The D1 Street Legal competition at Ebisu Circuit was extremely rough for competitors (and the guys shooting photos trackside!), as the torrential rains coming down presented a bit of a problem… Ebisu's South Course became extremely slippery and difficult to negotiate, but that didn't stop the hardcore drivers from running!
Check out the cool purple Nissan Laurel above… I wish we saw cool 4-door Japanese drift cars like Laurels, Cefiros, Mark IIs and Chasers in the USA! And check out the V-Factory S15 Silvia giving chase close behind it! These cars definitely sounded super cool as they passed the covered pit area!
Here's a close-up of Naoki Nakamura's D-Max S15 Silvia, which is equipped with a Koyo Radiator and some ultra-bright fluorescent Gram Lights wheels. Even though I normally focus on the lead car during tsuisou runs, I thought the V-factory S15 didn't have aggressive enough wheels, so why focus on it? If they try a bit more to achieve satisfactory stance, then maybe I'll begin taking photos of the car again.
There were so many S15s in the D1SL competition! They looked pretty cool as they slid over the crest, into South Course's main initiation point.
And on the second run, they ran closer and closer…
The cars were kicking up water from the race track as they passed, instead of the tire smoke that you normally see at drift events!
As it side-braked entering into the corner, I thought Ito-san's white Toyota JZX100 looked very interesting with those orange wheels. It's Toyota vs Nissan in this photo, as Ito-san gets chased by Mikami-san in the green R33 Skyline 4-door. Mikami owns a shop called 3-Up… which was named after his own last name. Mi (3) Kami (Up). Japanese people love turning letters into numbers, just for your in4mation.
It was cool to see this ZZT231 Celica-faced JZA80 Supra on the track! I thought it looked super cool out there, especially since we can normally see S14s drifting all day every day, in any country we visit.
When our boy Naoto Suenaga chased this Skyline down with his S13… the Skyline driver, Honma, got all worried… Naoto was following his Skyline so closely, he got scared and spun out right in front on Naoto! Luckily Naoto has extreme car control, so he was able to lock up his brakes and make his car spin in order to avoid slamming into the Skyline, which lost the round, needless to say!
The final tandem battle between Naoto Suenaga and Naoki Nakamura was extremely exciting and close, but in the end, Naoto Suenaga prevailed and took the win because of his legendary Team Orange abilities in tsuisou battling – he can drift super close to his opponent when he's following, and accelerate away from his opponent when he's the leader.
You would think Naoto would thank Team Orange's Number One funnyman, crew chief Mitsuteru Igusa for sitting in the wet grandstands with a radio, sending Naoto info on driving input and course conditions as an on-track spotter… but apparently Naoto thought it would be funny to spray Igusa with his winning champagne bottle while the Video Option cameras rolled. However, the larger, stronger Igusa didn't seem to agree with that plan, and he easily overpowered Naoto, who ended up taking a bath in his own celebratory champagne. Apparently our boy Naoto didn't think that one over too hard. Good job Naoto.
(Igusa, by the way, is also a high level drifter with a D1 competition license)
Sitting in their ultra cool Bride adjustable seats above the judging platform, Kumakubo and Nomuken observed the whole Naoto vs Igusa champagne bath… Kumakubo thought it was pretty entertaining, but Nomuken just entertained himself by lighting up a smoke.
Congratulations to Naoto Suenaga for his First Place win at D1 Street Legal in Ebisu!
-Antonio Alvendia
Naoto Suenaga Wins 1st Place at D1 Street Legal at Ebisu Circuit
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
Mikami-san was driving an S14 Silvia before changing to this 4-Door ECR33 Skyline. Looks cool since I rarely see ECR33 4-Door drifting around. In Malaysia you could see a bunch of Cefiro, powered by either RB20, RB25, RB27 and even 1JZ. Come and visit us here too!
I realy love R33 sedan's, this is the first one i have seen at a drift competition.
BURST BURST BURST
That JZX is sweet.
I remember Ernie Fixmer was building up his R33 Sedan for NOPI Drift before it flopped. Anyone know the progress on that?
The pictures are wicked they show you have a real passion for the sport, keep it up!
Where can I get my hands on one of those Bride seats? I'd like a bucket seat for my PC.
Nice pics Antonio.
BTW: Who driver's that JZA80-celica-facelifted ? A friend of mine said it was Orido, but i dont think so
Nakamura needs to drive his own car so he's not as afraid to smash shit. Dmax probably gets sad when they have to fix a car after every event.
I loove the R33 and the Chaser, saloons are the best. =]
Oh and Yukio Matsui drives the Supra.
buttes: You can just make it from any seat. You get a Bride seat (or Recaro, or if you don't care you can just a Sparco or something used) and combine it with a standard computer chair. Just unbolt the computer chair's back and butt-cushion... then attach the racing seat to a bracket of some sort (even wood is ok if you dont want to spend major $$$ on a seat rail - i wouldn't waste my money on a real seat rail for a computer chair!)
Alejandro: i forget right now, but it's definitely not orido. i have the driver's name here but not right in front of me...
the purple s14 looks really cool and the rear shot of the blue s15 is great
thanks for the pics!