D1gp: I Was There.

[mrmephistopheles]

hahaha
ok, well actually, both Lisa and I were there (along with quite a few other Zilvia members, who I'm sure will be chiming in as soon as they wake up and log on.
OK.
The event as a whole was just ok. There was a lame carshow with typical lameass carshow thugs. There was a very small motorcross exhibition and a somewhat interesting shifter kart demonstration. There was also, in my humble opinion the WORST announcer EVAR.
Aside from all that CRAP, the D1 drivers, their cars and the action on the track was unbelievably cool.
Seeing the drifting up close & personal, getting shredded tire in my eyes and ears, feeling the thud a car makes when it crashes, etc..
All that made the experience awesome, regardless of the other gayness.
Yeah.. cars crashed.. :wtc: Calvin's RX-7 ate poo not once but twice (second time putting it out of commission), Ken Gushi smacked his S13 into the wall early in the day during practice runs, but he was able to repair it in time to compete.. There were a few minor bumps and such among the cars, but I think seeing Taniguchi's S15 crash was the most dramatic.. The whole show was basically over, and the AE86 has won (I forgot the driver's name), and they were making a few last exhibition passes.. Well, the first pass was pretty crazy, but clean. The second pass got even crazier and Taniguchi ended up smacking the S15 into the wall. He slid right by me nose first. ugh. Poor S15. Taniguchi looked so bummed after that.

BTW. I got tons of autographs, including the Dorikin himself, Keiichi Tsuchiya. It was cool to meet the drifters.. they were all (mostly) cool and laid back. Nomuken surprised me once, as he was trying to get out to the track via the spectator's trackside area. I turned to find a friend of mine, and there was little Nomuken! Very pleasant surprise, as well as seeing Tarzan Yamada just walking arond aimlessly looking for trouble to get into.

Also, it was very nice to finally put faces to names.. I got to meet Errin (NekoPunch), Lindsay (Dorifto180sx), Aaron (iforgothisusername) and. .. ... crap! yeswepromise... Brian? damnit. anyway, it was awesome sauce to finally meet you guys.
BTW, Lindsay.. I want a pic of Mr Koguchi with his new hat.
Anyway, I'm not at home, so I'll post pics later (of all the ones that came out decently).
I've also got some nice vids, so maybe if i can find a host for them... Mark?

[DudeYourSoOOJDM]

I just realized how "trendy" drifting is going to get after yesterday.

Autotrader is going to be full of civics......

Anyways, the action was great. Taniguchi carried so much speed, but you had to root for the underdog w/ mad driving skill in Ueno. I can't believe the pass he made on Taniguchi in the finals....unbelieveable. I have never seen body damage on the HKS s15 let alone Taniguchi crash. He acted as if he disgraced himself and HKS.

Imamura is right up there in speed and skill w/ Taniguchi....not to mention he probably had to get used to driving a left hand drive car.....

You think Nomuken had a little pressure on? I think....

Ernie...you did very good, for all the pressure you were in. D1GP japan next year for ernie!

I AM definitely buying V-OPT w/ coverage.

I got a picture w/ tarzan who was more than happy to give the thumbs down to all the ricers out there.

[s13chica]

All I can say is WOW! I had the best time of my life at D1GP yesterday. The 5 1/2 hour drive home to norcal last night was worth every minute! It was so amazing to be able to see pro drifters in person...it inspires me to keep working hard to improve my skills.

I felt really bad for Taniguchi because he didn't even want to go out for the last run...he let his emotions get the best of him after ueno passsed him, and found himself on the wall...poor S15:wtc:

I was soooooo impressed with Ernies ability to hold his own at D1, as well as all the other American drivers. Good Job!

Even if drifting does get more popular because of this event you can only hope that people will use good judgement and not drift all crazy on the street and give a bad name to drifting...well...we can hope can't we!

I had so much fun hanging out with all you socal folk...and having killer seats at least for a bit! :D Hope to come down and hang out with everyone again...or you guys should come up for the bbq!

[Fastback180]

Sounded like a dubious occasion...And yes, drifting is gonna be as trendy as Japanese writing tattooed on preppy teens skin after yesterday.

I'm sure MTV will have coverage. Ha!

[tsunami0ne]

I was expecting a riot when the announcer pointed out that there were no Hondas on the track.

[Bill Roberts]

Did Keiichi drive anything out there?

Lets put some pressure on the event coordinators to at least have some streaming video for those that can't make it. Live for 10 bucks...many here would have paid.

Glad everone had a blast!

(The Honda/Rice thing is funny hehehehe)

[TK]

i think the event was pretty cool, the carshow was watevers.. i didn't spend much time there. i think everyone will agree the annoucer was getting on my nerves. i spent most of my time trackside or hangin out at the mackin booth

all in all i tihnk it was a good event that i won't forget. about the whole drifting being more popular i don't think it will change anything. it may make it more mainstream to the us, but the magazines have already done that so i don't know if they can make it any more known now :mad:

edit:

the us drivers were doin pretty damn good considering who they were up against. i've got to give ernie mad props on his driving skills :bowdown:

[Dutchmalmiss]

yah i was more than satisfied when i went there. i was impressed to see a 16 year old competing. i wonder if he even got his license yet! haha

[s0ldats]

i had a grand old time.

[Dousan_PG]

keiichi AND orido drove also
keiichi and him did the demo type runs
as usual keiichi too Kazama's s15 and orido in the z33 RS*R (woot)

omg!!! THE EVENT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!! i loved every second of it
i got some SICK PINK kei office driving gloves.
koguchi kicked my leg and almost made me fall. haha..he's soooo cool. super fun guy. next time we will be prepared fo some other stuff

also got to see some of my favorite d1 drivers and their cars. Bai is HILARIOUS. 2 wheels (one side) off the ground on the little 4x4 hahahahahaha..that guy is so much fun and goofy. tanaka and kumakubo were super nice as always and lots of fun to hang out witth.

note: japanese d1 drivers LOVE sound effects hahahaha

the competition
omg! insane

ernie was BALLS OUT with Imamura. that's the most impressive and hardcore i've seen him in competitions. GO ERNIE he was TEARING it up, i was sooooooo floored. we were yelling and screaming so much for ernie and ken. they rock. :) our favorite d1 driver from USA who competed yesterday!! WOOT! did fantastic

ken hit his rear against wall (which looked medocre hit but was quite serious) totalled the drear and the exhaust got pushed in SOOOO hard it bent the piping on his wastegate hahaha..nuts

taniguchi is about same height as me, so tall, about 5'11ish but seemeed pretty chill.

izumida..damn brotha has bad luck everytime in the USA :( suuucks soooooo much. sigh..

kazama wasn't having a great day too. earlier he hit the wall. i think he broke his rear upright on his s15 and changed it out w/ the techs. (yes he worked on car himself unlike some other drivers) and that set him back in some of the practice session.

nomuken was using dunlop direzza (spelling) and fm901? i wasnt sure..

it was funny. at end of night we were joking around w/ koguchi and kids come up to get tires signed. one guy comes up and hold teh tire, i point and say "OH! OH!" koguchi looks..he yells "AH!" and shakes his head in disapproval. the fool brought him a dunlop tire to sign..haha..but koguchi just laughed and signed away. too funny.

