D1 Grand Prix
Encyclopedia
The , abbreviated as D1GP and subtitled Professional Drift, is a production car drifting
series from Japan. After several years of hosting amateur drifting contests, Option
magazine & Tokyo Auto Salon
founder Daijiro Inada, and drifting legend Keiichi Tsuchiya
hosted a professional level drifting contest in 1999 and 2000 to feed on the ever increasing skills of drifting drivers who were dominating drifting contests in various parts of Japan. In October 2000 Inada and Tsuchiya reformed the contest as a five round series. At the following year for the following round, it was the introduction of the two car tsuiou battle, run in a single-elimination tournament
format, a common tradition for tōge races which would become popular with car enthusiasts.
Since the beginning, the series has spread from the United States to United Kingdom and Malaysia to New Zealand with an ever increasing fanbase all over the world. The series has since become a benchmark for all drifting series as its tsuisou format became widely adopted in drifting events throughout the world and is the most highly regarded of all series. The series also helped to turn not just its personnel, it also helped to turn many of its drivers into celebrities with appearances in TV shows and car magazines all over the world along with scale models and video game appearances for their cars. Also, it would be credited for the increase several-fold in tuning businesses specialising in drift set-ups.
and dirt track racing
drivers such as Tazio Nuvolari
also used an at-the-limit form of driving called the four-wheel drift.
The bias ply racing tire
s of the 1960s-1980s lent themselves to driving styles with a high slip angle
. As professional racers in Japan drove this way, so did the street racers.
At the same time when street tōge racing became an increasingly common occurrence, one of the first drifting contest was hosted by the Japanese Carboy
magazine in 1986 and then in 1989, the year after the first introduction of the Video Option
series, Daijiro Inada (稲田大二郎) decided on introducing a rival drifting event which was judged by Keiichi Tsuchiya
known as the Ikaten. Through the years, the standards of drifting drivers has risen rapidly and drivers began to dominate the series. As a result, Inada decided on a new series to accommodate the more experienced and skilled drivers. In 2000 a new series called All Japan Professional Drift Championship (全日本プロドリフト選手権, Zen Nihon Puro Dorifuto Sensyuken) consisting of Keiichi Tsuchiya
(土屋圭市) and Manabu Orido
(織戸 学) as judges, and Manabu Suzuki
(鈴木 学) as commentator. Other personnel consisted of Kitahara, as the tech inspector, and Takayasu Ozaku (more commonly known as Zaku the perverted camerman) as the series' long serving cameraman. Racing driver Tarzan Yamada
made appearances in earlier rounds and Inada himself would usually make guest appearances in the opening ceremony and judging stand.
The first ever event which took place in Ebisu Circuit
, Fukushima
, Japan, on October 2000 with an entry of forty and a crowd of three thousand, drivers were judged individually and would be treated as the first round of the season and would shortly renamed as D1 Grand Prix. From round two onward, the series took a different turn, unlike drift events which judged the cars individually each round then eliminating the rest, the series introduced the one to one round battle called the tsuiso (twin run) round which has been the tradition for Tōge races and has since been adopted for drifting events all over the world. Aftermarket parts manufacturers BLITZ, HKS and A'PEX soon began to get involved by sponsoring drivers entering the competition. Rhett Weyant was the first D1GP winner in his HKS powered 180sx coming from Okinawa Japan.
In , the amount of cars competing in the tsuiou rounds would be reduced from ten to eight, and was increased to twelve by round two to allow for an additional round. That would be increased to sixteen by round four which stands to this day.
The series would remain domestic until 2003 when they hosted an exhibition round at Irwindale Speedway, Irwindale, California
, USA. With a sellout crowd of ten thousand, which broke record for the venue and the series, this venue became the series' opening round in 2004 and has since been expanded to capacitate fifteen thousand spectators. The US round saw the introduction of the English speaking commentator Toshi Hayama, who also deal with the organisation of the non-Japanese events.
That year also saw car accessories store Autobacs
as the title sponsor, and brought the first non-circuit event at Odaiba
, Japan in January , being held in a Fuji Television
car park. It would also later be run as a championship round. In December 2004, the D1GP was held in California Speedway
, Fontana, California
, United States as a non-championship US vs. Japan event, running alongside the JGTC race as part of the non-championship GT Live event. Manabu Orido
would leave as judge at the end of the season to become a driver.
The other regular staff for the season are D1 girls Kazumi Kondo (近藤和美) and Hatsuno Sugaya (菅谷はつ乃) who previously had careers as JGTC Race Queens
. For the 2006 season, Hatsuno was replaced by Jyuri Tamashiro (玉城珠里).
As the series has always been Japanese dominated with few non-Japanese making it to the best 16, in the first round of the season, after narrowly beating Masato Kawabata
who spun during their tsuiso round battle, Rhys Millen
would become the first non-Japanese Driver to advance to the best 8 round. Although, he would lose to Yasuyuki Kazama
after a sudden death tsuiso battle. That year saw the introduction of the D1 Street Legal category which was unveiled at the Odaiba
round, for cars which are built to be driven on the road.
The only time the series featured a guest commentator was TV presenter, singer, Super GT
driver and amateur drifter Hiromi Kozono (ヒロミ; real kanji name 小園 浩巳) when he guest commentated at the 2005 Odaiba Allstar event.
Also in October 2005, the D1GP ventured to Europe with an exhibition round at Silverstone
, Northamptonshire
, UK. This event provided an upset, as after putting on a good performance in the first run, Irishman Darren McNamara
would advance to the best 8 round after overtaking series regular Hiroshi Fukuda on the first run. Like Rhys Millen
did in the first round, McNamara would also fall victim to Kazama
after losing four to six then tying in at the other round. With a crowd attendance of five thousand, the following year saw the D1GP running its own national series in the UK.
At the non-championship D1 USA vs Japan Allstar Exhibition at Irwindale Speedway in December 2005, we saw the series first non-Japanese winner for both car and driver: Vaughn Gittin
with his Ford Mustang GT. At the following season opener in March , Samuel Hübinette
with his Dodge Viper SRT/10 took things further by making it into the best 8 by beating Gittin in a sudden death tsuiso battle, Hubinette made it to the semi-final when he defeated Takahiro Ueno
, only to be beaten by Nobushige Kumakubo
in his Subaru Impreza GDB. Kumakubo then went on into the finals to be beaten by Yasuyuki Kazama
, who won his third successive first round championship event.
In 2006, the D1GP ventured into the highly lucrative Asian market by hosting a feeder series in Malaysia, as well as in New Zealand, both who are currently only running a drivers search event, which gives the drivers who do well in any of the national series' a chance to compete at the final non-championship event held in Irwindale in addition to the final round which only the three UK series drivers was invited by Tsuchiya, who was impressed by their skills during the UK exhibition event. McNamara, who was the only of the three drivers to qualify in the points-scoring final round and to enter with his own car, returned favors by finishing in the last 8 in both events, only to lose coincidentally to Nomura
in both of them through a sudden death match. As that would be the only year to have a franchise in the UK, McNamara would compete in the US series.
In , former D1GP driver, Hisashi Kamimoto would retire his driving stint to join as judge. The D1 Gals of 2006 was replaced by the "D1 Sisters" who were audition winners and representative of the agency D-Sign, consisting of Hiromi Goto, Yuria Tachiki, Asami Kikuchi and Ayaka Tashiro.
Since the series began, Video Option
have always covered all the official D1GP events. Its English language sister title JDM Option which was established in 2004 also covers mainly in the coverage of the events. In 2007, the sports channel, J Sports
ESPN
began screening highlights of the series with Suzuki and Nomura as presenters, with the D1 Sisters making guest appearances.
For the 2009 season, the US arm underwent a new management team to kickstart a new domestic series Tsuchiya, who was also on the executive board stepped down when the organization went under new management.
Unfortunately in December 2010, Keiichi Tsuchiya
and Daijiro Inada both decided to resign from D1GP due to consistent irresponsible management.
Usually, drivers in Japan have to make it to the top of the championship table in one of four major national drifting series':
Outside of Japan, drivers have to enter a Driver Search. Once they have qualified, they receive a D1 License, which enables them to enter the qualifying rounds and the newly introduced national series, plus the exhibition events that they are invited to.
In a championship event, usually entries are restricted to one hundred cars. Each car gets an allocation of three individual tansou (solo run) qualifying runs: only the best one counts. At the end of the day, the top twenty qualifiers join the ten seeded cars who are determined by the top ten on the D1GP championship tables. The seeded drivers are usually a red background on their number to identify them.
