Manabu Orido Enters Formula Drift
Orido and Tsuchiya both started their racing careers in illegal underground street races and then progressed to professional racing motorsports. Much of Orido’s fame comes from being a D1GP judge and the fact that he is one of the only drivers to use a Toyota Supra in drift competitions. Manabu Orido has been successful in the JGTC series and his appearance in popular import racing videos like Best Motoring, Video Option, and Hot Version keep him in the JDM spotlight.
Nobuteru Taniguchi Returns to D1GP
After two years away from D1 Grand Prix, the 2001 D1GP Champion Taniguti Akira Makoto (Nobuteru Taniguchi) returns drifting the HKS sponsored Toyota Altezzas. Nobuteru Taniguchi is a Japanese fan favorite well known for his accomplishments in SuperGT and other forms of professional motosports. Nobuteru Taniguchi maintains his popularity within the drifting community with appearances in popular drift videos like Video Option, Hot Version, Drift Tengoku, Best Motoring, and Rev Speed Videos and by performing drifting exhibitions at popular drifting events worldwide.
Nick Hogan Crash
First and foremost, I want to express my sympathy for both families involved in this tragedy. Second, I want young racers to understand that 1. Always wear your seatbelt, and 2. Never drink and drift. The purpose of this post is to help make young street racers aware of their mortality and hopefully inspire them to race more safely.
Yes, Nick Hogan is at fault for recklessly piloting his Supra on a public road and so is Hulk Hogan for supplying his underage son with alcohol. And I can’t help but think, John Graziano would be in better shape than he is now, had he been wearing a seatbelt.
Street racing and drunk driving claim the lives of thousands of would-be racers and innocent victims every year. The last thing a true racer wants to happen is wreck their car or hurt someone else. This tragedy is an example of how one stupid decision, driving drunk, can change your life and those around you forever. Hogan and Graziano had bright futures ahead of them and now one is in jail and the other imprisoned inside his own body.
It’s easy to look around the world and see heartbreak and misfortune at every glance, but many tragedies like this one, can be avoided with a little self-control. Life is about making decisions and living with them. I’d be a hypocrite to say ‘don’t ever race or drift on the street,’ but do so in the safest environment possible – even better, race at the track. Traffic tickets are expensive and lives are priceless, so use your head and represent street racers and drifters in a positive fashion.
Samuel Hubinette Blogs Fast and Furious 4
Japanese Drifting
Daijiro Inada may be the biggest influence in Japanese automotive culture. Daijiro Inada is the founder of Option Magazine and its video spin-off series, creator of the D1 Grand Prix series, and founder of Tokyo Auto Salon, which is the largest automotive event in the world. Daijiro Inada is the heart of Japanese automotive culture, but like any savvy businessman, Mr. Inada understood he couldn’t promote drifting culture alone, so he enlisted the help of Drift King himself - Keiichi Tsuchiya. Together, the two icons would spread drifting to the world.
Keiichi Tsuchiya is a famous Japanese street racer turned professional driver. Keiichi Tsuchiya is credited with developing several drifting techniques widely used by professional drifters today. Unlike most professional drivers that come from wealthy backgrounds, Keiichi Tsuchiya earned his reputation and honed his racing skills from illegal underground street races. Drift King is a D1 Grand Prix Judge and regular fixture in drifting dvds like JDM Option and Best Motoring International.
Rhys Millen Injured in Stunt
“After successfully landing the 360-degree backflip three times into the cardboard boxes in training, I am disappointed that our last jump ended in an accident. As I lay here in the hospital with three broken vertebrae in my neck and two compressed and broken vertebrae in my back, I am also disappointed that we cannot perform the 360-degree backflip at the Red Bull Experiment on New Year’s Eve, but I’m happy that I will be able to walk again,” says Rhys Millen.
Thankfully Rhys is expected to make a full recovery, but whether or not the 2005 Formula Drift Champion will be healthy enough to compete in the early rounds of the 2008 Formula D season is still unknown.
Nobuteru Taniguchi
Born May 18, 1971 in Hiroshima, Japan, Nobuteru Taniguchi got into motorsports racing minibikes. When NOB was 18 he won an All Japan Mini Bike Race at Suzuka Circuit sponsored by Honda and later got into racing cars and drifting after buying a Toyota AE86.
Before Nobuteru Taniguchi became a professional driver he worked at Takahiro Ueno’s car body kit company, Car Make T&E. In 1999, Taniguchi drove the Bride sponsored Honda Civic in the Suzuka Clubman Race and ended up winning first place. After Taniguchi’s win, HKS added him to their team as a test driver and sponsored race car driver in 2001 when he then piloted the HKS D1 Grand Prix S15 Silvia to a championship win.