dorifto met and did somework for some folks doing a documentary on drifting and then he introduced me. maybe i'll be on their film one day. interviewed me a bit too. super nice guys and very friendly (thanks for the free drinks)

the 5zigen booth was the 'so cali drivers' spot haha..thanks for the free drinkage. :)

other then that, the competition was INSANELY great

when Kazama pasted Kumakubo wow we were yelling SOO LOUD. the trading kumakubo was obiviously EXTREMELY agressive and nailed kazama's rear and broke his taillight. kumakubo was following kazama only inches away

but the most '****ed off' was taniguchi.
after he and ueo had to run together 2 times (rematch) the crowd wanted one more. so off they went but before taniguchi was UGH and definately DID NOT want to go again.

so taniguchi goes leading Ueo in his ae86 (sift). taniguchi goes wider then usual and Ueo sneaks and passes him and taniguchi was obviously already VERY ****ED.

they swap places...taniguchi seems to try and pass Ueo BEFORE BEFORE the first conrer on the straight, you can already tell and have that gute feeling something is NOT going to be right...taniguchi is mere CM away from Ueo..sooo close, and since Ueo drops SO Much speed into the second corner (main sweeper) taniguchi has ot back off BIG TIME and slams his beatufiul s15 into the wall demolishing it. positive rear camber front is just crunch and grinded

then..out come the wolves. fucking greedy POS american cock suckers jump over the wall to take pics and grab stuff off taniguchi's car. jesus cant we have a event w/o a bunch of freeloading dicks? that ****ed me off (obviously). need to send the CHP gusy out there to crack some skulls. christ.

so Ueo (woooohoo) was declared winner and got 2000 USD for the event. though it does not count to d1 it still means A LOT to the japense drivers

the best part of being a specator, when the drivers started up on the first big banked corner, the crowd gets VERY QUIET. as they entered the first 'corner' (apex cone) the crowd is 'ooooooh' then the big sweeper it gets LOUD and as they exit the sweeper everyone is standing up and jumping up and down (especially when someone got passed). it was great fun.

i just about lost my voice that day throat so sore but dotn matter non. it was SIMPLE GREAT!!!!

nekopunch drove down and we hung out. SO MUCH FUN! had a awesome time.

right now that's all i can think of.....more later maybe.

cant wait for the next one!!!

[stealthj]

i wish i was there:( :cry:

do people have videos or pics to post up??

[Bill Roberts]

Nice write up Aaron and Kevin. I will NOT miss the next one.

What you say battle speed was? I have been getting on the throne with the 60 to 75MPH drifts since I broke my cherry Friday...and is it ever sweet. The extra crap in the back and the passenger made all the difference. Running very close to 50/50 now. With my power and torque..who cares if the car weighs 3200? Blah..

Very nice writeups indeed!

On with the pics and videos!! I got bandwidth...do High quality if poss. I got 200Meg server space if that will help...email me at [email protected]


If other forums have some up...link to them...the crash is disheartning. Never drift if your heart is not in it or you emotionally ready to do it. Zen was off...they should never had taken that curtain call...but they can afford it...Sux about the azzwipes running out there...stooooopid

Glad youse had fun with your bad self!!!!!!!!!!!!

[nokeone]

wow!!...great write up Dousan..:)

i'm so bummed i wasn't able to be there.:(..oh well, next time for sure..

looking forward to pictures and videos through which to live vicariously..

:D

[Dousan_PG]

speeds not sure
but in japan its around (depending on course). example of the Fuji it was like 140kph is

but that's ENTRY speed, the real challenge is maintaining a highspeed thru out the corner

speed means NOTHING without consistency.

d1 drivers may or may not be fast, but they can nail the same line, the same angle, the same speed over and over and over and over again.

if someone says ot me 'dood, i can do a 70mph drift'
yeah but can youdo it all day without error? can you change your lines and still maintain that sort of speeds, can you carry that speed?


theres a difference from a high speed entry and a high speed drift.

[ƒVƒ‹ƒGƒCƒeƒB]

d1gp was amazing!! seeing drifting live is the greatest thing ever!!

[RoNiN240sx]

the D1 event was awesome! i especially liked taniguchi's s15 goin nuts, his run with the RSR s14 was pretty sweet!! and that last few runs were nuts. these japanese drifters really know how to put it down. the drifting was great and unparalleled here in the US. That stadium was PACKED!

i'm scared of what's going to become of drifting:confused: judging from a lot of the crowd's thoughts and comments, it looks like this could get dangerous. the thing is those japanese pro's make it look so easy, but they're PRO'S!!! those insane drifts they pulled take so much skill, i think we'll be hearin of a lot of accidents in the future, and drifting might become banned (in the streets) more heavily than street racing. not to mention the ones who will try the canyon runs, drifting....scary thought.

i myself am an avid fan of drifitng but haven't tried it anywhere accept wide open empty spaces at the crack of dawn, and even then i haven't even cracked more than 45mph! anyways, drifting definitely will become the new trend, especially in california where these trends get eatin up sooo quickly, so many street drag racers popped up after the Fast and the Furious.

the show was awesome, they had almost every type of 240 drifting, some rx-7's, the ae86, supras, and a couple skylines as well. i personally tanagichi's s15, the RSR s14, the DRFT RX-7, the Soarer, and Mullins Supra. all put up incredibly impressive performances, these guys really put in their all to satisfy the crowd.

I'm kind of happy that at the end of the day the ae86 won, i was rooting for taniguchi's s15, but seeing the crowd rally and cheer on the ae86 brings hope that maybe all the trendy drifters will soon be crashing toyotas and not precious nissans...hopefully. poor taniguchi, after it was clear the ae86 won, the crowd fiended "one more time" leaving him to crash his car...what'd you guys think about that 12 car drift run? it wasn't the prettiest, but you have to admit they ran it pretty good without any crashes, imagine the difficulty, hehe and that group donut in the end? hehe nice....

All in all it was great, only two things really sucked for me, 1) not having trackside tickes, I was behind a net ALL day, and 2) seeing the s15 silvia front end on a cavalier at the car show, NO!!!!!!

oh yah, i have video of almost everything, but it's all behind a net..so i will try to upload it later, if anyone is interested.

[240Dave]

http://www.240motorsports.com/untitled.jpg

:coolugh: Good to hear it was a fun time...can't wait to see pics.

[Maeda]

I got a few pics and a 20 second silent video of ernie and imamura(?) making the first 3 turns, the cars are tiny however...

I think I saw dousan(?)
I saw the wimpy GReddy turbo kit S14
I saw all the dirft madness
The D1 drivers converted my hardcore chevy elcamino enthusiast friend into a wanna be drifter... lol (drift el camino anyone?)

I got blasted with advan neovas time and time again.

I'm also majorly sunburnt.

[fooddude]

Damn...I didn't even know Izumida was there, woulda loved to see him in action. I got there around 4-5 and didn't have wrist bands till before semifinals so I watched from the bleechers during the daytime. Me and my friend went to the free entrance and later got checkered wrist bands from his friend :) That was cool!!! I got to finally watch track side and even went in the middle of the track where all the photographers were at. I took a few pictures(will post later), but I kept running out of batteries and I couldn't find anybody that had any extras, I also had a cheapy Sony digicam with no optical zoom, what a waste of such good photo oppurtunities. At least I was close to the action! I saw Hypershift there, didn't see any other FA/Zilvia members. I didn't expect that it was gonna be that big! 20k+ people there, damn! Never seen that many 240's and 86s in my life, mostly show cars though. The parking lot had more interesting cars that actually see action. Overheard about 57 conversations about "when are you sellin you're car?" "Next week dude, gettin a hachi(or a Silvia) bro!"...anyways, awesome high speed drifting experience. Ueo was the man, aggresive skills! Ueo got the sickest angles and Choku-doris. Lots of crashes...I dunno why the people were clapping when a crash happened. I went to the HKS booth after and everyone was just crowded around NOBs s15 and the mechanics looked irritated. Ernie was freakin nuts, imo he was better than Imamura that round and shoulda went to the next round. USA represent!!! Got to yell at Dai and Suzuki while they were chillin at there judge booth and they said what's up. I screamed at Nomuken and Koguchi too and they gave me weird look till I yelled their names. I haven't been to a import car show/event in a few years, but this is by far the best car event i've been to in my life.