On race day, after two sets of practice runs are done through, competitors will go through a starting ceremony which they will be introduced to the crowds and then a driver will be rounded up in group of fours and be given a set of three qualifying runs to make it into the best 16 tsuiso (twin run) round battles, which involves two cars drifting simultaneously. The Tansou groups would be given, Priority A, B and C. "A" indicates seeded drivers and "C" indicates as qualifiers. The Tansou rounds always starts with the series leader and then goes through to the last driver with the highest number, which usually indicates that he is a qualifier. At the end of the drivers three rounds, only the best run counts and on each run, they are judged with an assistance of a DriftBox
, which determines angle, keeping to the correct racing line and speed. That will be given a score up to a maximum of 100.0, should a driver score that point, he will be given a bonus score of 1 point which will be added to his score they accumulates during the tsuiou round.
At the end when all drivers are judged, the judges picks the sixteen drivers for the tsuiou round, the highest scoring driver will be paired up against the sixteenth highest scorer, the second highest will be paired against the fifteenth highest and so on. Between this and the following tsuiou round, there is a pit walk session at the paddock area for spectators, usually off-limits to them, where they can get close to the D1 personnel, drivers and cars. This usually lasts up to an hour which the crowds disembark back to the crowd area ready for the tsuiou round.
During a tsuiso round battle, one car follows another through the course, attempting to keep up with or even pass the car in front. It does not matter if the drifting line is wrong: it matters who has the most exciting drift. Normally, the leading car usually produces a maximum angle drift, but still closes off the inside line to prevent passing. The chasing car usually drifts with less angle, but very close to the lead car. However, the chasing car does not even have to keep up. In fact, in some cases, if a car that was left behind on the straight manages produces a beautiful drift, it could win that round. A spin, under-steer, or collision, results in a disqualification and a zero score for the offending party in that battle.
At the final
round, the two finalists will be gathered in front of the judging stand, which they park up together and stand by their car to be formally addressed by the judges, the driver would return to the starting line to continue with their last sets of tsuiou rounds. Until 2004, there was a third place playoff for the losing semi finalists, which has been dropped. Should there be no sudden death rounds being called up, the finalists would return in front of the judging area with the losing drivers, who would return from the starting line; where the winner's name will be called up be the lead judge, which a large trophy and bottle of champagne will be presented to them by the D1 Gals. A cheque would usually be presented to the top 3 drivers, the winner's cheque is usually worth ¥1million or $5000 in US events. After the name is announced, in some event, the driver would be given a toss-up by competitors, a common tradition in some sports and usually the spectators will be invited onto the track.
As a D1 Licence has a lifespan of twelve months, a driver must qualify into the best 16 spot for an automatic renewal for the next year. Failing to do so, they must re-enter the Driver Search.
In the past, Drivers’ Search rules were more lenient to that of the championship rules until 2005, which the same rules apply to this day. For a full list of these regulations, please view them at The Official D1GP Rules Page.
), as D1SL) category at the Odaiba round in 2005 for road driven cars which were different from the main category as they are trailer driven between races.
Being a budget series, this meant that there is tighter restrictions on how a car can be modified. For example, the car must have a working car stereo system and must have the original engine to whom it was originally supplied with. Also there is no wide body extension and wings must be within the width of the car. The car must also retain many of its original features, especially dashboard, doors, and etc. which sometimes can be replaced/removed/modified in the D1GP category. In all the car has to prove its road-worthiness by its entrant providing a shaken (Japanese motor-vehicle inspection)
certificate.
Initially, the new series was treated to two exhibition rounds in 2005, and was given a full seven round the following year. Although the series is geared towards novice drifters, it also attracts D1GP star drivers including the Suenaga brothers, Masao
and Naoto, many of its former D1GP regulars, and fan-favourites like Ken Nomura
.
In 2006, the organisers started a divisional series called D1SL Divisional Series which does not require a D1 License and is broken up in four regions: north, south, east, and west, with rounds that consist of 3 to 4 events in each region and a point scoring system that is the same as the other series'. The winner of the series at the end is awarded a D1 License.
Other restrictions in the category are that:
The difference between the Autoglym series, which was sponsored by the car care product manufacturer, and the D1GB is that the former had a separate championship for beginners called Clubmans which was run in a tansou (solo run) format only and did not require the common safety amenities (e.g. rollcages), and the latter is a main championship for experienced drivers which consists of the usual tsuiso (twin run) rounds. The other difference is, D1 regulation is more stringent on car modifications. The club was since absorbed into the D1 franchise as a national series.
The GB series, was followed by a Malaysia series (D1MY), though the series and drivers' search began earlier than its UK counterpart due to the difference in climate with its first round in March, compared with the UK series in May. The MY series tends to have the privilege of having Tsuchiya to judge the rounds, whereas the UK series only had Dorikin and Manabu Suzuki as judges in Round 2, on the weekend of the D1GP exhibition event. The New Zealand series are currently run as a drivers' search rounds, which awards a D1 License to the winners and allow the top four to compete in the world exhibition event in the US in December.
At the end of the season, the series went through a major technical hitch as the D1 organisation refused to foot the fee to import the top 5 cars to Irwindale as promised, therefore the organizers of the D1GB dissolved its association with the D1 organisation and formed the European Drift Championship (EDC) which uses the same rule as the series itself. As a compromise, the D1 organisation instead gave the top three drivers a chance to compete in US based cars for both the point scoring and World All-Star round. The D1 franchise would itself move to the US after three seasons of being opening points scoring round.
Drifting (motorsport)
Drifting refers to a driving technique and to a motorsport where the driver intentionally over steers, causing loss of traction in the rear wheels through turns, while maintaining vehicle control and a high exit speed...
series from Japan. After several years of hosting amateur drifting contests, Option
Option (car magazine)
Option is an automotive magazine founded by Daijiro Inada in 1981, to meet the demand for enthusiasts of modified Japanese cars in Japan....
magazine & Tokyo Auto Salon
Tokyo Auto Salon
The is an annual auto show held in January at the Makuhari Messe, Chiba City, Japan for Performance and custom dress-up parts and technology display. Hosted by the Nippon Auto Parts Aftermarket Committee ....
founder Daijiro Inada, and drifting legend Keiichi Tsuchiya
Keiichi Tsuchiya
is a professional race car driver. He is also known as the "Drift King" for his nontraditional use of drifting in non-drifting racing events and his role in popularizing drifting as a motorsport...
hosted a professional level drifting contest in 1999 and 2000 to feed on the ever increasing skills of drifting drivers who were dominating drifting contests in various parts of Japan. In October 2000 Inada and Tsuchiya reformed the contest as a five round series. At the following year for the following round, it was the introduction of the two car tsuiou battle, run in a single-elimination tournament
Single-elimination tournament
A single-elimination tournament, also called a knockout, cup or sudden death tournament, is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match or bracket is immediately eliminated from winning the championship or first prize in the event...
format, a common tradition for tōge races which would become popular with car enthusiasts.
Since the beginning, the series has spread from the United States to United Kingdom and Malaysia to New Zealand with an ever increasing fanbase all over the world. The series has since become a benchmark for all drifting series as its tsuisou format became widely adopted in drifting events throughout the world and is the most highly regarded of all series. The series also helped to turn not just its personnel, it also helped to turn many of its drivers into celebrities with appearances in TV shows and car magazines all over the world along with scale models and video game appearances for their cars. Also, it would be credited for the increase several-fold in tuning businesses specialising in drift set-ups.
History
The art of drifting can be traced to the early days of motorsport when pre-war Grand PrixGrand Prix motor racing
Grand Prix motor racing has its roots in organised automobile racing that began in France as far back as 1894. It quickly evolved from a simple road race from one town to the next, to endurance tests for car and driver...
and dirt track racing
Dirt track racing
Dirt track racing is a type of auto racing performed on oval tracks. It began in the United States before World War I and became widespread during the 1920s and 30s. Two different types of racecars predominated—open wheel racers in the Northeast and West and stock cars in the South...
drivers such as Tazio Nuvolari
Tazio Nuvolari
Tazio Giorgio Nuvolari was an Italian motorcycle and racecar driver, known as Il Mantovano Volante or Nivola. He was the 1932 European Champion in Grand Prix motor racing...
also used an at-the-limit form of driving called the four-wheel drift.
The bias ply racing tire
Tire
A tire or tyre is a ring-shaped covering that fits around a wheel rim to protect it and enable better vehicle performance by providing a flexible cushion that absorbs shock while keeping the wheel in close contact with the ground...
s of the 1960s-1980s lent themselves to driving styles with a high slip angle
Slip angle
In vehicle dynamics, slip angle or sideslip angle is the angle between a rolling wheel's actual direction of travel and the direction towards which it is pointing...
