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There's not much history to drifting in America... yet. Here's a chance to get in on the ground floor of automobilia by purchasing Takahiro Ueno's D1GP USA-spec Toyota Soarer (aka Lexus SC 400). With no drifting series for 2008 there is suddenly a need to sell the drift machines, making it one of the fastest ways to get into highly-tuned JDM metal. There's no word on price, but we're guessing it won't be cheap, especially after looking at the parts list. Better description below the jump. More »
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Parked on the "concourse" right next to the RS200 was an other eye-catcher. In fact, the same dude owns both cars. That's right, it's a Toyota Starlet all hopped up on goodballs. And by goofballs we mean turbocharged/intercooled goofballs. Those in the know were slapping their collective heads, wondering how on earth the car passes smog. Those with no clue (hi mom!) just stared in awe and marveled. More »
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As we mentioned, Team Orange and Nobushige Kumakubo won Saturday's international drift event at the D1 Grand Prix at Irwindale. They did so in an insanely hopped up Mitsubishi EVO IX. That cold intake pipe looks to be 4". Never mind what's happening on the hot side (i.e. bigger). We would just like to point out that drifting rocks because 20-year-old 1600 cc Corollas compete with 8.3-liter V10 Vipers. Not only compete, the Toyota (which was running nitrous) beat the Viper and about two thirds of the other competition. The Viper was actually Nick "p***y magnet" Hogan's drifter, but Team Shift Into Gear sprayed it black to distance themselves from the mini-Hulkster's jackassery. For those about to embarrass yourself by saying something idiotic such as, "Ricers suck," the fan favorites were without question a Mustang and a Charger. I cheered my ass off for Sam Hubinette and his 600 hp SRT8 and the judges kept awarding Vaughn Gittin's Stang 120 points (out of 100 — that's how rad he was). In the end though, Kumakubo and his rip-roaring, Godzilla spankin' EVO were just too much. More »
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[Las Vegas stringer Curtis Walker, who hasn't yet sublimated in the desert heat despite short odds to the contrary, brings us day two of the 2007 D1 Grand Prix.]. Narratively, we're always drawn to both underdogs and classic, rear-drive Japanese cars. So we caught up with John Russakoff to get the lowdown on his 1984 Toyota Corolla, the oldest drift car competing in this year's D1 circuit. The AE86 entry started out as a $200 "piece of shit." Twenty-five thousand bucks and a year- and-a-half later, the car was track worthy. Gone is the original Toyota powerplant, in favor of a 2006 Honda S2000 engine and matching six-speed tranny. Russakoff says he's done all of the work on this 1900-lb., 220 hp slider himself. As for his opinion of the searing heat, he says it more of a problem for the intercooled turbos, as they seem to be losing about 10 percent or more of their power. But it makes for a stickier track, and he's happy to have the extra traction. More »
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Before we launch into the coming rant about how completely and utterly inane this potential decision to uphold a proposed ban on drifting at a race track is, we must state that the few times we ever went to Altamont Speedway in Altamont, California was for the Pumpkin Smash 400. The track was watered and soaped down, pumpkins were strewn onto all four corners, and a collection of the most dented cars ever assembled turned it all into a soupy mess of smash-up mayhem for 400 laps. This race is a wildly popular event.