[Zenki_S14]

I've never posted any pics before. I tried to post a pic of Ueo earlier in the day. i tried to attach it but it said "Valid file extensions: gif jpg png txt zip bmp jpeg".

[Got Sileighty?]

oh yea D1 was awesome. I got to stand trackside about halfway through the event and i couldnt believe how much rubber was flying off those tires. i believe i can create an entire tire from all the rubber in my lungs right now. oh and when i q-tipped my ear last night, guess what i found...yup more rubber hehe.

i also got keiichi to sign my "10" sign and took a pic of him with me. it was so cool of him to just stand there throughout the entire intermission and sign away. i also got a pic of me with a couple umbrella girls woohoo!! :D

the tamaguchi crash was sad cuz it didnt even count for anything. its all cuz we were all chanting "ONE MORE TIME!" he even had to change his tire just to come out that third and last time for the crowd. he crashed head on right in front of me, and i was scared s**tless. the sparks from the crash almost hit me, and some debris actually hit the face of the guy beside me. so sad, cuz it was one my favorite cars out there.

i cant believe the white rx7 didnt win though. imho, he was the most consistent and i think he had the longest drifts the whole day too. o well.

i cant wait for the next one. i wonder how theyre gonna get everyone in the same venue seeing as how this one was sold out and they actually had to close the parking lot.

[EchoOfSilence]

well, my friends and i got there around 3-4, and we could tell from the moment that we got there, that it was going to be one great experience. the street leading into the parking itself was packed with great cars... a few 86's, s13's and 14's here and there, couple of supras... Anyway, as we sat down, everything was pretty cool, as we saw them line up the cars for the introductions. the event was just... great. I can't find another word for it. to imagine seeing the option videos and realizing that the guys are actually here and within speaking distance (although we speak different languages) is just incredible. personally, i think that the s15 should have won at the end... it seems as though all that was being judged on was passing. the 86 didn't break loose the first corner in order to gain speed into the 2nd, while the s15 drifted both, and looked better doing it. i imagine that the event sort of biased the 86 to win in order to make a point to the virgin american audience. possibly to say that power and new things aren't always better. Maybe not. anyway, we all got autographs, and we all took things from here and there, including a couple of empty canisters of racing fuel. :cool: . we stayed after... and we moved down in order to see the aftermath of everything, such as the champagne dousing and such. then... the unthinkable... Keiichi himself came out to thank the audience.. AND TOSSES HIS RACING GLOVES INTO THE AUDIENCE. they came straight at us... it bounced of a guy in the row in front of us..., i'm pushed, and my friend catches both gloves with one hand... the dorikin's...gloves... just.. great. Happy for the guy. but i'll be hoping that he doesn't put them on... haha. i'll be posting pics later... maybe... ;)
and yes! that cavalier was an eye sore!! the horror! ok paint job though. the 240z bored out to 3.2L from a 2.8 made up for it though... :cool:

[ootranceformeroo]

OMG that was the best ever! ahah the crowd was soo hyped! I had a blast. It was worth driving from norcal to watch it.

Anyways im too lazy to read all your long posts....:D hope everyone had fun and.......whens the next one?!

[ZOLTAN]

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. I WAS THERE. lol.
I was right to the left of the stage right in front.
The rx-7 wrecked(2nd time)right in front of me.:(
I must say, having never actually seen a drift event in real life I was completely blown away. Totally worth the trek from Indiana.
I would have loved to have seen Rhys Millen complete that run and beat Nomuken.:)

Right now though I wish I had an ae86, cause I would sell it to some dumbass and make a mint off it. Everyone around me was like, "I want a hachi, there so cool", blah blah blah. Soo much lame *** "I want to be a drifter" talk. To me that was the only down side to the entire event. Well, that and how slow the entire event moved. Not very well organized. And I'm not even going to go into the whole prepay line ordeal.

And, I saw Dousan's car in the autobacs parking lot on Sat.

[s0ldats]

this even was f-u-n fun.

[fleaf]

i was also right there when the rx-7 crashed and debris went flying, too bad i didn't get it on video =\. It was a great event overall. Never attended a drifting event before and it's something that definately got me excited throughout the whole thing. Ken Guchi did really well, especially being only 16, there really isn't much experience for him to work with. Taniguchi is soo much taller than I thought he would be. Koguchi was pretty cool, got to take a picture with him =) . Don't know why, but this event made me like Japanese people so much more, probably cause they're so relaxed and humorous. Everytime i see Nomura dancing around, i start to laugh since he's only like 5'3".

I have video of the whole Best 16 pair drifting, just need to digitalize it (it's on 8mm =\).

[stealthj]

digitalize it fast man, real fast

[NZO]

The driving was awesome. All the big names from D1 competing with the best US drivers (many of whom are VERY good); it doesn’t get much better than that. The competition was insane. Hard to put into words, it was just ****ing awesome. The passing, the sickening crashes (enough to make a grown man cry), and the outstanding representation by the US drivers was just excellent.

The organization of the event was the worst I’ve ever seen. It seemed like half of the people in attendance didn’t even pay to get in, they just got there early. The staff was for the most part completely clueless. The people responsible for restricting certain areas did absolutely nothing to the people who weren’t supposed to be entering but then when we walk by they yell at us? Right… VIP tickets were pretty much worthless. We got a shirt, and we were barely even able to get that. Luckily we had a photo-copy of our receipt for the tickets. They didn’t care if you had a VIP wristband they wanted the receipt which is pretty funny considering that they were taking the receipts away from people at will call. As for the advertised skybox access? Negatory. VIP lounge? We were shooed out the second time we went in there by some woman saying it was for press and media only. I was definitely not feeling the love…although we were able to jack some very nice press packets.

Aside from that it was pretty good. Got almost everyone’s autograph. I wish I could have gotten Kazama’s but I couldn’t find him. Got tsuchiya’s on the drift bible dvd which rocked. Stayed around later and was able to get taniguchi’s which is totally pimp. I felt so bad for him, I wanted to tell him how much of a badass he is but I don’t speak any Japanese :( Ueno was really cool, totally happy to sign people’s stuff. Koguchi was really cool too, had a great attitude, a big smile on his face and was more than willing to sign stuffs as was Imamura. Nomura looked really depressed while he was signing stuff, dunno if he was just tired or what. I was so stoked to get Hayashida’s too cuz I love his car, especially when it was green.

Anyway, overall I had a great time. Got to meet up with a lot of good people, way too many to list but I’m glad I was able to see everyone. Can’t wait till next year.

Cliffnotes: The event was great, the driving was great, and the pit area was great. The car show was whatever, if it gets them money good for them. The organization and staffing was very poor.

[019]

dang.. you west coast ppl are sooo lucky!!! i wish i could've been there! being on the east coast sucks... i wonder if they'll ever come over to the east coast... regardless, it's good to hear everyone had a lot of fun. let's see some videos!!

Originally posted by dousan36
then..out come the wolves. fucking greedy POS american cock suckers jump over the wall to take pics and grab stuff off taniguchi's car. jesus cant we have a event w/o a bunch of freeloading dicks? that ****ed me off (obviously). need to send the CHP gusy out there to crack some skulls. christ.

are you kidding me?? that just seems so disrespectful... god... what is it with people? i can't believe they would do something like that. the man just crashed his car and all they can think about is getting free stuff... *sigh*...