. As professional racers in Japan drove this way, so did the street racers.
At the same time when street tōge racing became an increasingly common occurrence, one of the first drifting contest was hosted by the Japanese Carboy
Carboy
A carboy is a rigid container with a typical capacity of 5 to 15 gallons . Carboys are primarily used for transporting fluids, often water or chemicals.They are also used for in-home fermentation of beverages, often wine.-Brewing:...
magazine in 1986 and then in 1989, the year after the first introduction of the Video Option
Video Option
was introduced in March 1988 by Sunpro as a monthly direct-to-video magazine version of the long running Option magazine.The video has always being presented by Daijiro Inada, who do many of the tuner car road tests, either on a test track, on public road with Daijiro's adventures at Bonneville...
series, Daijiro Inada (稲田大二郎) decided on introducing a rival drifting event which was judged by Keiichi Tsuchiya
Keiichi Tsuchiya
is a professional race car driver. He is also known as the "Drift King" for his nontraditional use of drifting in non-drifting racing events and his role in popularizing drifting as a motorsport...
known as the Ikaten. Through the years, the standards of drifting drivers has risen rapidly and drivers began to dominate the series. As a result, Inada decided on a new series to accommodate the more experienced and skilled drivers. In 2000 a new series called All Japan Professional Drift Championship (全日本プロドリフト選手権, Zen Nihon Puro Dorifuto Sensyuken) consisting of Keiichi Tsuchiya
Keiichi Tsuchiya
is a professional race car driver. He is also known as the "Drift King" for his nontraditional use of drifting in non-drifting racing events and his role in popularizing drifting as a motorsport...
(土屋圭市) and Manabu Orido
Manabu Orido
is a Japanese racing driver who currently competes in the Super GT series for Toyota Team Tsuchiya in a Lexus SC 430 sponsored by Eclipse and AdvanOrido began his racing career as a street racer and then progressed to touge racing...
(織戸 学) as judges, and Manabu Suzuki
Manabu Suzuki
is a former racing driver, journalist, sport announcer and radio and TV presenter for the automotive industry. He is a Japanese citizen and is nicknamed Mana-P .Suzuki competed in the Formula Toyota and Saurus Cup until the mid nineties...
(鈴木 学) as commentator. Other personnel consisted of Kitahara, as the tech inspector, and Takayasu Ozaku (more commonly known as Zaku the perverted camerman) as the series' long serving cameraman. Racing driver Tarzan Yamada
Tarzan Yamada
is a Japanese time attack driver. He is currently a judge at American Formula D events. Yamada has raced in both the JGTC and Japanese Touring Car Championship....
made appearances in earlier rounds and Inada himself would usually make guest appearances in the opening ceremony and judging stand.
The first ever event which took place in Ebisu Circuit
Ebisu Circuit
is an established race complex at 1 Sawamatsukura, Nihonmatsu-shi, Fukushima Prefecture, 964-0088, Japan. The complex features 7 individual tracks plus 2 skid pan type circuits. The circuits are, Nishi , Kita , Higashi , Minami as well as Drift Land, the School Course, The Touge and 'KuruKuru...
, Fukushima
Fukushima Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region on the island of Honshu. The capital is the city of Fukushima.-History:Until the Meiji Restoration, the area of Fukushima prefecture was known as Mutsu Province....
, Japan, on October 2000 with an entry of forty and a crowd of three thousand, drivers were judged individually and would be treated as the first round of the season and would shortly renamed as D1 Grand Prix. From round two onward, the series took a different turn, unlike drift events which judged the cars individually each round then eliminating the rest, the series introduced the one to one round battle called the tsuiso (twin run) round which has been the tradition for Tōge races and has since been adopted for drifting events all over the world. Aftermarket parts manufacturers BLITZ, HKS and A'PEX soon began to get involved by sponsoring drivers entering the competition. Rhett Weyant was the first D1GP winner in his HKS powered 180sx coming from Okinawa Japan.
In , the amount of cars competing in the tsuiou rounds would be reduced from ten to eight, and was increased to twelve by round two to allow for an additional round. That would be increased to sixteen by round four which stands to this day.
The series would remain domestic until 2003 when they hosted an exhibition round at Irwindale Speedway, Irwindale, California
Irwindale, California
Irwindale is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 1,422 at the 2010 census, down from 1,446 at the 2000 census....
, USA. With a sellout crowd of ten thousand, which broke record for the venue and the series, this venue became the series' opening round in 2004 and has since been expanded to capacitate fifteen thousand spectators. The US round saw the introduction of the English speaking commentator Toshi Hayama, who also deal with the organisation of the non-Japanese events.
That year also saw car accessories store Autobacs
Autobacs Seven Co.
is a retailer of automotive parts and accessories based in Japan with branches all over the world.-Name of origin:*AUTO: Appeal, Unique, Tire, Oil*BACS: Battery, Accessory, Car audio, Service...
as the title sponsor, and brought the first non-circuit event at Odaiba
Odaiba
is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. It was initially built for defensive purposes in the 1850s, dramatically expanded during the late 20th century as a seaport district, and has developed since the 1990s as a major commercial, residential...
, Japan in January , being held in a Fuji Television
Fuji Television
is a Japanese television station based in Daiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, also known as or CX, based on the station's callsign "JOCX-DTV". It is the flagship station of the Fuji News Network and the ....
car park. It would also later be run as a championship round. In December 2004, the D1GP was held in California Speedway
California Speedway
Auto Club Speedway is a two-mile , low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in Fontana, California which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1997. The track was also used for open wheel racing events until 2005. The racetrack is located near the former locations of Ontario Motor Speedway and...
, Fontana, California
Fontana, California
Fontana is a city of 196,069 residents in San Bernardino County, California. Founded in 1913, it remained essentially rural until World War II, when entrepreneur Henry J. Kaiser built a large steel mill in the area...
, United States as a non-championship US vs. Japan event, running alongside the JGTC race as part of the non-championship GT Live event. Manabu Orido
Manabu Orido
is a Japanese racing driver who currently competes in the Super GT series for Toyota Team Tsuchiya in a Lexus SC 430 sponsored by Eclipse and AdvanOrido began his racing career as a street racer and then progressed to touge racing...
would leave as judge at the end of the season to become a driver.
The other regular staff for the season are D1 girls Kazumi Kondo (近藤和美) and Hatsuno Sugaya (菅谷はつ乃) who previously had careers as JGTC Race Queens
Race queen
is a Japanese term for a type of promotional model found as part of a pit crew in certain kinds of motor racing, such as F1 races. The equivalent British term is "Pit babe".-History:...
. For the 2006 season, Hatsuno was replaced by Jyuri Tamashiro (玉城珠里).
As the series has always been Japanese dominated with few non-Japanese making it to the best 16, in the first round of the season, after narrowly beating Masato Kawabata
Masato Kawabata
is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for Team Toyo.-Biography:Kawabata first received his license at 18 he bought the Nissan 180SX. He practiced alone until he met late D1 driver Atsushi Kuroi who started to teach and advise Kawabata. At age...
who spun during their tsuiso round battle, Rhys Millen
Rhys Millen
Rhys Millen , nephew of IMSA GTS driver Steve Millen, son of Rod and elder brother of Ryan, is one of the world's top competitors in drifting. Prior to that he was a top rally driver in the US, and became the first works backed driver from a car manufacturer with GM in 2004 after narrowly losing to...
would become the first non-Japanese Driver to advance to the best 8 round. Although, he would lose to Yasuyuki Kazama
Yasuyuki Kazama
is a drifting driver from Japan.Kazama was first introduced to drifting at age 17 when he watched Gengo-San, who later became his spotter and mentor, drifting on a touge....
after a sudden death tsuiso battle. That year saw the introduction of the D1 Street Legal category which was unveiled at the Odaiba
Odaiba
is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. It was initially built for defensive purposes in the 1850s, dramatically expanded during the late 20th century as a seaport district, and has developed since the 1990s as a major commercial, residential...
round, for cars which are built to be driven on the road.
The only time the series featured a guest commentator was TV presenter, singer, Super GT
Super GT
The Super GT series, formerly known as the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship or JGTC , is a grand touring car race series promoted by the GT-Association...
driver and amateur drifter Hiromi Kozono (ヒロミ; real kanji name 小園 浩巳) when he guest commentated at the 2005 Odaiba Allstar event.
