It looks like all may not be lost for the D1 Grand Prix drift championship for 2011. Following the controversial split between D1 and its key judges and of course founders, Daijiro Inada and Keiichi Tsuchiya, drift fans the world over were wondering who would could ever be worthy replacements. Well it looks like we know now! For 2011 D1 drivers will be judged by (from left to right) JDM superstar Eiiji "Tarzan" Yamada, Drift Tengoku editor Ryusuke Kawasaki, D1 assistant judge Hisashi Kamimoto, former RE-Amemiya GT driver and ex-D1 assistant judge Shinji Yamaji and finally GT driver and Hot Version presenter, the legendary Akira Iida. Not a bad line-up right? It will be interesting to see these guys join Mana-P in the judges tent from the first round in Odaiba at the end of next month. I have a feeling that with Tarzan there, things might get quite wild!
D1 Gand Prix Official Announcement
-Dino Dalle Carbonare
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
It wont be the same w/o the drift king.
Yeah! It looks like a great lineup, but I still regret the OEM split
Yeahhh!, Tarzan is my hero
No comment D1 is dead
No comment D1 is dead
im happy to see Kamimoto a judge here. not only is he a great driver, but he does a good job judging
I am quite happy with things being back on track for D1 but it doesnt change the fact that the forefathers are gone. the replacement may seem good enough to judge as they have had a good career in the drifting and other related motorsport but will they be able to keep the standards that D1 had in the previous years?
meh.....Im looking forward to the new series.
TARZAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Still want be the same..... and not as good bring on Tsuchiya and Inada
WTF Akira iida...he know shit about drifting and tarzan also...i guess D1 driver are coming to USA for formula drift
I still have D1/Option DVD's from 2003 (Tsukuba rd. 1) where you can see Yamaji sitting in with Orido and Tsuchiya.. D1 stopped being fun to watch shortly after that, when Orido stepped down and drivers like Taniguchi and Kazama no longer participated. 2001-2004 was D1's golden age.
new JDM boyband ??
nah will be interesting to say the least !
Well at least D1GP's going to continue, but it won't be the same !
Alright, let's see, but Tsuchiya/Inada remain #1 in my book!
Looks good to me.
Let's give them a chance!
Looks Serious.
I feel like the guy in the middle is already judging me...
to latenights: drivers like taniguchi and kazama left and i was pretty unhappy about it too. but D1GP's standards have been rising the last 5 years...speed angle smoke...hasn't D1GP become more exciting lately?
Keiichi Tsuchiya and Daijiro Inada will be missed!!!
There will be a certain loss to the D1GP but it will be a good for the D1GP as it will bring something new to it and maybe a little more excitement to the D1GP.
But who know's Keiichi and Daijiro might surprise us all with something unexpected.
These guy are great in other form of motorsport but in Drifting......they had done nothing. I don't think they will won over the driver respect as what Tsuchiya had done.
D1GP's not going to be the same, sadly.
agree with @ latenights...
I loved D1GP more when these trio was their judges- Dori-Kin, ManaP and Orido...
this is messed up. drifting wont be the same without daiijiro and dk. they made all this happen
Just give them a chance
@ JDsim
No, it isn't. One round was exciting, but for all the wrong reasons, thats round 5. Exciting, but not at the cost of at least 5 cars totalled and more than one driver worried about their life. The jump entry was sick but thats trying to murder people, not drift. The cars are like dragsters and it's gone way too commercial.
That being said, I still follow it, but it's lost so much of its character as it went on. the judging got even more biased last year than ever. So bad that the 2 founding fathers of the sport got disgusted and washed their hands of it. I hope they do something to regain respect in D1 again.
DAIGO SAITO FOREVER!!!! and btw i personally watched tarzan tear it up in chicago in a viper so saying he dosent kno shit is a lie it was 2007 D1 chi town that man had the highest entry speeds and he wasnt even competing so to say they don kno whats going on is a misconception and as for commercalization blame inada he runs it
thats a pretty nice line up of people to get in to judge but thats not wat d1 needs to be doing, d1 obviously has a big following but if the 2 original people leave and big name drivers arent afraid to voice opinions on how they dislike the current d1 setup its only time till things go down hill fast especially with DK and dai starting there own competing series, d1 needs to change or get dusted by the new series
Yeah, give them a chance. Sure, the split sucks, but on the other hand now you will have 2 competing drift series in japan = 2 times the spectator fun for us! And in the end it's about the drifting, not the judging
no offence to the guys named as new D1 judges but D1 without daijiro and keichi sucks..il rather wait and see what dai and keichi hav planned..
How about we wait and see? Honestly from the general vibe of the majority of comments above mine, you'd think there were only two people in Japan who are 'qualified' to judge or organise a drift event. As for all the 'problems' associated with D1, we'll have to see how it plays out.
For the record, no one can say d1 is dead whilst we are stuck with Formula D