[chokudoriS13]

Originally posted by mrmephistopheles
There were a few minor bumps and such among the cars, but I think seeing Taniguchi's S15 crash was the most dramatic.. The whole show was basically over, and the AE86 has won (I forgot the driver's name), and they were making a few last exhibition passes.. Well, the first pass was pretty crazy, but clean. The second pass got even crazier and Taniguchi ended up smacking the S15 into the wall. He slid right by me nose first. ugh. Poor S15. Taniguchi looked so bummed after that.


You must have been standing right next to me, because when he hit the wall, the impact was literally right in front of me (pelting my face and hand with glass). My friend, who was standing to my right, has video (no sound) of the crash, as well as some other videos, which I'll post tonight.

[stealthj]

yes please post it

yes yes yes

[720_datsun]

pictures?

[boosted180sx]

a few pics....

[boosted180sx]

"ONE MORE TIME!"

[Fastback180]

Originally posted by dousan36
then..out come the wolves. fucking greedy POS american cock suckers jump over the wall to take pics and grab stuff off taniguchi's car. jesus cant we have a event w/o a bunch of freeloading dicks? that ****ed me off (obviously). need to send the CHP gusy out there to crack some skulls. christ.

Dude I so knew that was comming. What a bunch of sanfords. Those kids were probably very young, and have no respect anyways. I swear if I was right there I would take the parts from those kids and rightfully give them back to Nob, from which they were stolen from. How are you gonna steal stuff at an event like that? Those guys/their company paid for that sh*t, so it is stealing.

[240Driver39]

havent seen ne pictures of it, mainly curious after reading, how bad was the wreck? and how much did those fools steal off the car then?

[nokeone]

any pictures of the wrecked S15???? :(

[UberCaff]

Originally posted by 019
are you kidding me?? that just seems so disrespectful... god... what is it with people? i can't believe they would do something like that. the man just crashed his car and all they can think about is getting free stuff... *sigh*...

The sad part about this is that now that the D1 has hit our shores, the Fast and the Furious effect is going to happen. I came home today and my dad said to me "Can you drift in your Car?", he saw the D1 coverage on TV. It seems that the whole "Import scene" is filled with a bunch of little punk bitches and thugs who think and try to act hardcore. I have seen it happen at the runs before, when these little punks come out of nowhere when somebody crashes and swarm a car, stripping and stealing everything they possibly can. It really saddens me that they would even consider doing this to a real professional driver who has just crashed his car at a large event. Thats as if some hicks jumped out and stripped and jacked Jeff Gordons car after he crashes into a wall at the Daytona 500, but that would never happen because even hicks have more respect than the little ****in punks in the import scene. In other news, I am jealous of all those who were fortunate enough to be able to attend, I had tickets but had to give them away after figuring out I had to go to Nevada instead.

[s0ldats]

the only way i could see this being solved is to have more security... that, in turn, makes tickets more expensive... doubtful that that would keep the ghetto fabulous kids away though...

[DudeYourSoOOJDM]

Did you guys see that eminem wannabe throwing "signs" out over Taniguchi's car?....I would have pulled his do-rag off, freaking tool.

It was funny.....While we were in the Looong line waiting to park....we looked at the honda next to us and said "is this FF drift day"

Just because you have s15 headlights on your car does not mean you belong at D1.

[knightrider]

the only downsides to the event that i saw personally where the announcer, as kevin said, he was horrible. also how tickets were handled, i think that presale tickets should have been mailed out to every1 that ordered more than a week in advance, giving plenty of time for the mail system, then have willcall for every1 else that ordered last minute. i showed up early and had to buy tickets because i only learned 2 days b4 the event that i didnt have to work. :D i felt sorry for all of the willcall people because that line was horrible, with only 2 windows, and so many ppl, and the other line having 6 windows. other bad part, is i forgot sunscreen, got a bad burn, and i forgot a faceshield for watching trackside :D on the upside, i brushed off enough tire that i made my own 205/50/16 advan neova :coolugh:

[pssst]

The will call line ****ed me off! Especially after seeing all these people who didn't even buy their tickets online get in before us! 2 windows! C'mon! I also hated hearing the Initial D references. But anyway, I'm sunburned, tired, and lost my voice. That event was just too freakin' awesome. I can't wait for the next one.

[tougebear]

After 6 months of not going to any car-related activities, I can honestly say that I miss being a part of it!

I saw a lot of people that I haven't seen in a long time, talked to a few drivers and it's actually more exciting that I've anticipated.

Other than the heat & sunburn, poor riced out cars, the cops thats always trying to keep the fun down, and the f'ed up announcers (yes, my friends were about to throw water bottles at them), I haven't had more fun in months.

Edwin

BTW, Special thanks to Sil80man, Cute1180, and the guys at Motorex.

[DoriftoSlut]

My favorite part was hanging out wiht all my friends (and new ones). Especially hanging out with Koguchi, Tanaka, Kumakubo, and Bai. Those guys always remember a bunch of us, since we all hang out with them after events. Engrish is always funny to speak back and forth. Hahah. Kevin, thanks for reminding me to lose my Pink GOdziRa hat to Koguchisan. He signed my Pink Kei Office gloves "Pink Koguchi". Hahah... he is super cool. Anyway, the funniest part was I had him sign my D1GP year book back in march, so this time he knew I wasnt getting them signed, but he grabbed them, saw my hat, signed the gloves, then Yamada-slapped me with them... sound effects and all.

Haha, anyway... sorry I didn't see most of you during the better part of the whole day. I got suckered in (thanks JSpec Sam) into interviewing US and Japanese drivers, company owners, and friends for a documentary some dude from the LA Times was doing. SO... I was kinda busy, and mostly stayed in the pit area getting sunburned all day. But thanks for the free food, shade, and drinks guys.

And good to meet new people like Errin (and your wife), Kevin and Lisa, Christian (get me some cheap R34 wheels, ***) and... drum roll.... Nitekids Henry (you bastard)! And Georgia. Hahah. Glad you didnt drive the Sis's minivan off a cliff on your way to NorCal...

And nice hangin out wiht the usual PG gang, JSpec Sam, 5 Zigen guys, Ben, Nadine, Johnny, Marc, and whatnot. Im tired. Bed is calling...

[nightwalker]

I totally loved the event. It was beyond what words can describe. I sought out as many D1 drivers as I could to get autographs and get pictures with them. I felt like a kid in a candy store. The drifting was something else. I have not been that excited in a long time. It really makes you think about your own driving abilities when you hear that Ken Gushi(?) is that how you spell it? is only 16. Can I call him Takumi?:p Ernie in the white fastback really impressed me when he came back out of nowhere and diplayed D1 quality drifting. I hope none of the American drivers went home dissapointed because I think they all did great. This type of event really opens up the eyes of the general public, and we all know this is a spring board for drifting in the US, whether we like it or not. We can only hope that the scene grows in the right direction. God knows drag racers (Hondas) are having a hard enough time as it is because of idiots ruining things. I did keep an open ear and some of the comments I heard were really disheartening. A lot of people don't realize how much skill it takes to drift at that level; a lot of the things I heard were completely undeducated comments.

When I read about Nob Taniguchi's parts being taken, that fired me up. I left the event early to avoid the traffic, but wish I was there to kick an idiot in the head as he runs off with one of Nob's parts. I really wonder what the Japanese think of us when things like that happen.