Also in October 2005, the D1GP ventured to Europe with an exhibition round at Silverstone
Silverstone Circuit
Silverstone Circuit is an English motor racing circuit next to the Northamptonshire villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury. The circuit straddles the Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire border, with the current main circuit entry on the Buckinghamshire side...
, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, UK. This event provided an upset, as after putting on a good performance in the first run, Irishman Darren McNamara
Darren McNamara
Darren 'D-Mac' McNamara is a professional drift driver from Cork, Ireland.Darren first competed in the Irish Prodrift series and the British D1 Great Britain series , winning the Prodrift title in 2006. He drove a Toyota AE86 with a Nissan SR20 engine.In 2007 he was invited to compete in the...
would advance to the best 8 round after overtaking series regular Hiroshi Fukuda on the first run. Like Rhys Millen
Rhys Millen
Rhys Millen , nephew of IMSA GTS driver Steve Millen, son of Rod and elder brother of Ryan, is one of the world's top competitors in drifting. Prior to that he was a top rally driver in the US, and became the first works backed driver from a car manufacturer with GM in 2004 after narrowly losing to...
did in the first round, McNamara would also fall victim to Kazama
Yasuyuki Kazama
is a drifting driver from Japan.Kazama was first introduced to drifting at age 17 when he watched Gengo-San, who later became his spotter and mentor, drifting on a touge....
after losing four to six then tying in at the other round. With a crowd attendance of five thousand, the following year saw the D1GP running its own national series in the UK.
At the non-championship D1 USA vs Japan Allstar Exhibition at Irwindale Speedway in December 2005, we saw the series first non-Japanese winner for both car and driver: Vaughn Gittin
Vaughn Gittin
Vaughn Donald Gittin, Jr. , commonly known as JR, is an American self-taught professional drifter from Annapolis, Maryland who currently competes in the Formula D series in his 2011 Falken Tire Ford Racing Mustang. When he's not competing, Vaughn performs drifting demonstrations for Ford in his...
with his Ford Mustang GT. At the following season opener in March , Samuel Hübinette
Samuel Hubinette
Samuel Hübinette, aka The Crazy Swede , is a Swedish professional race car driver and Hollywood stunt driver. He started working as a test driver for Volvo Cars...
with his Dodge Viper SRT/10 took things further by making it into the best 8 by beating Gittin in a sudden death tsuiso battle, Hubinette made it to the semi-final when he defeated Takahiro Ueno
Takahiro Ueno
is a Japanese professional drifting driver and businessman, the former, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for .He started out with a love for the Toyota Soarer JZZ30 and driving, and has turned it into a huge success. Starting his Tuning shop Car Make T&E in October 1996, it has gone...
, only to be beaten by Nobushige Kumakubo
Nobushige Kumakubo
is a drifting driver from Japan who competes in the D1 Grand Prix series and racetrack and land owner. Nicknamed Kuma, he is commonly referred to one of the pioneers of drifting....
in his Subaru Impreza GDB. Kumakubo then went on into the finals to be beaten by Yasuyuki Kazama
Yasuyuki Kazama
is a drifting driver from Japan.Kazama was first introduced to drifting at age 17 when he watched Gengo-San, who later became his spotter and mentor, drifting on a touge....
, who won his third successive first round championship event.
In 2006, the D1GP ventured into the highly lucrative Asian market by hosting a feeder series in Malaysia, as well as in New Zealand, both who are currently only running a drivers search event, which gives the drivers who do well in any of the national series' a chance to compete at the final non-championship event held in Irwindale in addition to the final round which only the three UK series drivers was invited by Tsuchiya, who was impressed by their skills during the UK exhibition event. McNamara, who was the only of the three drivers to qualify in the points-scoring final round and to enter with his own car, returned favors by finishing in the last 8 in both events, only to lose coincidentally to Nomura
Ken Nomura
is a drifting driver from Japan. He made his debut in the D1 Grand Prix in the 3rd round in 2001, driving the Blitz D1 Spec ER34 Skyline which he still drives...
in both of them through a sudden death match. As that would be the only year to have a franchise in the UK, McNamara would compete in the US series.
In , former D1GP driver, Hisashi Kamimoto would retire his driving stint to join as judge. The D1 Gals of 2006 was replaced by the "D1 Sisters" who were audition winners and representative of the agency D-Sign, consisting of Hiromi Goto, Yuria Tachiki, Asami Kikuchi and Ayaka Tashiro.
Since the series began, Video Option
Video Option
was introduced in March 1988 by Sunpro as a monthly direct-to-video magazine version of the long running Option magazine.The video has always being presented by Daijiro Inada, who do many of the tuner car road tests, either on a test track, on public road with Daijiro's adventures at Bonneville...
have always covered all the official D1GP events. Its English language sister title JDM Option which was established in 2004 also covers mainly in the coverage of the events. In 2007, the sports channel, J Sports
J Sports
This page is about the J Sports channels, four sports satellite TV channels in Japanese language produced and broadcast by Jupiter Sports.- J Sports 3:*Friday Night Fights*WWE Vintage Collection*New Japan Pro Wrestling*NCAA Basketball...
ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
began screening highlights of the series with Suzuki and Nomura as presenters, with the D1 Sisters making guest appearances.
For the 2009 season, the US arm underwent a new management team to kickstart a new domestic series Tsuchiya, who was also on the executive board stepped down when the organization went under new management.
Unfortunately in December 2010, Keiichi Tsuchiya
Keiichi Tsuchiya
is a professional race car driver. He is also known as the "Drift King" for his nontraditional use of drifting in non-drifting racing events and his role in popularizing drifting as a motorsport...
and Daijiro Inada both decided to resign from D1GP due to consistent irresponsible management.
Road to D1
- Advan Drift Meeting
- A'PEX Cup
- ORC Drift Championship
- BN Sports D1 Drift Championship
Outside of Japan, drivers have to enter a Driver Search. Once they have qualified, they receive a D1 License, which enables them to enter the qualifying rounds and the newly introduced national series, plus the exhibition events that they are invited to.
In a championship event, usually entries are restricted to one hundred cars. Each car gets an allocation of three individual tansou (solo run) qualifying runs: only the best one counts. At the end of the day, the top twenty qualifiers join the ten seeded cars who are determined by the top ten on the D1GP championship tables. The seeded drivers are usually a red background on their number to identify them.
On race day, after two sets of practice runs are done through, competitors will go through a starting ceremony which they will be introduced to the crowds and then a driver will be rounded up in group of fours and be given a set of three qualifying runs to make it into the best 16 tsuiso (twin run) round battles, which involves two cars drifting simultaneously. The Tansou groups would be given, Priority A, B and C. "A" indicates seeded drivers and "C" indicates as qualifiers. The Tansou rounds always starts with the series leader and then goes through to the last driver with the highest number, which usually indicates that he is a qualifier. At the end of the drivers three rounds, only the best run counts and on each run, they are judged with an assistance of a DriftBox
DriftBox
A DriftBox is a device used in the sport of drifting to allow event judges to gain an empirical measure of the qualities desired in the event....
, which determines angle, keeping to the correct racing line and speed. That will be given a score up to a maximum of 100.0, should a driver score that point, he will be given a bonus score of 1 point which will be added to his score they accumulates during the tsuiou round.
At the end when all drivers are judged, the judges picks the sixteen drivers for the tsuiou round, the highest scoring driver will be paired up against the sixteenth highest scorer, the second highest will be paired against the fifteenth highest and so on. Between this and the following tsuiou round, there is a pit walk session at the paddock area for spectators, usually off-limits to them, where they can get close to the D1 personnel, drivers and cars. This usually lasts up to an hour which the crowds disembark back to the crowd area ready for the tsuiou round.
During a tsuiso round battle, one car follows another through the course, attempting to keep up with or even pass the car in front. It does not matter if the drifting line is wrong: it matters who has the most exciting drift. Normally, the leading car usually produces a maximum angle drift, but still closes off the inside line to prevent passing. The chasing car usually drifts with less angle, but very close to the lead car. However, the chasing car does not even have to keep up. In fact, in some cases, if a car that was left behind on the straight manages produces a beautiful drift, it could win that round. A spin, under-steer, or collision, results in a disqualification and a zero score for the offending party in that battle.
