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Masao Suenaga won Round 3 of the 2007 D1 Grand Prix Japan Professional Drift Season held at Suzuka Circuit driving his Mazda RX-7 drift car.

2007 Drift D1 Grand Prix Japan Round 3 Results

1. Masao Suenaga - Mazda RX-7 FD3S
2. Tetsuya Hibino - Toyota AE86
3. Youichi Imamura - Nissan Z33
4. Nobushige Kumakubo - Subaru Impreza WRX GDB
5. Kazuyoshi Okamura - Nissan S15 Silvia
6. Masato Kawabata - Nissan S15 Silvia
7. Ken Nomura - