D1GP

M7 is making its first big step into Formula Drift next year with a sponsorship of Odi Bakchis. In Japan they support some huge drifters in D1GP with Imamura, Suenaga, and Orido. After talking to Odi he will be running M7 motor oil, M7 gear oil, M7 brake fluid, M7 Spark Plugs, M7 gauges, and a M7 Touch R.A.C.E ODB communicator. On top of all that he is even running a M7/Nobuteru Taniguchi Edition Bride racing seat for the 2012 season. All of this is mixed with the fact that M7 is hitting the US market through Promotion Distribution so you can get your hands on all of these parts for 2012.

Posted in D1GP, Formula D, International, Japanese, Major Announcements, Odi Bakchis | 8 Comments »

An interesting hot topic in the industry you as a tuner might want to get behind and make some waves. Members of Congress are calling for an end of DOT/government resources to be used sweeping up grey market vehicles (such as the Skyline). In Canada a 15 year import law is in effect currently allowing for the import of cars like the R32 Skyline legally. Here is what WhiteHouse.gov has to say:

The Department of Homeland Security spends a shockingly disproportionate amount of its budget not on security initiatives, but on customs seizures. In particular, importers of grey-market vehicles have been targeted by monies taxpayers have intended to be used to secure our country against terrorism and terrorist activity. We call upon the Executive Branch to immediately cease this wasteful activity, and furthermore to change the DOT/EPA exemption time on grey-market vehicles from 25 years to 15 years (to match the vehicle regulations of Canada), recognizing that the 25-year rule was enacted due to support from special interests such as Mercedes Benz North America.

This could open the flood gates to importing D1GP chassis cars and even OEM cars like the R32 Skyline Chaser, 180sx, and many other cars from the 90′s as they become legal here in the next coming years. It’s about time the DOT stopped trying to chase down R34 Skyline owners with our taxpayer money. Good news might be on the horizon for importers everywhere.

Read the Story: https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/stop-using-homeland-security-funds-seize-imported-vehicles-and-change-dotepa-exemption-15-years/L50BZzwj?utm_source=wh.gov&utm_medium=shorturl&utm_campaign=shorturl

Posted in D1GP, Lifestyle, Major Announcements | 12 Comments »

If your not out at a bar or having way more fun (playing Forza 4, working graveyard, or sleeping) then check out the Ebisu Circuit Live Cameras. The night time drifting right now is pretty busy as it sits around 7:00pm right now. If your a diehard drift fan this live stream camera from Ebisu Circuit will keep you entertained for hours. Follow the link below:

Watch Ebisu Circuit Live: http://www.ab.auone-net.jp/~ebisu24/live_camera/cam420.html

Posted in D1GP, International, Japanese, Video | 2 Comments »

The D1 Grand Prix 2011 season has come to a close with Fuji Speedway last month and these great images show some of the action. We have enjoyed some of the memories with this season that was delayed due to the huge earthquake earlier in the year. Back in March we were looking at a damaged Ebisu Circuit from the earthquake and less than six months later they had an event at the track undamaged. The lead photo shows the Team Orange Mitsubishi Evo X fading long time D1 star Ken Nomura at the high speed Fuji Speedway. Once the new 2012 D1GP schedule is posted up we will have it ready for you guys!

Posted in D1GP, International, Japanese | 1 Comment »

The guys from Modern Automotive Performance posted this D1 Grand Prix bed. Now I have a huge feeling this is a photoshop job but I like the idea of where they are going with this. We were at the release of this drift car back at the 2008 Tokyo Auto Salon when Team Orange released this new car in the Yokohama Tire booth. If you can prove your a bigger drifting fan than this guy with his D1GP bed please send us pictures and we will get you on the website ASAP!

Source: http://www.facebook.com/modernautomotiveperformance

Posted in D1GP, Lifestyle | 12 Comments »

Former D1GP champion Daigo Saito was seen all around LVMS this past weekend. In fact, he was even spotting for Robbie Nishida who performed amazing this weekend in his Silvia. This photo with team owner Gary Gardella gives us hope that he can provide a ride for the D1GP champion a ride in 2012. He has been rumored and rumored to come stateside time and time again. We do know he has some spare chassis sitting around the shop back home in New Jersey so maybe he could field a ride for both of these guys in 2012?

Posted in D1GP, Formula D, Robbie Nishida, Rumors/Gossip | 18 Comments »

The double round at Ebisu was a tough one on the drivers but Daigo Saito pulled off the second win of the weekend at Round 7. We couldn’t find much information on this round but we are sure Daigo Saito ran down the field. After watching him at Matsuri take that jump in his missile car over and over he is quite the crowd pleaser attacking this track. Here are some other photograph highlights of Round 7 bel0w:

Posted in D1GP, International, RESULTS, Robbie Nishida | 3 Comments »

It was a huge double D1GP weekend at the Ebisu Circuit South over the weekend. Round 6 took place on Saturday and Yoshinori Koguchi took home the win over Masato Kawabata in an insane tandem battle. Kawabata ended up making a huge error after the jump and straightened out resulting in the loss. Here are some other snaps from Round 6:

Posted in D1GP, International, RESULTS, Robbie Nishida | 1 Comment »

The 2009 D1GP champion put on a great performance in this SGC S15 and wound up qualifying first at Round 6 of the D1GP season. Formula Drift star Robbie Nishida ended up snagging 5th place according to his FB account for the event as well putting on a great showing for the Japanese crowd. Here are a few snaps from the qualifying round:

Posted in D1GP, International, RESULTS, Robbie Nishida | 7 Comments »

The new August issue of Option 2 is right around the corner from hitting newsstands in Japan. The magazine is notorious for it’s loaded coverage of the D1 Grand Prix series in the past. This makes sense logically since the magazine is based in Japan along with the D1GP drifting series. It has been one of the leading series in the world but during the past year some cracks in the world wide series have cropped up.

Teams have cried foul and the founders have walked away from the series. Option 2 magazine has now taken a step to promote another big drifting series worldwide that isn’t D1. We have to hold out on telling you what series that is but we hope you can figure it out with some deductive reasoning.

A recap show will be featured in the DVD insert and the magazine will include some drifting coverage from the series. We are told the official release of this announcement will come out shortly (by end of week perhaps) from the series but it will be a huge announcement. This comes as a pretty big blow to the D1GP series who has dominated the pages/DVDs of Option 2 magazine in years past.

Posted in D1GP, International, Japanese, Magazine | 15 Comments »