Throughout Taniguchi’s D1 Grand Prix drifting career, he drove four HKS sponsored cars: RS1 Hyper Nissan S15 Silvia (Crashed by Keiichi Tsuchiya), two RS2 Hyper S15 Silvias (One from HKS Power Japan, the other from HKS Europe), and the Genki RP Altezza, which was designed with only stock HKS parts so an import tuning enthusiast or drifter could copy the HKS car’s exact setup.
Nobuteru Taniguchi is known in drifting motorsports and other forms of professional racing like the Super GT (formerly All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship or JGTC), 24 Hour of Nürburgring, Super Taikyu Series, and Macau Grand Prix Circuit events.
Taniguchi is also known for setting Time Attack (fastest lap) track records throughout Japan, including at the famous Tsukuba Circuit with the HKS TRB-02 and CT230R Time Attack Mitsubishi Evolutions. 2002 was the first year NOB competed in the GT series in the RE Amemiya Mazda RX-7, and in 2006 he drove the Direxiv/Enable Vemac, finishing 3rd overall in the GT300 driver standings.
NOB also drives the Wed Sport/Bandoh Racing sponsored Toyota Celica in Super GT and the Advan Porsche 996 in the Super Taikyu series in Japan with Hot Version and Drift Tengoku co-host Manabu Orido. Together, Taniguchi and Orido won seven out of eight Super Taikyu races in 2005 securing the Super GT Championship.
Taniguchi and HKS have not limited their racing campaign to Japan. In 2005, Taniguchi drove the HKS USA Mitsubishi Evolution in the Car and Driver Super Tuner Challenge against top US manufacturers and drivers. Taniguchi beat the nearest competitor by three seconds, and set the day’s fasted ¼ mile, 0-60, and road course times. In 2006, Taniguchi drove the HKS Speed Source RX-8 in the Grand Am Cup race at Arizona’s Phoenix International Raceway and set the fasted qualifying time for any Mazda RX-8.
Currently, Nobuteru “NOB” Taniguchi is driving the HKS sponsored Toyota Aristo drift car which is known as the Lexus GS300 in the United States. HKS and Formula Drift have made an exclusive partnership in 2007 that has brought NOB to the United States to perform drifting exhibitions at Formula Drift events. Taniguchi made his first appearance at Formula Drift’s second event Road Atlanta, May 11 and 12, 2007.
Nobuteru Taniguchi maintains his popularity within the drifting community with appearances in popular drifting videos like Video Option, Hot Version, Drift Tengoku, Best Motoring, and Rev Speed Videos and by performing drifting exhibitions at popular drifting events worldwide. NOB is a fan favorite and very talented driver who has an impressive resume of motorsport wins.
Kazuhiro Tanaka
During high school, Tanaka got his first taste of drifting when an older classmate that drove a Toyota AE86 Hachiroku executed a simple drift at an intersection.
“I was blown away at that moment to learn that a car is capable of moving this way,” says Tanaka. “Since I didn’t know anything about cars at the time, I was easily amused. I definitely wanted to try whatever he did after that experience. After obtaining my drivers license I purchased a Hachiroku! Since I knew that I needed to get used to speed before even trying to drift, I drove the car grip style for a month. Day after day I went up to the mountains and even racked up my gas bill to 400,000 Yen! ($4,000 USD) I worked hard after that to recover the money.”
Tanaka would continue to practice drifting in Japan until one traumatic crash that almost ended his drifting career. After the wreck Tanaka decided to give up drifting by purchasing a car that typically could not drift. He bought a naturally aspirated automatic transmission 1971 Mark II that didn’t have LSD thinking to himself that it was impossible to drift this car. But eventually, Tanaka did drift the new car and then realized,
“At that point…even though I tried very hard not to drift anymore, I did drift, therefore; deep down inside, I love to drift,” Kazuhiro Tanaka.
With his reborn love for drifting, Tanaka purchased a new drift car, which was a Toyota JZX81 Chaser that came equipped with a twin turbo setup, manual transmission, and limited slip differential LSD. After buying the Toyota Chaser, Tanaka started entering drifting competitions and graduated to the D1 Grand Prix where he continues to have success.
When Kazuhiro Tanaka is not busy practicing for D1 Grand Prix, he is developing aero body kit parts for sports cars, wagons, and sedans at a place called M Sports or “Mac.” Tanaka has been working at Mac in the Ibaraki prefecture for 5 years. The popular M Sports line of body kits is widely known throughout the automotive industry.
In his free time, Tanaka likes to drive R/C drift cars at his home R/C course named Speed Way Pal located in the Saitama Prefecture. Tanaka is also an animal lover and loves spending time with his Chihuahua “Malon.”
With teammates from Team Orange like Naoto Suenaga and 2006 D1 Grand Prix Champion Nobushige Kumakubo in his corner, you can bet Kazuhiro Tanaka will continue to push the boundaries of drifting motorsports to new heights.
Yasuyuki Kazama
Yasuyuki Kazama was born February 1, 1970 in Nagano, Japan. Kazama started his drifting career at age 17 drifting his Toyota Corolla Levin AE86. Kazama paid for his drift car with proceeds from his job working at a gas station. While learning how to drift on Japan’s touges, Kazama narrowly escaped death when his drift car slid off the side of a mountain!
When Yasuyuki Kazama first entered drift contests, he was driving a Nissan S14 Silvia then later Kazama was sponsored by Keiichi “Drift King” Tsuchiya’s very own drift shop - Kei Office. Later in life, Kazama would become a mechanic for Tsuchiya’s Kei Office. After Tsuchiya sold Kei Office in 2004, Kazama opened his own garage named Rodextyle.
Kazama is rather well known in the United Kingdom and the United States with his mainstream TV appearance on the BBC2 show, Top Gear. In the episode of Top Gear, Yasuyuki Kazama is teaching Richard Hammond how to drift while driving a Vauxhall Monaro VXR. Kazama has also been featured in automotive magazines like Autocar in April 2006 and more recently in Octane Magazine, February 2007.
Manabu Orido
Manabu Orido was one of the original D1 Grand Prix judges and shares a similar racing background with fellow D1GP judge Keiichi “Drift King” Tsuchiya. Orido and Tsuchiya both started their racing careers in illegal underground street races, then progressed to touge racing in Japan’s mountains and finally began professional racing in the Japanese GT Championship. Much of Orido’s fame comes from being a D1 Grand Prix judge, the fact that he is one of the only drivers to use a Toyota Supra in drift competitions, his success in the JGTC series, and his appearance in popular import racing videos like Best Motoring, Video Option, and Hot Version.
At the end of the 2004 D1 Grand Prix season, Orido resigned from judging only to compete in the following 2005 D1GP season.
Manabu Orido’s choice to drive the RS-R Toyota Supra JZA80 in the D1 Grand Prix is more personal than strategic because the Toyota Supra is not an ideal car for drifting. The Toyota Supra has a very heavy front end that makes getting traction to the rear wheels difficult because the weight distribution is so uneven. Typically, drivers look for drift cars like the Nissan Silvia and Mazda RX-7 that have almost equal front and rear weight distribution simply because they are easier to handle when drifting. This is why you don’t see many Supras in D1GP or other drifting events. Nevertheless, Orido chose the Toyota Supra because he drives a Supra in the JGTC series and he drives one on a daily basis as his personal car. Plus, Orido says, “If I had chosen the S15 or FD3S as my drift car, it would be easy for everyone to compare me to the other contenders. The individuality of the Supra enables me to be myself.”
Soon after Orido joined the D1 Grand Prix as a driver, an unfortunate transportation accident, caused by a sleeping truck driver, destroyed Orido’s prized RS-R Supra and forced him out of the tournament. Currently, Manabu “Max” Orido is pursuing his Japanese GT Championship career. As a big fan of Orido’s style, Supra, and drifting, I hope he will return to the sport of drifting.
Notable races:
- 1992 Fuji Freshman Race Champion
- 1995 Super Sylvia series champion
- 1996 Won the 24 Hours of Tokachi N Class
- Competed in the JGTC GT300 Class
- 1997 Won the JGTC (Japanese GT Championship) GT300 Class title in a Nissan Silvia
- 1998 2nd in the JGTC GT300 Class
- 1999 3rd in the JGTC GT300 Class
- 2000 Participated in the Suzuka 1000kms
- 2001 JGTC GT500 Class
- Finished 2nd in the Macau GP Guia Race
- 2002 JGTC GT500 Class 2003JGTC GT500 Class (1 win)
- 2004 JGTC GT500 Class (One 2nd prize)
- 2005 SUPER GT 500 Class (1 win)
Official Manabu Orido Website:
Nobushige Kumakubo
Nobushige Kumakubo, born February 10, 1970 in the Fukushima Prefecture of Japan, was born to a wealthy family that owns a large portion of land in the Fukushima countryside. Fukushima, Japan is roughly three hours, by train, north of Tokyo. There you will find lush forest, rice paddies, green rolling hills, and most noteworthy to drifters - twisty mountain roads or touge. It is in these Japanese mountains, on the Kumakubo’s family land, that Nobushige has built Ebisu Circuit. Nobushige not only designed Ebisu Circuit on paper, he also drove the bulldozer that carved the touge. Ebisu Circuit is legendary in Japan because of the numerous drifting events that have taken place there like Carboy Dori-Con, BM Cup, Big X, and D1 Grand Prix.
When Nobushige Kumakubo first entered D1 Grand Prix in 2005, he was driving the Team Orange Nissan S15 Silvia; but when Kumakubo won the 2006 D1 Grand Prix, he was driving a rear-wheel-drive JUN Auto modified Subaru Impreza WRX – the first Subaru ever to enter the D1 Grand Prix series. When Super Street magazine asked Nobushige Kumakubo why he chose the Subaru Impreza WRX platform, he said, “Well, you’ve seen the huge stack of Japanese drifting and rally magazines in my office. I have always thought rallying was cool, especially since Ebisu is covered with snow in the wintertime. And since there are a lot of people who have Imprezas now, I wanted more Subaru owners to come and drive at Ebisu.”
Nobushige Kumakubo has already secured his legacy within the drifting community by winning the 2006 D1 Grand Prix and by creating Ebisu Circuit, which contains some of the world’s greatest drifting tracks. Being the first driver ever to enter D1 with a Subaru and willing to build a RC drift tack on his course at Ebisu Circuit, shows that Nobushige Kumakubo not only has a love for drifting culture, but that Nobushige also has a vision for the future of drifting and that he is not afraid to take chances to help further the sport of drifting. Nobushige Kumakubo may be one of the greatest pioneers of drifting today.
Official Team Orange Website:
http://www.teamorange.jp
Official Ebisu Circuit Website:
Ken Nomura
Ken “Nomuken” Nomura was born in Fukuoka, Japan on May 9, 1965. Early in life, Nomura was a well-known baseball player that showed big league professional potential. A sport injury set Ken’s life in a new direction. After his injury, Nomura focused his talents on property development but that would not satiate Nomuken’s competitive spirit for long. Soon after receiving his drivers license, Nomura began underground street racing and progressed to racing touge in Japan’s back mountain roads. In 1992, Nomura was runner up in the “All Japan Ikaten” Finals and later progressed to the D1 Grand Prix series where Nomura continues to gain popularity for his wild monkey behavior and drifting skill.
In 2006, Ken Nomura won the first ever D1 Grand Prix World All-Star Challenge and finished second overall for the 2006 D1 Grand Prix season. Nomura also competes in the D1 Street Legal series where he drives a less modified version of his Blitz Nissan Skyline.
Ken “Nomuken” Nomura’s Official Uras Website:
Keiichi Tsuchiya
Keiichi Tsuchiya was born January 30, 1956 in Nagano, Japan and started his professional racing career in 1977. Beginning with the amateur Fuji Freshman Racing Series, Tsuchiya would continue his racing career in the Japanese Formula 3 Series, Japanese Touring Car Championship, and Super Touring car championship class. Throughout the Drift King’s racing career, Tsuchiya made a name for himself driving, and drifting of course, a Nissan Skyline GT-R, Nissan Silvia, Honda Civic, Honda NSX, Toyota GT-One, and perhaps his favorite car the Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno or “Hachi-Roku” in Japanese, which translates literally to “eight six.”
Keiichi Tsuchiya’s most notable wins and races:
- Class win and a top ten finish at the 1995, 24 hours of Le Mans in a Honda NSX.
- Second place at the 1999, 24 hours of Le Mans, with co-driver Ukyo Katayama in a Toyota GT-One.
- Tsuchiya holds the record at his home course of Usui with his Honda NSX-R.
- NASCAR-sanctioned exhibition races at Suzuka Circuit (Suzuka Thunder 100) and at Twin Ring Motegi Super Speedway for the 1998 NASCAR-sanctioned exhibition and 1999 NASCAR Grand National Division, AutoZone West Series races at the circuit, both named the Coca-Cola 500k.
- Tsuchiya’s last race was round eight at Suzuka for the Japanese GT Championship race.
At age 47, Keiichi Tsuchiya announced his retirement from professional racing. After retirement, Keiichi Tsuchiya became Team Director for the GT500 Class ARTA All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) team for a year and GT300 Class of JGTC Team until the team disbanded the GT300 operation at the end of the 2005 season. Later in 2005 Tsuchiya sold his aftermarket suspension company Kei Office to Ogura Racing Clutch.
Drift King Keiichi Tsuchiya’s presence and legend only grow larger as the sport of drifting becomes more popular throughout the world. What I personally find inspiring about Tsuchiya’s career is that he was not rich when he started racing and was not handed his legendary title of “Drift King.” Instead, Tsuchiya fought his way up the ranks and earned his skills and reputation in battle – underground street racing. Keiichi Tsuchiya is arguably the greatest drifter ever. There is only one “Drift King,” Keiichi Tsuchiya.
No comments:
Post a Comment