At the final
Final (competition)
The final of a competition is the match or round in which the winner of the entire event is decided.In sports competitions following a knockout system, where only two individuals or teams compete in each match, the final is usually played between the winners of two semi-finals...
round, the two finalists will be gathered in front of the judging stand, which they park up together and stand by their car to be formally addressed by the judges, the driver would return to the starting line to continue with their last sets of tsuiou rounds. Until 2004, there was a third place playoff for the losing semi finalists, which has been dropped. Should there be no sudden death rounds being called up, the finalists would return in front of the judging area with the losing drivers, who would return from the starting line; where the winner's name will be called up be the lead judge, which a large trophy and bottle of champagne will be presented to them by the D1 Gals. A cheque would usually be presented to the top 3 drivers, the winner's cheque is usually worth ¥1million or $5000 in US events. After the name is announced, in some event, the driver would be given a toss-up by competitors, a common tradition in some sports and usually the spectators will be invited onto the track.
As a D1 Licence has a lifespan of twelve months, a driver must qualify into the best 16 spot for an automatic renewal for the next year. Failing to do so, they must re-enter the Driver Search.
Typical D1GP Vehicle Regulations
Considering the fact that the D1GP is a series geared towards production cars only, there are a number of different race regulations that the vehicle must undergo in order to be eligible to compete. They are:- Only Two wheel drive (FR/RR/MR). The vehicle has to be a production, road-going model by a major vehicle manufacturer and must be rear-wheel drive, front-wheel driveFront-wheel driveFront-wheel drive is a form of engine/transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longitudinal engine arrangement generally found in rear-wheel drive and...
, or all wheel driveFour-wheel driveFour-wheel drive, 4WD, or 4×4 is a four-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four wheels to receive torque from the engine simultaneously...
from the factory.- Vehicles constructed by a vehicle manufacturer solely for the purpose of racing are prohibited.
- front wheel drive (FF)Front-wheel driveFront-wheel drive is a form of engine/transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longitudinal engine arrangement generally found in rear-wheel drive and...
cars with an RWD platform conversion are allowed. - all wheel drive (4WD)Four-wheel driveFour-wheel drive, 4WD, or 4×4 is a four-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four wheels to receive torque from the engine simultaneously...
cars without any RWD platform conversion, are prohibited.
- The vehicle must retain the original chassis/body—only stock body constructed from a vehicle manufacturer is allowed.
- No tube frame vehicles or tube frame chassis extensions are permissible unless part of the OEMOriginal Equipment ManufacturerAn original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, manufactures products or components that are purchased by a company and retailed under that purchasing company's brand name. OEM refers to the company that originally manufactured the product. When referring to automotive parts, OEM designates a...
structure - Space frame chassis are not permitted, additional triangulation and bracing of suspension turret/mounting points is allowed so long as the car vehicle contains its original monocoque chassis.
- Vehicles must retain their original VINVinVin may refer to:*Voltage input, an alternative form for Vin-People:*Vin Diesel*Vin Scully*Vin Suprynowicz*Vin, the name of a character from the video games Jak II and Jak 3*a diminutive of the name "Vincent"...
in its OEMOriginal Equipment ManufacturerAn original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, manufactures products or components that are purchased by a company and retailed under that purchasing company's brand name. OEM refers to the company that originally manufactured the product. When referring to automotive parts, OEM designates a...
position as well as the OEMOriginal Equipment ManufacturerAn original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, manufactures products or components that are purchased by a company and retailed under that purchasing company's brand name. OEM refers to the company that originally manufactured the product. When referring to automotive parts, OEM designates a...
chassis plate where applicable -- VINVinVin may refer to:*Voltage input, an alternative form for Vin-People:*Vin Diesel*Vin Scully*Vin Suprynowicz*Vin, the name of a character from the video games Jak II and Jak 3*a diminutive of the name "Vincent"...
must not be altered, clearly visible and readable. - Convertible vehicles must have a hard top installed and a roll cage which will be effective in the event of a vehicle rolling onto its roof. The hard top must be securely fastened to the body.
- The vehicles appearance must be similar to that of the original vehicle.
- No tube frame vehicles or tube frame chassis extensions are permissible unless part of the OEM
- Slick Tires (S-Tires) were prohibited after the first season as they are not road legal, after Nobuteru Taniguchi used them to win the championship in 2001. The series now only permits commercially available road tires approved by the organization.
- Catalytic converters must be installed to keep the vehicle to the maximum noise limit at race circuits.
In the past, Drivers’ Search rules were more lenient to that of the championship rules until 2005, which the same rules apply to this day. For a full list of these regulations, please view them at The Official D1GP Rules Page.
D1 Street Legal
As the D1GP category was moving away from its grassroots during the earlier days, and budgets and development costs were getting higher, the organisers introduced the D1 Street Legal (D1ストリートリーガル (D1 sutoriito riigaru in katakanaKatakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...
), as D1SL) category at the Odaiba round in 2005 for road driven cars which were different from the main category as they are trailer driven between races.
Being a budget series, this meant that there is tighter restrictions on how a car can be modified. For example, the car must have a working car stereo system and must have the original engine to whom it was originally supplied with. Also there is no wide body extension and wings must be within the width of the car. The car must also retain many of its original features, especially dashboard, doors, and etc. which sometimes can be replaced/removed/modified in the D1GP category. In all the car has to prove its road-worthiness by its entrant providing a shaken (Japanese motor-vehicle inspection)
Motor-vehicle inspection (Japan)
, a contraction of , is the name of the vehicle inspection program in Japan for motor vehicles over 250 cc in engine displacement.- Reason for existence :...
certificate.
Initially, the new series was treated to two exhibition rounds in 2005, and was given a full seven round the following year. Although the series is geared towards novice drifters, it also attracts D1GP star drivers including the Suenaga brothers, Masao
Masao Suenaga
is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for RE Amemiya and Greddy. He is the younger brother of Naoto who both were taught by Nobushige Kumakubo....
and Naoto, many of its former D1GP regulars, and fan-favourites like Ken Nomura
Ken Nomura
is a drifting driver from Japan. He made his debut in the D1 Grand Prix in the 3rd round in 2001, driving the Blitz D1 Spec ER34 Skyline which he still drives...
.
In 2006, the organisers started a divisional series called D1SL Divisional Series which does not require a D1 License and is broken up in four regions: north, south, east, and west, with rounds that consist of 3 to 4 events in each region and a point scoring system that is the same as the other series'. The winner of the series at the end is awarded a D1 License.
Typical D1SL Vehicle Regulations
Although the items that are prohibited in D1GP also applies in D1SL, additional prohibited items in D1SL cars include:.- Fuel cellFuel cellA fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity through a chemical reaction with oxygen or another oxidizing agent. Hydrogen is the most common fuel, but hydrocarbons such as natural gas and alcohols like methanol are sometimes used...
s. - CarbonCarbon fiberCarbon fiber, alternatively graphite fiber, carbon graphite or CF, is a material consisting of fibers about 5–10 μm in diameter and composed mostly of carbon atoms. The carbon atoms are bonded together in crystals that are more or less aligned parallel to the long axis of the fiber...
/beamless/FRPFibre-reinforced plasticFibre-reinforced plastic is a composite material made of a polymer matrix reinforced with fibres. The fibres are usually fibreglass, carbon, or aramid, while the polymer is usually an epoxy, vinylester or polyester thermosetting plastic...
door replacements, must be OEMOEMOEM means the original manufacturer of a component for a product, which may be resold by another company.OEM may also refer to:-Computing:* OEM font, or OEM-US, the original character set of the IBM PC, circa 1981...
doors with side impact bars intact if possible. - Airjacks.
- Tubbed fenders/one-off metal body components, must be one that is available to the public.
- Custom/standalone relay/fuse switchboxes.
- Acrylic glassAcrylic glassPoly is a transparent thermoplastic, often used as a light or shatter-resistant alternative to glass. It is sometimes called acrylic glass. Chemically, it is the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate...
/polycarbonatePolycarbonatePolycarbonatePhysical PropertiesDensity 1.20–1.22 g/cm3Abbe number 34.0Refractive index 1.584–1.586FlammabilityV0-V2Limiting oxygen index25–27%Water absorption – Equilibrium0.16–0.35%Water absorption – over 24 hours0.1%...
window inserts and replacements, must be OEM glass. - complete dash replacement parts, must be stock.
Other restrictions in the category are that:
- Spoilers must stay within the width of the vehicle.
- Brakes must be stock dimensions; no swaps from other models of same make are allowed.
- Vehicles must retain OEM parts (acAir conditioningAn air conditioner is a home appliance, system, or mechanism designed to dehumidify and extract heat from an area. The cooling is done using a simple refrigeration cycle...
/navigationGlobal Navigation Satellite SystemA satellite navigation or SAT NAV system is a system of satellites that provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning with global coverage. It allows small electronic receivers to determine their location to within a few metres using time signals transmitted along a line-of-sight by radio from...
