaser, D1, d1-gp, daigo saito, drift, evo-10, japan, JZX100, kumakubo, lancer drift car, round-6, suenaga masao

Team Orange team mates Kumakubo (Lancer Evo 10) and Suenaga (Evo 9) show us their twin drift skills at Ebisu D1 Round 1 2009 during the lunch break.



Then in the Best 16 elimination round later that afternoon, Kumakubo in his lancer Evo 10 leads the drift against an S15 Silvia...Kumakubo went through this run but lost the next run against Tezuka in the yellow R32 skyline.

Stu - www.DriftinJapan.com

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Labels: D1, d1-2009, drift, evo-10, evo-9, kumakubo, lancer-evo-10-drift-car, lancer-evo-drift, team-orange

With the help of some insiders, I was able to get my hands on this footage of the last D1 GP round 6 at Ebisu. If you look closely, you might be able to make out the source of this video...



Kumakubo in the Orange Lancer Evo took the win on the day. Unfortunately, his overall series points ranking is still out of the top 10.

Thanks and stay tuned for more drifting action from Japan.

Stu

Labels: d1-gp-2008, d1-japan, drift, drifting, kumakubo

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

Round 5 of the D1 Grand Prix Professional Drift Series was held last weekend in Ebisu on the 25th - 26th of August 2007. I made the whole 15 minute trip up the mountains of Nihonmatsu to one of the most challenging drift circuits in the world - Ebisu. I arrived just as the lunch break started so I had time to walk around the pits taking pictures of the baddest drift cars and hottest promotion girls in Japan.

The most highly antcipated car was of course Kumakubo's NEW Lancer Evolution drift machine. A little awkward for a lancer but not unsurprisingly, it was decked out in TEAM ORANGE colors jsut like his Impreza WRX. Actually, for someone who doesn't have a keen eye, they would have trouble telling themapart. Same color scheme, both 4 doors, about the same size and even the sound of the exhaust was similar.
(see the post below for pics of Kumakubo's Lancer)

None the less, the JUN built Lancer Evo is built for drift...and performs great. Despite it being the first ever competition run for Kumakubo in his new lancer, he managed to finish in the top 8. In one of his last runs, his clutch didn't return so he missed a gear shift. But there was definitely nothing wrong with Kumakubo's drifting.

The champion of Round 5 was the monkey man himself, Nomuken in his BLITZ Skyline R34 4 door! Nomuken always seems to make it high in the rankings (if he doesn't crash early) but rarely gets to hold the trophy. Last year at D1 Ebisu, he was in the final with Kumakubo and after about 2 "sudden death"s, Kumakubo took the win just marginaly.

It must have been an emotional win for him this time, as he broke down in tears of joy(?) right after his deciding win. Throughout the day he was having "sudden death" runs in just about every round. I think he deserved to win just for that. But, he never made a mistake which proves he was the best drifter of the day.

D1 Drift Grand Prix 2007 Ebisu Round 5 Highlight Video

Labels: 2007, D1, drift, ebisu, gp, grand prix, japan, kumakubo, nomuken, video

Here's a little extra surprise Dorifuto vid for you! This is TEAM ORANGE's Kumakubo heading it off with team mate Tanaka. I mean literally heading it out! In Japanese, taimen means face off, head to head, head on etc....so taimen drift is head on drifting.

These 2 are famous for their "head on drifting" antics. They do this stunt drifting at most big D1 events..if you've ever seen a JDM Option or Drift Tengoku (Drift Heaven) dvd, chances are you've seen them do it before.

They did it once again at the last D1 Street legal meeting at Ebisu last weekend. It was unreal to see it in real life. Kumakubo in his orange Jun made FR WRX Impreza boasting 550hp with Tanaka in his former range s15 Silvia....horsepower???? enough to kick ass on the drift track! With out further adue..here is the "taimen" drift vid!



Look out for one more motion drift vid I'm in the process of puitting together! Cheers, Stuart!!

Labels: D1, d1 street legal, dorifuto, drift, drifting, ebisu, kumakubo, s15 silvia, tanaka, team orange, wrx

Hey drift fans! Thanks for stopping by my blog. I haven't updated for a long time sorry... :( Anyway, It finally became warm enough here in Japan to go outside without freezing my a** off and go for a drift. I got my Cefiro's oils (engine, gearbox, diff) changed so she was all ready to slide. And slide well she did. My photographer Pete wasn't with me that day so he couldn't take any pics on fe drifting so there are no sexy pics of my Cefiro or me. Nothing has changed much anyway. I'm slowly saving for a body kit for the Ceffy and a nice steering wheel.

I plan to head to the circuit at least once a month this year. Last year I was too lazy and got about 3 drifts in the whole 12 months. Anyway, here are some pics I took of other guy's rides last weekend at Ebisu.