As for idiots tryin to drift on the street and causing uneeded attention to "drift cars", I have already seen it happen before D1. What was really sad, was on the way home to Norcal, I saw three accidents. Two of them were deadly, and the two that were deadly involved compact imports. The first one was not even ten minutes out of LA. All I saw, was an older Honda Prelude ripped in half, one tire on the freeway, and a new WRX completely crushed in the front. What was really sad was the fact that it had just happened, and the police were still trying to setup up flares and stuff. Also because of that, my friend's and I saw the WRX driver completely lop sided in his seat, with one leg on the steering whell, and his body twisted in an odd postion, while the passenger lay sprawled over the dash not moving. I don't even want to know what happened to the Prelude people because that car lay in pieces. :down: :sadwavey:

[DRFT]

Mani knew i shoulda went!:mad: I gotta go to the next one! The trip from Sac is well worth it, because i went to drift showoff! but this one sounds way cooler that that. O well looks like i will go to the next one, if there will be a next one:confused:

[CleanS14]

D1GP was great... but for me it kinda sucked cuz some idiot hit my car in the parking lot :mad: Just after getting my new skin and body parts put on... I wish I knew the bastard!!!

But all the super HOT drift action made me forget... oh and the Motorex guys were nice enough to give me a DRFT sticky to put over the marks like a bandaid :D

[Dousan_PG]

Originally posted by iEATrice
D1GP was great... but for me it kinda sucked cuz some idiot hit my car in the parking lot :mad: Just after getting my new skin and body parts put on... I wish I knew the bastard!!!

But all the super HOT drift action made me forget... oh and the Motorex guys were nice enough to give me a DRFT sticky to put over the marks like a bandaid :D

NO WAY! YOUR KIDDING ME!! NOOOOOOOOOO!

but for some reason knowing your insurance its all good hahaha
but still!!! AHHHHHHH!!!! :(

[dark1]

Good
Drifters were very cool and friendly.
I sat trackside. Lots of burnt rubber and race gas inhaled.
Up close with drifters and there cars.
I met one Zilvia member. He was really cool.(Thul from colorado)
I got a nice RS*R hat
Tanigouchi signed something for me and posed for picture. We had a small conversation. He told me I should come to Japan to see future events.

Bad
Will call
Whack auto show with stupid show thugs.
Drifting will get very popular and now all the honda
ricers will get 240s.
Announcer was an idiot.(Called an FD and FC)
Taniguchi crashed and didnt win.
Extra run when Taniguchi crashed.(You could tell he was really tired when he got out of the car.)
Piece of metal ripped my cousins front tire on the way home.
Stupid Club 4AG members blocked my view so I had a hard time getting pics with my crappy camera.

Hey whats up Thul!!

[CleanS14]

Originally posted by dousan36
NO WAY! YOUR KIDDING ME!! NOOOOOOOOOO!

but for some reason knowing your insurance its all good hahaha
but still!!! AHHHHHHH!!!! :(

Yeah I will just leave it for now since this car is for use hehe... but here's some pics for those of you that haven't seen it:
http://www.blinblin.com/public/jay/1.JPG
http://www.blinblin.com/public/jay/2.JPG
http://www.blinblin.com/public/jay/3.JPG

-Jay

[Dousan_PG]

fyi: I rolled jays rear fenders on fri night at yeswepromise's house! WOOT
wheels look SOOOOO GOOD! :)

[CleanS14]

Oh yes! much thanks to Aaron for the fender rolling session! And thanks to yeswepromise for using your pad!!! And the pizza too :D

[Stee Flo]

Looks and sounds like everyone had a sweet time. Wish i could have made it over to CA for it.:( This guy totally ate the wall!
http://www.urbanracer.com/gallery/gallery/event_coverage/d1gp/d1gp_championship_8-31-03/0726.jpg:eek:

[CleanS14]

:eek: Yeah poor Calvin... he was doing sooo good too!!! Anyone that's tried to drift an FD knows it's hard!!! Shoot drifting is hard LOL! That was an almost mint condition R1... but it's all part of drifting right... you just pray for no dori scars

[Fastback180]

HOLY CRAP!!! I just realized that Kenshiro has a whole new look! I went past that car a few times in the gallery on Urbanricer, but didn't notice untill I saw a big pic of it in the pits and I saw his garage sticker on it. Wow...From plain old champagne w/a carbon fiber hood. To this...
http://urbanracer.com/gallery/gallery/event_coverage/d1gp/d1gp_championship_8-31-03/0878.jpg

That must have accelled his career by far being in that event!

*Edit
I was looking for all the plain-jane pro-amature cars, but I guess all the pro-ams got outfitted w/vinyl for this event. What a difference in looks that stuff makes.

[Stee Flo]

Another crazy hit
http://www.urbanracer.com/gallery/gallery/event_coverage/d1gp/d1gp_championship_8-31-03/0816.jpg

[Dousan_PG]

Originally posted by Stee Flo
Another crazy hit
http://www.urbanracer.com/gallery/gallery/event_coverage/d1gp/d1gp_championship_8-31-03/0816.jpg

this one.
kazama was following kumakubo (in the sil80) and kazama PASSED him.
the following run in which kazama now leads, kumakubo was being VERY agressive and kazama shaved quite a bit of speed off and kumakubo hit him.
kazama lost a rear taillight, and some body damage, i think kumakubo just a fender..not 100% sure on his damage.

[boosted180sx]

Man I can't believe d1 copied initial d! I just saw the pictures, and they copied the white comet of akagi, and the fujiwara86's cars! I hate d1!!!!!!!! Initial D fo life! Heh Heh

[RoNiN240sx]

I also hated hearing the Initial D references

you know it was inevitable, drifting alone sparks immediate inital D references for those who have no knowledge whatsoever about drifting outside of cartoons. Plus the fact that an AE86 beat a 240, skyline, RX-7, and the mighty s15 is almost as if one was watching the cartoon, hehe. But he did really earn his spot, that last battle (before the unnecessary 2nd "one more time") was one of the best out of the whole night, simply amazing. I saw the punks jump in front of tanaguchi's car, didn't know the stole parts, assholes. i didn't like all those people thinking this was Hot Import Nights hoarding over free stuff that they won't even use, ergh!!

note: to all you people planning on going to one of these all day events in the future (it went from about 2:30pm-10:00pm) DO NOT bring your girlfriend if she's not too interested in drifting. At the announcing of the drivers, right before the first round, "i'm thirsty, i want a drink" ARGH! and then as i found the perfect spot to get footage for the dueling 16 "i need to go to the bathroom, come with me" EESH! hehe i had fun anyways tho, it was an awesome event!

again, putting the s15 front end on a cavalier is a crime!!! JUST SAY NO

[NZO]

Whoever was asking for a pic of nob's s15 damage heres one. The front wheel had been replaced at this point.

http://home.comcast.net/~debnar1/DSC02936.JPG

[Dousan_PG]

love that rear positive camber...

[720_datsun]

Originally posted by dousan36
love that rear positive camber... i thought you knew that was the new style?

o yeah i just got my new rappin snack chips in the mail. bomb diggity.

[nokeone]

Originally posted by NZO
Whoever was asking for a pic of nob's s15 damage heres one. The front wheel had been replaced at this point.

http://home.comcast.net/~debnar1/DSC02936.JPG

that sucks..:(..especially given the circumstances under which the accident took place..and then the response from the crowd seems like it was less then compassionate..

oh well...someday the masses of this country will learn respect...mmmm, what am i saying...this is america :rolleyes: ..land of take advantage of whomever you can, whenever you can...