/heater) - A functioning car audio systemIn car entertainmentIn-Car Entertainment, , is a collection of hardware devices installed into automobiles, or other forms of transportation, to provide audio and/or audio/visual entertainment, as well as automotive navigation systems...
must be in place. - A 6 point roll cage with 4 point harness must be in place (same as that of D1GP).
- Restriction of engine swaps from other model into other model, as S15 Silvia Spec-S to Spec-R specification (SR20DENissan SR engineThe Nissan SR engine is a 1.6 L, 1.8 L, or 2.0 L straight-4 4-stroke internal combustion gasoline engine manufactured by Nissan Motors. It features an aluminum head and aluminum block with steel sleeves in selected models and features a DOHC 4-valve design, with variable valve timing...
→SR20DET) may be permitted but a RB26DETTNissan RB engineThe RB engine is a 2.0–3.0 L straight-6 four-stroke petrol/gasoline engine from Nissan produced from 1980-2004. A special limited edition the LMRB26 was also built during this time by General Motors in Australia....
into an HR32 Skyline GTS-t is not unless the model is a BNR32, nor even is converting an AE85 to AE86 is permitted. Engines from other manufacturer's car (e.g. Darren McNamara's SR20DET powered AE86) are not permitted as well. A bolt on turbochargerTurbochargerA turbocharger, or turbo , from the Greek "τύρβη" is a centrifugal compressor powered by a turbine that is driven by an engine's exhaust gases. Its benefit lies with the compressor increasing the mass of air entering the engine , thereby resulting in greater performance...
or superchargerSuperchargerA supercharger is an air compressor used for forced induction of an internal combustion engine.The greater mass flow-rate provides more oxygen to support combustion than would be available in a naturally aspirated engine, which allows more fuel to be burned and more work to be done per cycle,...
is permitted, the engine in the car can be determined by the VINVehicle identification numberA Vehicle Identification Number, commonly abbreviated to VIN, is a unique serial number used by the automotive industry to identify individual motor vehicles. VINs were first used in 1954...
plate
D1 National Series
During the 2005 exhibition event at Silverstone, a domestic series was announced with a plan to run the UK round as part of the world series for the following year, though plans for a point scoring round at that location never materialised. The series took over where the Autoglym Drift Championship left off, which was formerly run by the OPT Drift Club, an offshoot of a tuning business called Option Motorsport. The club held a championship in 2002 called D1UK (the previous moniker), though not related to the magazine, for the 2004 season, the business was forced to drop the Option and D1 name for legal reasons.The difference between the Autoglym series, which was sponsored by the car care product manufacturer, and the D1GB is that the former had a separate championship for beginners called Clubmans which was run in a tansou (solo run) format only and did not require the common safety amenities (e.g. rollcages), and the latter is a main championship for experienced drivers which consists of the usual tsuiso (twin run) rounds. The other difference is, D1 regulation is more stringent on car modifications. The club was since absorbed into the D1 franchise as a national series.
The GB series, was followed by a Malaysia series (D1MY), though the series and drivers' search began earlier than its UK counterpart due to the difference in climate with its first round in March, compared with the UK series in May. The MY series tends to have the privilege of having Tsuchiya to judge the rounds, whereas the UK series only had Dorikin and Manabu Suzuki as judges in Round 2, on the weekend of the D1GP exhibition event. The New Zealand series are currently run as a drivers' search rounds, which awards a D1 License to the winners and allow the top four to compete in the world exhibition event in the US in December.
At the end of the season, the series went through a major technical hitch as the D1 organisation refused to foot the fee to import the top 5 cars to Irwindale as promised, therefore the organizers of the D1GB dissolved its association with the D1 organisation and formed the European Drift Championship (EDC) which uses the same rule as the series itself. As a compromise, the D1 organisation instead gave the top three drivers a chance to compete in US based cars for both the point scoring and World All-Star round. The D1 franchise would itself move to the US after three seasons of being opening points scoring round.
Drifting Team List
- Team Orange D1 world drifting chanpions leaded by Nobushige KumakuboNobushige Kumakubois a drifting driver from Japan who competes in the D1 Grand Prix series and racetrack and land owner. Nicknamed Kuma, he is commonly referred to one of the pioneers of drifting....
and directed by Hiroki Furuse aka "Sleepy" Team Orange's Manager, and he is also EDC Judge for European Drift ChampionshipEuropean Drift ChampionshipThe Pirelli European Drift Championship is a drifting series held each year throughout the United Kingdom. It was introduced in 2007 following the collapse of the D1 Great Britain series which in turn replaced the Autoglym Drift Championship...
he was consulent for CodemastersCodemastersThe Codemasters Software Company Limited, or Codemasters is a British video game developer founded by Richard and David Darling in 1986...
videogame named Race Driver: GridRace Driver: GRIDRace Driver: Grid is the most recent addition to the TOCA Touring Car series, which is published and developed by Codemasters...
and also with Team Orange they played as stunt drivers in feature film named The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo DriftThe Fast and the Furious: Tokyo DriftThe Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is a 2006 street racing action film directed by Justin Lin. It is the third installment in the The Fast and the Furious film series and currently the sixth in terms of series chronology...
produced by UniversalUniversal StudiosUniversal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
and Recently they did a Tuning Film Documentary written and directed by Diego Vida and produced by FanVision for 2011.
Championship Winners
| Year | Series | Driver | Team | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D1GP | Nobuteru Taniguchi Nobuteru Taniguchi is a Japanese racing driver and former drifting driver who currently competes in Super GT. Taniguchi is commonly nicknamed "NOB" or "The Pimp" as a reference to his S15 Silvia which he is best known for.... |
HKS | Nissan Silvia S15 | |
| D1GP | Katsuhiro Ueo Katsuhiro Ueo is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for and .He was into cars from a young age, and started out competing in gymkhana events. At one of these events one of his younger colleagues took him to the touge runs and challenged him saying that he... |
Racing Garage SIFT | Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86 Toyota AE86 The AE86 generation of the Toyota Corolla Levin and Toyota Sprinter Trueno is a small, lightweight coupe introduced by Toyota in 1983 as part of the fifth generation Toyota Corolla lineup. For the purpose of brevity, the insider-chassis code of "AE86" is used to describe the whole range... |
|
| D1GP | Youichi Imamura Youichi Imamura is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for team with .He has always enjoyed driving, so drifting was a natural thing for him. His other passion is flowers as his parents ran a florist and he has always helped them out... |
A'PEXi A'PEXi A'PEXi is a Japanese after-market automotive parts company. The company's focus is on parts designed to enhance engine performance. These include turbos, intercoolers, exhaust, ECUs and AFCs, as well as many other smaller components. A'PEXi is a JDM brand which has been relatively successful in... |
Mazda RX-7 FD3S | |
| D1GP | Ryuji Miki Ryuji Miki is a racing and drifting driver from Tottori Prefecture, Japan. Miki was the D1 Grand Prix champion driving the Top Secret Silvia S15. Miki also competed in the Net'z Cup, a one make series for the Toyota Altezza between 2005 and its final season in 2006 and is nicknamed Doki-Doki kun due to his... |
Top Secret | Nissan Silvia S15 | |
| D1GP | Yasuyuki Kazama Yasuyuki Kazama is a drifting driver from Japan.Kazama was first introduced to drifting at age 17 when he watched Gengo-San, who later became his spotter and mentor, drifting on a touge.... |
Kei-Office Keiichi Tsuchiya is a professional race car driver. He is also known as the "Drift King" for his nontraditional use of drifting in non-drifting racing events and his role in popularizing drifting as a motorsport... |
Nissan Silvia S15 | |
| D1GP | Nobushige Kumakubo Nobushige Kumakubo is a drifting driver from Japan who competes in the D1 Grand Prix series and racetrack and land owner. Nicknamed Kuma, he is commonly referred to one of the pioneers of drifting.... |
