Back on the scorching hot paddock at Ebisu on Saturday I was stopped in my tracks by Takanori Yoshida's Onevia, sitting so aggressively on its Work Equips. It's a stunning car and I finally had a chance to see it parked out in the open, not tucked inside a dark pit. The candy red paint job really pops under the sun's rays.
Robbie Nishida was over in Japan, at the wheel of this mean JZZ30 Fnatz Soarer. He looked right at home in the seat of the big Toyota, despite being quite a different car to his R35 GT-R in Formula D. He didn't manage to make it in the Best 16 during Saturday's Round 5, but he killed it the following day at Round 6 which we'll will be looking at soon!
One of the friendly Good Year girls.
After shooting Jinushi's 4-Real Works JZZ30 years ago I finally had a chance to go out with him on track during the ride-along organized for press and guests. We ended up doing two laps and it's pretty incredible to see just how hard D1 drivers really go on Minami. The 720 HP the Soarer now develops was enough to keep it sideways throughout the whole track, although on the second lap we lost the drift and straightened out…probably due to the extra "ballast" he was carrying in the passenger seat!
Every time Nakamura goes out on track everyone watches. The guy is just so aggressive with his speed, entry and angles you can be sure he always puts on an incredible show.
Vintage drift!
Suenaga managed to win this, but it was a tight Best 16 battle against Takahashi in his JZX100!
Haruyama on take off!
Orido was playing it safe this weekend, avoiding getting too much air on the drop onto the main pit straight. He didn't make it into the Best 16 and retains his 8th position over all for the season.
I can never pass up an opportunity to grab a shot of Minowa's JXZ90. It's all about stance!
Kawabata versus Takayama in the pink FD3S. Kawabata took this one by not only bringing more speed into the main corner but grabbing a far more aggressive line, leaving the R-Magic driver struggling to keep up. Kawabata then went against Hibino in the Best 8 and ended up hitting the tire wall, ending his hopes at grabbing more points.
One of my favorite battles from the weekend, Suenaga against Saito. A pleasure to watch but like we saw in Part 1, it was Saito that won and moved up to the semi final.
This is when Imamura lost against Nomuken in the Best 8. Imamura didn't look too bothered as he is well above everyone else in the points ranking.
Hibino was on a roll and after his lucky run against Kawabata. He beat Suenaga in the RE-Amemiya FD allowing him to move into the final against Nomuken and grabbing the win for this fifth round.
Some more pit action. This was taken before the Best 16 as everyone was working hard to prepare the cars for the day's competition. This is Imamura's, aka Drift Samurai, FC3S showing off its mechanic-friendly hood.
Ooshima, the latest addition to the Team Orange crew, still needs to find his form and get used to Tanaka's old RWD Impreza.
D1 was keen to promote the Ladies League and invited a few competitors to show off their cars like this pair of Kazama Auto…
…Silvias. I will be trying hard to make the last round of the season at Nikko Circuit in October held along the Street Legal final.
The Round 5 coverage concludes with a quick view at the damage to Matsui's RPS13. This is what happens when you hit a concrete wall at 80 mph!
Next up will be Round 6 action from Sunday where Nomuken ended up crashing his Blitz ER34 in one of the biggest impacts I've seen in D1. Don't miss it!
-Dino Dalle Carbonare