Enjoy your drift pictures...
Very clean Silvia S13...pretty rare to see an "OLD" car drifting at Ebisu south course. Most people drive newer ones like S14's or S15's...like the S14 below...OUCH!!!! Mega Drift Damage!!! This is what happens when you spin in front of another car on a very fast course like Ebisu south course....not a happy camper:( There's nothing much you can do about it though. He can't cover it on insurance and the other guy who hit him doesn't have to pay. All's fair on the drift circuit. Be careful young drifters out there!! You wouldn't want this to happen to your ride right?? I know I would not be a very happy camper! And it was a very schmivk S14 too..now it will make some good scrap metal..geez!From this angle it looks like he's done a WIDE body kit job to it! Or how the Japanese like to say, WIDE FENDER! The other victim.... This is the guy that was behind him and spun into him. No-one can be to blame, but both loose out big time. Maybe you could make 1 good one out of these 2 wrecks??

This is sweet! An old school WRX coupe driven by Team Orange's Suenaga Naoto. It originally started out as an auto impreza coupe but he's fully turned it into a DRIFT machine! Just like Kumakubo's and Tanaka's drift WRX Impreza's, this one makes about 550 hp! You should hear the sound coming out of the exhaust!
I love 180sx's or 240sx's as they're known in the USA. This one was EXCEPTIONALY clean as you can probably tell by the picture. Makes me want one even more when I see nice 180sx's like this. Most ones you see at the drift tracks are real BEATERS and not even worth a look let alone a second. Gotta love the "spic and span" older drift cars like this!
Some dude in a TOYO S15 Silvia drifting it up around Ebisu South course. This weekend is D1 Round 1 at Ebisu so this guy and a few others were here to practice for D1 Grand Prix.
This guy too is entering D1 this weekend. His Chaser (sorry...MarkII) is a bit rough but nothing short of head turning. I like the carbon inserts in the doors....what do you think? As you can probably guess by the condition on this MarkII, he doesn(t baby it around the drift track. He hammered it HARD!

So, yes, D1 Grand Prix Round 1 is happening this weekend at Ebisu. Lucky me I have to work both Saturday and Sunday so I will miss it!! Unbe-freakin-lievable hey? But at least I got to see some D1 cars last weekend and take these pics. I wonder who will win? Last year, Kumakubo in his WRX won at Ebisu and the whole D1 competition. He's my favourite again for this season, Hopefull my mate Pete is going and will take some pics of the drift action there and I can post them up on my blog here for you to enjoy. Until next time! Drift safe everybody!

Labels: 240sx drift, D1, drift, drift crash, drift in japan, drift pics, drifting, drifting videos, ebisu, s15 drift, silvia drift

Hey Drift fans!
Yesterday the "gaijin drifters" were at SS park drift circuit on a what started out a great sunny day. SS park circuit as you may know is only 15 minutes from my place here in Nihonmatsu city Japan. This day my mate Pete brought out his freshly washed and waxed purple headed monster Mazda Rx7 FC3S for a bit of a drift. It was his first time on SS park circuit so it took him a bit of time to get used to....as you're about to find out!This is Pete's FC in the beginning. Just washed and waxed and ready to drift. If he only knew what was about to happen a couple hours later, I don't think Pete would have gone to the trouble to wash it!

We were sharing the track with only a few others. 2 of which were girls in Silvias who were really good! We would never had known they were girls by the way they were drifting...they were kickin ace. Meanwhile...for the first hour or so, I was enjoying watching Pete spin out on about every 3rd corner. The FC's short wheelbase is a tad touchy around SS's long corners. I soon found that out when Pete gave me a burl around in it. I was worse than him. I really sucked bad. I really don't have an excuse except it was my first time in the drifters seat for about 5 months and my first time drifting at SS park and it was Pete's FC which I've drifted a whole 4 or so times! It was very touch but a heap of fun! The 13B rotary with boost turned up is like driving a go cart! And sounds like one too!
This is what happens when you put 195 tires on 8.5 inch wide rims with not high enough air pressure on the front of a drift car and get huge angle at high speed. Or maybe Pete just wanted to prove that his wheels are chrome even on the inside!
CRUNCH!!! I must have been a bad navigator or Pete was getting a little too comfortable around the back hairpin...trying to skim the paint off the guard rail "Initial D" style when we both went "OH CRAP!" and added a new dent to the armco and lighted the front end of Pete's FC by a quick removal of his black FRP bumper. I think he was planning a face lift for the FC anyway. Good on ya Poit! At least you have a good drift "battle damage" story to tell now!

That's all for this update folks! See ya next time. Don't forget to subscribe to my mailing list in the top corner to get free email alerts of updates on my web site!

Stu and Pete "Gaijin Drifters"
www.DriftInJapan.com

(Photo's courtesy of Pete)

Labels: drift, drift in japan, drift pics, drifting, drifting in japan, fc rx7, rx7, ss park circuit