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]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=255185&view=rss&microfeed=true A quadrillion square foot multi-bay shop with a floor you could eat an omelet off is most awesome for television, and a bunch of guys arguing about what gee gaw to weld or install onto a motorcycle or car. One can also achieve greatness with a modest garagelet. Proof is this 1984 Starlet with a 20-valve 4AG engine stuffed under the hood in place of its original K-series pushrod peanut grinder. This handy swap almost triples the stock output of this now mighty Starlet. Some key suspension mods combined with this newfound horsepower leads to most excellent sanctioned drifting hoonage. Bonus for orange coveralls, the guy in the cowboy hat, and Drift King appearance. – Mike Bumbeck More »
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NOPI Motorsports is taking the straight and sideways line together by combining its drag racing series with drift action. While the NOPI drift announcement was made last fall at SEMA, the reality starts this weekend with drift qualifying at the Texas Motorplex in Dallas. The Motorplex will host qualifying for the NOPI Professional Drift Series, and first round of 2007 NOPI Drag Racing Association mayhem. The very first combined NOPI Drift and Drag event is scheduled for March 17th and 18th at Firebird Raceway in Phoenix, Arizona. This weekend's drift qualifying will be hosted by Drift Fury. All NOPI drag racing, drifting, burnout contests, and bikini clad NOPI representatives will soon be on SPEED Channel and iTunes for viewing amusement. – Mike Bumbeck More »
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At the drivers' meeting before the D1GP All-Star event, Keiichi "Drift King" Tsuchiya calmly asked those gathered how many were driving hachi-rokus. Seven raised their hands. Drivers of the venerable high-winding AE86 Toyota Corollas were to receive special instructions. In a field increasingly filled with high-horsepower monsters of V8 and other variety, the hachi-rokus would have to set a higher standard. Tsuchiya said that if three of these hachi-rokus were to achieve drifting by the middle of the first high-bank, that subsequent high-bank drifting would become the requirement for all the hachi-rokus. Tsuchiya also informed all drivers to graze, yet not topple the apex cone out of the high bank in order to receive maximum points score. This was important foreshadowing. More »
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We would like to think that if Meatwad were to drive a race car of any kind it would be a drift machine. Perhaps an AE86, more likely a Starion. The truth is we desperately need more characters in motorsport - cartoon or not. The one place on four wheels where there is absolutely no shortage of characters is drifting. Driving rain stopped neither fans nor drifters at the D1GP World Finals at Irwindale Speedway this past Saturday. Team Orange driver Tanaka put everybody else back on the trailer to take the win for the event itself, while teammate Kumakubo collected the D1GP World Series Drifting points series Champion title. Both drivers piloted specially prepared rear-drive Subaru Imprezas to great angle and maximum tire-evaporating effect. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=222774&view=rss&microfeed=true With the D1GP World Championship and World All Star events rolling out at Irwindale Speedway this Saturday and Sunday, it seems only fitting to have Team Orange drivers Kumakubo and Tanaka along with Antonio Alvendia himself wish you all a jingle bells. Antonio's book Drifting: Sideways from Japan to America is available at three different levels of amusement - 19.95 for the book itself, 22.95 for the book signed by Antonio, and 24.95 for a special edition book with a signature customized for you. The book can also picked up this weekend along with a pair of slightly used tires for that special someone out at Irwindale Speedway. More »
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Your friend and ours, the inimitable Starlet-hustling Starion lover, the enviable and thoroughly-mighty Bumbeck went and checked out the Drift vs. Grip event at Irwindale. Motorsports enthusiast and champion thrower of barbecues, Cole Coonce tagged along and summed it up thusly: More »
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We swear, our brain is so muddled these days that we'd forgotten to mention that the D1GP boys take on the NASCAR guys in the Drift vs. Grip challenge tomorrow. When the D1GP hit Las Vegas over a month ago, Toshiki Yoshioka, driver of the driftastic Malcontent Bee AE86 took the win from a certain Kumokubo-san in a Subie with over twice the horsepower. Let's see if he can rock Kasey Kahne's world this time out. And we wonder how many of the NASCAR boys will pit, complaining their cars are "pushing"? [Thanks to Pen for the reminder.] More »
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We love Toshiki Yoshioka. When other guys are out on the pro drifting circuit making anywhere from 300-500hp, Yoshioka still kicks it old-school Initial D-style in an AE86 literally held together with tape, zip-ties and Bondo. Coming out of Irwindale's bank during last winter's D1GP event, his wee car sounded like an angst-ridden, steroidal wasp. But hot damn can that boy drive. Yoshioka and Kobushige Kumakubo (another favorite of ours in his badass rear-drive WRX) placed 1-2 at the inaugural D1GP event in Vegas. Now that's a battle we would've loved to have seen. Results after the jump. More »
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We've gotta admit, we've been kind of skeptical on the whole drifting thing here in the US. Sure, we love sideways hoonage as much as the next guy. We've seen the demos at SEMA and the coverage on TV which kind of led us to believe it was big with the yoyo boys, but Bumbeck convinced us to come out and check out last weekend's D1GP competition at Irwindale, and at the risk of sounding hopelessly pedestrian, hoo boy, are we glad we did even if the parking people at Irwindale charged us eight bucks, claiming the media lot was full when it wasn't. Dear Irwindale Parking Officials: we're so in the mood to hop on our Motobecane and chase y'all around saying, "Eight dollars! I want my eight dollars!" More »
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