Team Orange/Yuke's/Cusco/Advan | Subaru Impreza GDB | |
| D1SL | Takashi Hagisako | Clearance | Nissan Silvia PS13 | |
| D1GP | Masato Kawabata Masato Kawabata is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for Team Toyo.-Biography:Kawabata first received his license at 18 he bought the Nissan 180SX. He practiced alone until he met late D1 driver Atsushi Kuroi who started to teach and advise Kawabata. At age... |
GReddy GReddy is a Japanese automotive aftermarket company specialising in performance tuning parts for cars. The company is widely known for its subbrand of tuning parts GReddy and the turbochargers under this brand.-The Trust Company:... /Toyo Tires/GP Sports |
Nissan Silvia S15 | |
| D1SL | Kazuya Matsukawa | Zip's | Nissan 180SX Nissan 180SX The Nissan 180SX was a hatchback coupe based on the S13 chassis from the Nissan S platform, and sold in Japan; and in some other countries under the 200SX name.... |
|
| D1GP | Daigo Saito Daigo Saito is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for .From an early age he was into motorbikes as his father was, and got his motorcycle license at 16. One night when he was out riding with his friends they stumbled upon a drift meeting in the hills of... |
Team 22 Nino/Fnatz Professional Garage | Toyota Mark II JZX100 | |
| D1SL | Naoto Suenaga | Ebisu Circuit Drift Xtreme/Agent K | Nissan Silvia PS13 | |
| D1GP | Youichi Imamura Youichi Imamura is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for team with .He has always enjoyed driving, so drifting was a natural thing for him. His other passion is flowers as his parents ran a florist and he has always helped them out... |
Team Boss with Potenza | Nissan Silvia S15 | |
| D1SL | Naoki Nakamura | D-Max | Nissan Silvia S15 | |
| D1GP | Youichi Imamura Youichi Imamura is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for team with .He has always enjoyed driving, so drifting was a natural thing for him. His other passion is flowers as his parents ran a florist and he has always helped them out... |
M7 Boss SGC with Dunlop | Nissan Silvia S15 | |
| D1SL | Naoki Nakamura | D-Max | Nissan Silvia S13 |
(Non Championship) All Star Winner
| Year | Event title | Driver | Team | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US vs Japan | Nobushige Kumakubo Nobushige Kumakubo is a drifting driver from Japan who competes in the D1 Grand Prix series and racetrack and land owner. Nicknamed Kuma, he is commonly referred to one of the pioneers of drifting.... |
Team Orange ADVAN | Nissan Silvia S15 | |
| US vs Japan | Vaughn Gittin Vaughn Gittin Vaughn Donald Gittin, Jr. , commonly known as JR, is an American self-taught professional drifter from Annapolis, Maryland who currently competes in the Formula D series in his 2011 Falken Tire Ford Racing Mustang. When he's not competing, Vaughn performs drifting demonstrations for Ford in his... |
Falken / Drift Alliance | Ford Mustang GT | |
| World All Star | Ken Nomura Ken Nomura is a drifting driver from Japan. He made his debut in the D1 Grand Prix in the 3rd round in 2001, driving the Blitz D1 Spec ER34 Skyline which he still drives... |
Blitz / URAS / Direzza | Nissan Skyline ER34 | |
| All Star Duel | Vaughn Gittin Vaughn Gittin Vaughn Donald Gittin, Jr. , commonly known as JR, is an American self-taught professional drifter from Annapolis, Maryland who currently competes in the Formula D series in his 2011 Falken Tire Ford Racing Mustang. When he's not competing, Vaughn performs drifting demonstrations for Ford in his... |
Falken / Drift Alliance | Ford Mustang GT |
Statistics
- Youngest Driver to compete — Ken Gushi, age 18, 2004 Round 1.
- Youngest Driver to compete in US — Chelsea DeNofa, age 18, 2006 Englishtown
- Youngest Driver to enter Best 8 — Darren McNamara, age 21yrs 3mths, 2006 Round 8
- Youngest Driver to win — Youichi Imamura, age 24yrs 5mths, 2000 Round 1.
- Youngest Championship Winner — Youichi Imamura, age 27yrs 5mths, 2003 Season.
- Oldest Driver to enter Best 16 (Non-Championship) — Rod MillenRod MillenRodney K. "Rod" Millen is a racing competitor, vehicle designer, and business owner. He has competed in numerous genres of motorsports, including rally racing, off-road racing, hillclimbing, drifting, and super touring.-Personal life:...
, age 55, 2005 D1 USA vs Japan Allstar Exhibition. - Oldest Driver to compete (D1SL) — Daijiro Inada, age 59, 2006 Round 2.
- Oldest Driver to win (D1GP) — Ken Nomura, age 42yrs 3mths, 2007 Round 5.
- Oldest Driver to win (D1SL) — Kazuyoshi Okamura, age 47, 2006 Round 5.
- Oldest Championship Winner — Nobushige Kumakubo, age 36yrs 10mths, 2006 Season.
- Most Wins in a single Season — 3 wins, Yasuyuki Kazama, 2005 Season.
- Most Points in a single Season — 114pts, Daigo Saito, 2008 Season.
- Narrowest title margin — 1pt; Yasuyuki Kazama (97pts) over Masao Suenaga (96pts), 2005 Season and Nobushige Kumakubo (110 pts) over Ken Nomura (109 pts), 2006 Season; Masato Kawabata (100pts) over Nobushige Kumakubo (99pts), 2007 Season.
- Widest title margin — 28pts; Youichi Imamura (106pts) over Nobushige Kumakubo (78pts), 2003 Season & Ryuji Miki (110pts) over Nobuteru Taniguchi (82 pts), 2004 Season.
- Oldest Car to compete — 1969 Chevrolet Camaro - driven by Ryan Hampton, 2005 and 2006 Season.
- Highest amount of entries – 109 (Rd 7, 2003).
- Lowest amount of entries – 25 (Rd 5, 2001).
- Highest power output - Toru Inose's Friends Racing AristoLexus GSThe Lexus GS is a series of mid-size luxury sports sedans / executive cars sold by Lexus since 1993. Designed to fill the gap between the ES and LS, and to provide Lexus with a performance sedan to compete in the mid-luxury class, three generations of the GS have been produced to date...
, 1000 bhp (Rd.5-7 D1SL 2006)
Driver
| Position | Driver | Total | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Youichi Imamura | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 13 |
| 2nd | Yasuyuki Kazama | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | |||
| - | 7 | |||||||||||
| 2nd | Masao Suenaga | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| 4th | Masato Kawabata | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | |
| 5th | Nobuteru Taniguchi | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 0 | |||
| - | 5 | |||||||||||
| 5th | Nobushige Kumakubo | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | |
| 5th | Ken Nomura | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| 8th | Katsuhiro Ueo | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | - | 3 |
| 9th | Kazuhiro Tanaka | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 2 |
| 9th | Daigo Saito | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 9th | Tsuyoshi Tezuka | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 9th | Tetsuya Hibino | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 13th | Takahiro Ueno | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 13th | Mitsuru Haruguchi | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | |||
| 1 | ||||||||||||
| 13th | Masatoshi Asamoto | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | |||
| 1 | ||||||||||||
| 13th | Ken Maeda | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1 | ||||||||||||
| 13th | Kouichi Yamashita | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 1 | |
| 13th | Ryuji Miki | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | 0 | ||
| 1 | ||||||||||||
| 13th | Toshiki Yoshioka | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 13th | Hideo Hiraoka | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1 | ||||||||||||
| 13th | Atsushi Kuroi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1 | ||||||||||||
| 13th | Yoshinori Koguchi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 13th | Masayoshi Tokita | - | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Drivers all-time score table
| Position | Driver | Total | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Youichi Imamura Youichi Imamura is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for team with .He has always enjoyed driving, so drifting was a natural thing for him. His other passion is flowers as his parents ran a florist and he has always helped them out... |
(1) 66 | (2) 54 | (2) 106 | (2) 78 | (1) 68 | 19 | 51 | (1) 104 | (1) 130 | 676 |
| 2nd | Nobushige Kumakubo Nobushige Kumakubo is a drifting driver from Japan who competes in the D1 Grand Prix series and racetrack and land owner. Nicknamed Kuma, he is commonly referred to one of the pioneers of drifting.... |
0 | 56 | (2) 78 | 60 | 55 | (1) 110 | (1) 99 | (1) 74 | 88 | 620 |
| 3rd | Ken Nomura Ken Nomura is a drifting driver from Japan. He made his debut in the D1 Grand Prix in the 3rd round in 2001, driving the Blitz D1 Spec ER34 Skyline which he still drives... |
0 | 58 | 44 | (1) 72 | 49 | (2) 109 | (1) 57 | 87 | (1) 106 | 582 |