[CleanS14]

Exactly... IMO the "American" attitude will never change... if you were there I'm sure you saw "Thug Life" and some of the crowd jump out onto the track and run around NOB's car like retards...

And then Hubert's (R32 US D1 driver) firesuit was stolen in between rounds right from his car. What a shame...

Drift will now become the trend that street racing was and will have those same idiots trying to become a part of the drift community that started giving the import scene a bad name.

I just hope the Drift "Community" still stays... cuz that's what it's all about... making friends and becoming better drivers/drifters...

I still can't believe someone stole Hubert's firesuit in between rounds... and some idiot couldn't drive and hit a parked car... MINE!!!

[NismoSkylineR34]

Yeah event was awesome cant wait till the next but the announcer sucked and some idiots decided to slash my friends tire on his S14 in the parking lot which ruined the night for us

[nokeone]

Originally posted by NismoSkylineR34
Yeah event was awesome cant wait till the next but the announcer sucked and some idiots decided to slash my friends tire on his S14 in the parking lot which ruined the night for us

what is it with these people?!?!?!?!??!:mad: :mad:

i'm baffeled by this..doesn't ANYONE ever say...hmmm..if i was in this person's place would i want my tires slashed..or my car hit..or my $hit stolen...or would i want people to respect my property as i do there's..maybe i'll put a note on their car, and take care of that paint for them even if it was an accident...

this just pi$$es me off...:bash:

[CleanS14]

Yeah I can't wait til the next one... but I'm parking inside... fock all those haters and posers that mess with cars in the parking lots and even those that abuse other's property in the events!!!

[NZO]

Heres the rest of our pics: http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4289228977

Every crowd has its share of retards, maybe this one had more than normal, but I was pretty impressed when most everyone in the stands was screaming during some of the more impressive runs.

[CleanS14]

Yeah... but what about the "Boooooooooooo" ing that took place and the laughing at US drivers... I didn't think that was cool... I guess/hope it will change as drift becomes more of a common thing.

But didn't that announcer suck LOL!

[TRUENOCOUPE]

Are you the WOMAN in the relationship? Who's wearing the pantie?

Glad I trained my wife to head out by herself when she needs a drink, pee pee but if she does ask me to go with her I will but she understand that if Im watching "bitch, better leave me alone!".


Originally posted by RoNiN240sx
you know it was inevitable, drifting alone sparks immediate inital D references for those who have no knowledge whatsoever about drifting outside of cartoons. Plus the fact that an AE86 beat a 240, skyline, RX-7, and the mighty s15 is almost as if one was watching the cartoon, hehe. But he did really earn his spot, that last battle (before the unnecessary 2nd "one more time") was one of the best out of the whole night, simply amazing. I saw the punks jump in front of tanaguchi's car, didn't know the stole parts, assholes. i didn't like all those people thinking this was Hot Import Nights hoarding over free stuff that they won't even use, ergh!!

note: to all you people planning on going to one of these all day events in the future (it went from about 2:30pm-10:00pm) DO NOT bring your girlfriend if she's not too interested in drifting. At the announcing of the drivers, right before the first round, "i'm thirsty, i want a drink" ARGH! and then as i found the perfect spot to get footage for the dueling 16 "i need to go to the bathroom, come with me" EESH! hehe i had fun anyways tho, it was an awesome event!

again, putting the s15 front end on a cavalier is a crime!!! JUST SAY NO

[Brian]

+ great time
+ saw many awesome cars that i have wanted to see
+ drinks too cool me off when i had "slim-to-no" money
+ good friends
+ overall positive atmosphere
+ Dousan becoming a race queen
+ Mr. Koguchi kicking Dousan in the back of the legs
+ Kei Office gloves in the cool color

- could hardly walk after being there for 10 hours
- people cheering when drivers crashed their cars
- security
- not getting trackside
- "cool guys" in a civic who came within 6 incs of running over me ON PURPOSE in the parking lot after the event.
- hearing of all the people jumping the walls and stealing parts
- HKS guys telling me to get away from the car when it was in the pits early in the day *apparently i was too close:confused:
- America's reputation

overall it was such a cool day. i wish i could have styed longer with you PG guys and girls but i was dead tired.

[nightwalker]

I can't believe all the bull$hit that happened. Someone's car gets hit, someone else gets their tires slashed, Nob gets his parts stolen when he wrecks. You know whats scary is the comments you hear about these guys trying to take this and that. I don't know about the Japanese events, but do the ADVAN flags exist halfway into the event still? Anyone notice the idiots screwing off and taking them? I did. I was just feeling ashamed for us as a country in whole. This kind of "hate" that we have in America shows what kind of country we are. I try my best not to hate on people (young kids who act like they know it all) But sometimes I get pretty bad myself. I believe you should respect other people's things, and not jack their car or mess it up just because they parked in the parking lot and it looks a lot nicer than yours. (Actually I just take pictures :D ) I swear, if I ever see someone jacking someone else's car, I will beat them to a bloody pulp. I CANNOT stand people like that. I want to rant more, but it will become really offensive, so I'll stop while I'm ahead. Why can't people give props, and go on their merry way?

[Eyescream]

People are trash, I'm ashamed to be associated with this scene more often than not.

[RoNiN240sx]

Hey, no panties for me! just tryin to treat my girl with a little TLC, pays off at the end of the day:)

Anyways, yah, those people stealing and hitting stuff, i'd like to give em a piece of my mind. That completely ticked me off. I remember at the beginning of the dueling 16, i saw kids ripping off banners by the car show, just laughing about it, ticked me off. and at the RSR drift showoff around march i think it was, people just started rippin off all the RSR banners around the area!! argh!! but being from CA, specially around the LA area, i kno exactly what kind of people these are. it's as most of you think, they're thugs, lotta wannabe gangsters. I know this because if any of you have ever been to theHot Import Nights or Import Showoffs, they're always there. and they're always stealing. Not just slashing tires or anything, but stealing rims, amps, speakers, cars, just everything. People like this just ruin things, hopefully they don't ruin the drifting community.

[Fastback180]

I hope who ever stole the fire suit actually uses it when they race their honda................Then hits a tree and their chest colapses, thus making the fire suit useless. But hey, at least they wore it!
All this new stuff I'm hearing is shamefull.
I'm kinda glad now I couldn't attend, cause stuff like that really really really gets to me. And I have a very bad temper.



I just hope I don't get any jokes on me about that **** when I'm out at a D1 event when I'm stationed in Japan.

[240Dave]

Wow, If I was a japaneese drifter, I'd give us what we deserve and never step foot in the country again. It's pathetic that people can be that lame. If I was there and saw ppl take **** I honestly would have chased them down...thats just ****ed up.

Assuming they come again, they ought to rethink security. I'm supprised people were in a position where they could get on track and near the cars given the fact that it was hosted be the SCCA, asuming my info is correct.

[Bill Roberts]

When you see those banners pop up on ebay for 40 a pop...time to email the jerkoff and ask them where they got it...and that it may be stolen property...and watch how fast those auctions close down.

Require a receipt of authenticity...



Would I do that??? hummmmm I thought about it.

I hope all the Japanese there will forgive for all that foolishness. A few bad apples are in every crowd.

[Sniper-X]

I wouldn't be suprised if they never came back. They're probably thinking "wow, those guys over there aren't ready for professional drift events." Talk about sucking.

[DoriftoSlut]

Originally posted by Sniper-X
I wouldn't be suprised if they never came back. They're probably thinking "wow, those guys over there aren't ready for professional drift events." Talk about sucking.
Nah. i interviewed for the documentary and/or have talked to them a lot and they all love the US and do anything they can to come here and drive for us. They love it.

