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Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Tokyo Drift In Odaiba June 2008
Odaiba Tokyo, the popular Tokyo bay-side suburb in Downtown Tokyo is not commonly known for drifting - rather it's known for it's TV studios and big shopping complexes.
But for the first time in 3 years, they brought Drift back to Downtown Tokyo with the D1 Drift Exhibition Match held on June 7th-8th 2008.
The Odaiba drift course is large parking lot converted to a decent size course much of the likes of a mirrored Ebisu circuit in shape and speed (120km/h). As the center of Tokyo is packed tighter than a tin of sardines, a permanant drift track is next to impossible so a wide open car park is the next best thing. Nothing wrong with that, I say!
Reports say that all the usual D1 drivers (30 all up) were out showing their best drift machines and drifting skills to the Tokyo crowd.
Team Orange also put on their crowd pleasing drift show from the 4 drivers - Kumakubo, Tanaka, Suenaga and new member Hiraoka. Some of their drift stunts included twin drifting, 4 car drifting and the famous "taimen" drifting (head on drift) with all 4 cars (2 x 2)! Wow! Would have loved to see that!
As it was a real D1 match, they had the usual tournament of Best 16 then Best 8, Best 4 and The Final Round.
The champion of the Odaiba Drift Exhibition for 2008 was Imamura in his new drift machine - red Prodrive Silvia S15 after defeating reigning 2007 D1 champ Kawabata in his (not usual) blue Toyo 180sx.
There is a rumor that this may be the last event in Odaiba - but knowing the growing excitement and fan base for drifting in Japan, I hope we can see more drift events in Odaiba like this!
Stu - www.DriftinJapan.com
:)
But for the first time in 3 years, they brought Drift back to Downtown Tokyo with the D1 Drift Exhibition Match held on June 7th-8th 2008.The Odaiba drift course is large parking lot converted to a decent size course much of the likes of a mirrored Ebisu circuit in shape and speed (120km/h). As the center of Tokyo is packed tighter than a tin of sardines, a permanant drift track is next to impossible so a wide open car park is the next best thing. Nothing wrong with that, I say!
Reports say that all the usual D1 drivers (30 all up) were out showing their best drift machines and drifting skills to the Tokyo crowd.
Team Orange also put on their crowd pleasing drift show from the 4 drivers - Kumakubo, Tanaka, Suenaga and new member Hiraoka. Some of their drift stunts included twin drifting, 4 car drifting and the famous "taimen" drifting (head on drift) with all 4 cars (2 x 2)! Wow! Would have loved to see that!
As it was a real D1 match, they had the usual tournament of Best 16 then Best 8, Best 4 and The Final Round.
The champion of the Odaiba Drift Exhibition for 2008 was Imamura in his new drift machine - red Prodrive Silvia S15 after defeating reigning 2007 D1 champ Kawabata in his (not usual) blue Toyo 180sx.
There is a rumor that this may be the last event in Odaiba - but knowing the growing excitement and fan base for drifting in Japan, I hope we can see more drift events in Odaiba like this!
Stu - www.DriftinJapan.com
:)
Labels: d1-2008, d1-odaiba, imamura-new-drift-car, team-orange, tokyo-drift, tokyo-drift-odaiba
Monday, March 31, 2008
D1 GP Japan Round 1 Ebisu Drift Coverage
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
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
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