| 4th | Masao Suenaga Masao Suenaga is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for RE Amemiya and Greddy. He is the younger brother of Naoto who both were taught by Nobushige Kumakubo.... |
- | 24 | 20 | 14 | (1) 96 | 51 | (2) 92 | (1) 89 | (2) 102 | 488 |
| 5th | Tsuyoshi Tezuka Tsuyoshi Tezuka is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for .He developed a love for cars from an early age, his first was a Toyota Crown but to start with he was more interested in drag racing than drift. That soon changed as he found out how much it cost to... |
20 | 16 | 8 | 0 | 19 | 49 | 61 | (1) 80 | (1) 122 | 375 |
| 6th | Masato Kawabata Masato Kawabata is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for Team Toyo.-Biography:Kawabata first received his license at 18 he bought the Nissan 180SX. He practiced alone until he met late D1 driver Atsushi Kuroi who started to teach and advise Kawabata. At age... |
- | 0 | 0 | 4 | 55 | (1) 69 | (2) 100 | (1) 78 | (2) 93 | 399 |
| 7th | Yasuyuki Kazama Yasuyuki Kazama is a drifting driver from Japan.Kazama was first introduced to drifting at age 17 when he watched Gengo-San, who later became his spotter and mentor, drifting on a touge.... |
20 | 18 | 26 | (2) 72 | (3) 97 | (2) 91 | - | - | - | 324 |
| 8th | Nobuteru Taniguchi Nobuteru Taniguchi is a Japanese racing driver and former drifting driver who currently competes in Super GT. Taniguchi is commonly nicknamed "NOB" or "The Pimp" as a reference to his S15 Silvia which he is best known for.... |
(2) 68 | (1) 64 | (1) 64 | (1) 82 | 36 | - | - | 8 | - | 322 |
| 9th | Toshiki Yoshioka Toshiki Yoshioka is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for and Even before he started drifting professionally he always used the Toyota AE86. He first competed in the D1 Grand Prix in the first round of 2002 and has always scored points in every season. He got... |
- | 24 | 50 | 18 | (1) 40 | 61 | 39 | 52 | 0 | 284 |
| 10th | Katsuhiro Ueo Katsuhiro Ueo is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for and .He was into cars from a young age, and started out competing in gymkhana events. At one of these events one of his younger colleagues took him to the touge runs and challenged him saying that he... |
24 | (1) 70 | (1) 70 | 0 | (1) 45 | 48 | 8 | - | 0 | 265 |
| 11th | Daigo Saito Daigo Saito is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for .From an early age he was into motorbikes as his father was, and got his motorcycle license at 16. One night when he was out riding with his friends they stumbled upon a drift meeting in the hills of... |
- | - | - | 0 | 1 | 24 | 41 | (1) 114 | (1) 82 | 262 |
| 12th | Tetsuya Hibino Tetsuya Hibino is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for SunRise and Aion.Like many of the drivers in the D1GP he is the owner of his own tuning shop called RunRise, and works on his car himself... |
- | 0 | 0 | 30 | 28 | 16 | 29 | 46 | (1) 98 | 247 |
| 13th | Kazuhiro Tanaka | 0 | 18 | (1) 38 | 32 | 20 | (1) 59 | 5 | 51 | 20 | 243 |
| 14th | Takahiro Ueno Takahiro Ueno is a Japanese professional drifting driver and businessman, the former, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for .He started out with a love for the Toyota Soarer JZZ30 and driving, and has turned it into a huge success. Starting his Tuning shop Car Make T&E in October 1996, it has gone... |
(1) 52 | 12 | 4 | 20 | 18 | 10 | 29 | 72 | 0 | 217 |
| 15th | Tatsuya Sakuma Tatsuya Sakuma is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for Team Toyo.He has competed in the D1GP series since the very beginning, starting out in a Nissan Silvia PS13 He did not do very well, scoring only 2 points in his first four years. His big break came when... |
0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 53 | 23 | 26 | 53 | 198 |
| Atsushi Kuroi Atsushi Kuroi was a Japanese professional drifting driver who competed in the D1 Grand Prix series for with . He died on 2 February 2010 during the evening due to a motorcycle accident.... |
0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 26 | (1) 26 | 44 | 77 | 188 | |
| 17th | Ryuji Miki Ryuji Miki is a racing and drifting driver from Tottori Prefecture, Japan. Miki was the D1 Grand Prix champion driving the Top Secret Silvia S15. Miki also competed in the Net'z Cup, a one make series for the Toyota Altezza between 2005 and its final season in 2006 and is nicknamed Doki-Doki kun due to his... |
4 | 6 | 20 | (1) 110 | 16 | - | - | - | 0 | 156 |
| 18th | Yoshinori Koguchi Yoshinori Koguchi is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for Dunlop Tyres and .Like many of the other D1 drivers, he owns his own tuning garage called Koguchi Power. Yoshinori does all of the work on his car himself... |
12 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | (1) 50 | 26 | 141 |
| 19th | Hideo Hiraoka Hideo Hiraoka (driver) is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for and .Like many of the drivers in the D1GP he is the owner of his own tuning shop called Proshop Rapid, and so has worked on many of his cars himself.... |
18 | 30 | 0 | 20 | 3 | (1) 41 | 20 | 8 | 0 | 140 |
| 20th | Hisashi Kamimoto | 50 | 34 | 32 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | 122 |
Car all-time winning table
| Position | Car | Total | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Nissan Silvia S15 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 27 |
| 2nd | Mazda RX-7 FD3S | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 15 |
| 3rd | Toyota Sprinter AE86 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| 4th | Nissan Skyline ER34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| 5th | Subaru Impreza GDB | - | - | - | - | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| 6th | Nissan 180SX RPS13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 7th | Toyota Mark II JZX100 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 7th | Nissan Skyline GT-R BNR32 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 9th | Toyota Soarer JZZ30 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 9th | Mazda RX-7 FC3S | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 9th | Nissan Silvia PS13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 9th | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX CT9A | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 9th | Toyota Crown GRS180 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
See also
- Drifting (motorsport)Drifting (motorsport)Drifting refers to a driving technique and to a motorsport where the driver intentionally over steers, causing loss of traction in the rear wheels through turns, while maintaining vehicle control and a high exit speed...
- Video OptionVideo Optionwas introduced in March 1988 by Sunpro as a monthly direct-to-video magazine version of the long running Option magazine.The video has always being presented by Daijiro Inada, who do many of the tuner car road tests, either on a test track, on public road with Daijiro's adventures at Bonneville...
- Option (car magazine)Option (car magazine)Option is an automotive magazine founded by Daijiro Inada in 1981, to meet the demand for enthusiasts of modified Japanese cars in Japan....
- D1 Grand Prix (video game)D1 Grand Prix (video game)D1 Grand Prix is the official drift games of the D1 Grand Prix.-Releases:D1 Grand Prix - Japan only: February 17, 2005D1 Grand Prix 2005 - Japan only: October 20, 2005...
- D1GP ArcadeD1GP ArcadeD1 Grand Prix Arcade is an arcade racing game developed by Yuke's and published by Taito Corporation, released in September 2008. The game underwent location test in late 2007, and was officially published in September 2008. The game samples various aspects of the D1 Grand Prix, and features some...
- 8-Ball (band)
D1 Grand Prix USA Drivers
Alphabetical Order- 1. Kelvin Arreola USA
- 2. Marc Bergeon USA
- 3. David Blunt USA
- 4. James Bondurant USA
- 5. Mike Burns USA
- 6. Caper Canul Mexico
- 7. Tyler Cox USA
- 8. Chelsea DeNofa USA
- 9. Joe Dycus USA
- 10. Michael Essa USA
- 11. Ron Freitas USA
- 12. Chase Goodman USA
- 13. Andrew Hately USA
- 14. Joe Haven USA
- 15. Harri Hokkinen Finland
- 16. Yoichi Imamura Japan
- 17. Daijaro Inada Japan
- 18. Ed Johnson USA
- 19. Jeff Jones USA
- 20. Chris Kregorian USA
- 21. Nobushige Kumakubo Japan
- 22. Janne Leinonen Finland
- 23. Aaron Losey USA
- 24. Quoc Ly USA
- 25. Cyrus Martinez USA
- 26. Omeed Moinee USA
- 27. Patrick Mordaunt USA
- 28. Ken Nomura Japan
- 29. Cody Parkhouse USA
- 30. Ross Petty USA
- 31. Juha Rintanen Finland
- 32. Tom Roberts USA
- 33. James Robinson USA
- 34. Austin Robison USA
- 35. Bryan Rogers USA
- 36. Daigo Saito Japan
- 37. Cody Sarem USA
- 38. Ben Schwartz USA
- 39. Bill Sherman USA
- 40. Joshua Steel USA
- 41. Kazuhiro Tanaka Japan
- 42. Harri Tervola USA
- 43. Takahiro Ueno Japan
- 44. Russell Walker USA
- 45. Forrest Wang USA
Official sites
Japanese
Fan site
- Wrecked Magazine Unofficial D1GP Coverage
- MotorMavens Unofficial D1GP COverage
- DriftLive.com - Unofficial D1GP Coverage
- autoshowevents.com