They said even D1 in japan didnt have such wild, energetic appreciative crowds.:coolugh:

[matt0941]

- America's reputation

Word.

I am not gonna be someone (alot of people here) and say how I would've beat someone's *** cause unless you did, you didn't do crap. Just because it ****es you off in hindsight does't mean you actually would have done something.

ANYWAYS my conflict is not with you guys it would probably be with the guys that are blocking my view with some ricer tuning shop t-shirt, foakleys, and bragging about how all these drifts are "so initial d". I am kinda glad I didn't go cause that would just fu**ing **** me off. Well props to going, and props to promoting drifting and I wish luck on all you true drifters/enthusiasts that are about to experience the influx or ricers talking about drifting.

Just my worthless 3 cents.

[citizen]

D1 good, pomona police bad. bastards impounded my friends car and wouldn't give it back~

[DoriftoSlut]

Originally posted by citizen
D1 good, pomona police bad. bastards impounded my friends car and wouldn't give it back~
Was he "drifting"?

[drift freaq]

damn I hate being sick!!! :( well I am glad you guys had fun and I wish I had been there as it is I am so wiped as I type this.
In regards to the random destruction and stealing of parts of crashed cars , thats a problem of the raceway not having proper security. You go to any SCCA event and spectators are not even allowed onto the track even at the end of an event.
Anyways, I will be there next time.;) :boink: :bow:

[720_datsun]

Originally posted by Fastback180
I hope who ever stole the fire suit actually uses it when they race their honda................Then hits a tree and their chest colapses, thus making the fire suit useless. But hey, at least they wore it!
All this new stuff I'm hearing is shamefull.
I'm kinda glad now I couldn't attend, cause stuff like that really really really gets to me. And I have a very bad temper.



I just hope I don't get any jokes on me about that **** when I'm out at a D1 event when I'm stationed in Japan. me too we will get statioend in japan and watch them ****s and say americans are trash. i seriously would have killed people if i was there and saw that.

[jenne313]

Originally posted by Fastback180
drifting is gonna be as trendy as Japanese writing tattooed on preppy teens skin after yesterday.



heh.

i don't think so, only because it takes more than a modicum of skill to drift, and dedication to the sport, and most of the kiddies hopping on the wagon don't have the passion to practice and learn. if drifting was something you could buy a pacific sunwear, or, like Fastback180 said, get tattooed, then there would be an influx to the lifestyle, but this time, i just don't think it's easy enought to (im)pose on. my .02

ps- i have 'zang' on my back. before the trend, and not japanese. 10 props to the person that can tell me what it means. :boink:

[Fastback180]

You've obviously fell victim to my friend Tommy Zang's handsome looks. So that's what it's for. But he spells his last name "Zheng". Ohh yeah, he's chinese.

[jenne313]

Originally posted by Fastback180
You've obviously fell victim to my friend Tommy Zang's handsome looks. So that's what it's for. But he spells his last name "Zheng". Ohh yeah, he's chinese.

bingo!

no, just kidding.
*sigh* i do have an affinity for azn men, though...

:p

[ruf]

Hook me up... :D

edit: oh wait. You spelled it "azn". Never mind.

[DoriftoSlut]

Originally posted by ruf
Hook me up... :D

edit: oh wait. You spelled it "azn". Never mind.
You wanna get hooked up with Asian men, Joe? Dude, I dont think i'll be able to make that drift event in Tx anymore.... When is it? Oh yeha... Im err sick that time of year...

[Dousan_PG]

Originally posted by Dorifto180sx
Dude, I dont think i'll be able to make that drift event in Tx anymore.... When is it? Oh yeha... Im err sick that time of year...

dude, you suck at life

reason 1) your car probably wont be here anyways, because it doesnt exist

reason 2) you are a flake

i hate you. :wtc:

im thinking 2 18" fn01r...gotta talk with unowho

[jenne313]

Originally posted by ruf


edit: oh wait. You spelled it "azn". Never mind.

I'm sorry. In my crew, it's not an insult. I apologize if I offended you.:wtc:

[DoriftoSlut]

Originally posted by dousan36
dude, you suck at life

im thinking 2 18" fn01r...gotta talk with unowho
Ya and who gave you that idea? And who went with you last night? And who made out with you whe--whoa GROSS! Im not into that kinda stuff. We got chlorifil man talking about god knows what, and all you wanna know is if I will make out with you.

yah 4 17x9 and 2 18x9.5 wha wha....

And me: 2 17x9 from da oddah guy and 2 18x9.5 from youknowho

And my car DOES exist. Or does it? Muahahaha.

[Steeles]

Originally posted by dousan36
dude, you suck at life

reason 1) your car probably wont be here anyways, because it doesnt exist

reason 2) you are a flake

i hate you. :wtc:

im thinking 2 18" fn01r...gotta talk with unowho

Michelles car does exist... he just hasnt eaten enough D to pay it off yet is the problem. been eating to much free d. pimp slap him and get him back to work.

cant argue with #2....

[Dousan_PG]

sounds like a plan, pencil dick.

send me that link again for pics on FA. i want to have some windows paint chop fun.

[DudeYourSoOOJDM]

When someone crashes their one and only car....I'm not going to cheer.

If Taniguchi crashes, and he barely does.....and he did it becuase he pushed all the way to the limit, I AM going to cheer. I cheered because I respected that even though it wasnt for D1 japan points, these guys were driving this hard to give us a show. I too would have reacted like him, Crashing to him is probably "disgraceful". Its not like HKS cant buy him another car or five.

Take a person like Calvin, I didn't cheer when he crashed. I dont know if that was his personal FD or a new one that was built from sponsors, but either way, that had to hurt him in some way. I heard "he sucks, he crashed".......those remarks are stupid, go try drifting a decreasing radius turn in your stock car with black steels and see what happens.

[ruf]

Originally posted by jenne313
I'm sorry. In my crew, it's not an insult. I apologize if I offended you.:wtc: Nah. That's how I spell it too in certain contexts. Usually derisive. :p

[ruf]

Originally posted by Dorifto180sx
You wanna get hooked up with Asian men, Joe? Dude, I dont think i'll be able to make that drift event in Tx anymore.... When is it? Oh yeha... Im err sick that time of year... Bah. I'm sick of Asian men. And women. And even children now. It's horrible. My heart is hardening. As for the Tx drift event, I cancelled it. Logicistical screw over and I like competing more than organizing anyways. Let someone else deal with the headaches. I'll go out to Ca for one though. Just got to have the right weather for that straight shot. ;) We can "hang out" then. :naughty:

[Steeles]

man... I WAS gonna try and come out to texas but now Im scared..... I gotta get to Dallas for a bachelor party sometime and for a wedding next year. and to get my cooling panel :P :axe:

[ruf]

Originally posted by Steeles
man... I WAS gonna try and come out to texas but now Im scared..... I gotta get to Dallas for a bachelor party sometime and for a wedding next year. and to get my cooling panel :P :axe: Dousan's boat had a leak. He had to use it to patch the deck. He couldn't siphon out enough water with the exhaust.

[Steeles]

Originally posted by ruf
Dousan's boat had a leak. He had to use it to patch the deck. He couldn't siphon out enough water with the exhaust.

damn I hate it when that happens!

Dousan you cheap bastard buy a better boat!!!! :rl: holes in the deck exhaust for a paddle. sheesh :rolleyes: cheap assed drifters

[NekoPunch]

Well, we got back home last night, since we took two days for a leisurely drive back to Seattle from L.A. With the event still fresh in my mind, I figured I'd throw out a few of my thoughts.

During the event, quite a few people asked me how it compared to a D1 event in Japan. I don't think I'm really qualified to answer that since I've only been to one other, but maybe I can offer a little bit of insight.

Overall, I have to say I was extremely impressed with the whole event. 100 times worth the trip and the money spent.

1) The Competition: The drivers were spectacular. What else can I say? If you were there, you saw it. If you weren't there, watch the videos and wish you had been there.

At D1 Fuji, the competition was fiercer because there are so many more drivers/teams competing and there are championship points at stake. But at the D1 Irwindale, you got to see a LOT more driving of the D1 drivers who were there. So less is more. And the way the battles (at Irwindale) were set up was great; the three back-to-back runs per battle really upped the excitement.

As for drift speeds, at Fuji they were measured at 140-150 km/hr (roughly 90-100 mph). I don't think they were quite as high at Irwindale due to the smaller size of the track. Maybe somebody here asked one of the drivers?

2) The Judging: I definitely wish we could have heard the voices of tsuchiya, orido, and "manapii". At Fuji, everyone laughed at their antics, listened carefully to their analysis, and nodded their heads (as all Japanese should) in agreement with their decisions. You'd be a certified nincompoop to stand up and say that you disagree with the Drift King himself and the Big O.

At Irwindale, we had an energetic announcer who was unqualified to describe the actual drifting, but he helped to keep the crowd excited. Would have been nice to give the crowd a little more of the judges' analysis. And give them mikes that work.

I heard many "What?!" or "No way!" comments after some of the judging decisions. This is good because it shows people are immersed in the competition. But they've got to remember that the judges had the best view of the section of the course which really mattered, and they are true masters of the art. If this was the first drift competition you've gone to, don't expect to totally understand the judging right away. It goes by so fast, but Tsuchiya and Orido have perfect video replay in their heads.

3) The Audience: The audience at Irwindale was WILD. I was SOOO stoked to see them all so into it. Screaming, jumping, stomping combined with the smoke, lasers, lame rap music.... it felt like I was at a WWF event. At D1 Fuji, you'd think the audience was watching a ballet. They would wait quietly for the next car, gasp together as it approached, and clap politely afterwards, listening intently to the judges. It seemed they were all silently analyzing each drift.

The more I think about it, it was like the U.S. audience was at a football game. They just go nuts. They were easily pleased, but also easily upset. I heard booing at times, obnoxious wisecracks, and then you've got those low-lifes who ran out onto the track, etc. At the D1 Fuji, they could have been watching a game of golf and you wouldn't have known any better.

I surmise that the Japanese drivers loved the huge reaction from the audience. They've probably never experienced anything like it in Japan. But I think it also wore them out that much more. We probably all seem like psychos to them.

4) The Music: I know this might be asking for a lot, but could we please give it a rest with the trailer-trash-hardcore-wannabe-import-szene-rap? They had it full blast in the grandstands, and it was worse than annoying.

5) The Drivers: All of them are SUPER cool guys. I talked to quite a few of them, including Taniguchi (who definitely seems as shy as I thought he is), Imamura (super nice guy), and Kazama who loves to talk (BIG surprise!) and laughed really hard when I asked about hitting Youichi at D1 Fuji. Kazama also mentioned that there will probably NOT be any more D1 events at Fuji. Takahashi was really friendly and talked about how it was very tough to drift in the Do-Luck Supra b/c he had never driven a left-hand-drive car before! Kuma gave me a t-shirt and mentioned a drift event he'll be at next week at California Speedway...

I had SOOO many questions for these guys, but I was getting glares from people behind me who wanted signatures. And after the event, most of them looked too tired to be bothered. Tochigi looked worn out but cool, as usual. Yes, he likes oppai.

Note: I heard the announcer say that this was a highest attended D1 event ever, including Japan. I'm a bit skeptical, seeing that D1 at Fuji had over 30,000 in attendance, according to the Aug. issue of Drift Tengoku. I'm curious to know how many were at Irwindale.

6) The Crash: When Taniguchi crashed, it was unreal. I mean, I had just been talking and shaking hands with the guy, and then later I'm seeing him hit the wall in a match which should have already ended (since he had already lost). I just remember the sick feeling I had at that moment. Luckily, he looked okay afterwards, if not a bit upset about what happened.

7) Pics and Vids: I didn't take many. I decided not since at Fuji I noticed that whenever my eye was behind the camera, I was really missing what was going on.

8) For me best part of the whole event was meeting a bunch of you who I know from these forums, but have never met in person. Aaron, Lindsay, Alex C., Alex P., JSpec Sam, Kevin & Lisa, T.Y., Van, ColoradoS14, Ken Gushi, and many others too, it was GREAT FUN meeting you all! Wish we would've had more time to hang out.

Anyways, it was an awesome and unforgettable event!

[Bill Roberts]

Awesome Write up Neko!

You were one with the event!

Just a little help with photography...shoot from the hip, do not look into the lens or view finder, immerse yourself in your mind and shoot the camera blindly. You will find (as in drifting) that the lens will not only be in perfect angle but be able to catch your "other perspective" I find I have a very low failure rate of photos this way. Your body is also much more stable a platform than your head. Make sure you are in clear shot and do not let the camera distract you..but become an extention of the event.

I wish I were there, but since all that report have been so nice to give honest O's of their experience, I feel I was there in spirit.

Now I must do a search and see if I can find the videos to view.

Thank you for your excellent article short of the event.

BR

[RoNiN240sx]

yah i had that problem too,not gettin a good view of the event when i was trying to videotape it. But a question about Calvin, was there something mechanically wrong with the car or did he just lose control?

[s0ldats]

i don't believe his car drove straight after the first hit. anyways, were cameras allowed? if i'd known it was different from all other events, i would've brought mine...had such a good spot.

[RoNiN240sx]

yah, videocameras, digital cameras, any kind of camera you wanted to bring, that was pretty cool. it's better to watch it through your own eyes though, instead of a videocamera, heh, i was kinda relieved when my tape ran out insofar that i wasn't obliged to tape anymore.

[Zenki_S14]

I have waist-level trackside pics, but I don't know how to post it on here. Hahaha. Oh well. Sorry. I took the pics on my digicam and it's really big when i load it up. I think i need to resize it.

[crypticfury85]

Hey, D1 was a blast! Love the competition, hate the car show...

Finally yahoo allow me to post pics again D1 pics here:

http://photos.yahoo.com/azniceman941

I hope the ricers didn't drive them away, cuz i want to go again next year.

[JRTurbo909]

ya, i had a blast. Its the first time I got to see something like that in person. I went to the drift days before but its nothing like seeing the japanesse pros go at it.

Much props to the US guys. I was cheering you guys on. Especially ken. I cant believe that kids only 16 years old. Some lame asses standing next to me trackside were making stupid comments and booing at the US guys so I finally took it upon my self to tell them off. Damn punks!! Oh well. I cant wait til the day where the US drivers show the Japanese guys up....

The Drivers and the cars from japan were breathtaking. I was in love w Takahiro Ueno's Soarer. That car is soooooo clean and his drifts were real smooth. My friend was chearing on the j-blood hachi the whole time since hes got an 86 as well. All in all it was a really great event.

I finally gotta meet Dousan (aaron) which was cool to finally put a face to all the posts. I still gotta buy those brakes from him. I sent you an email aaron, just lemme know whats up.

Shah

[DudeYourSoOOJDM]

Our day at D1GP also involved this.....http://www.garageworksltd.com/D1USA_25.jpg

Slideways, Pooing on ricers that try to slide stateside.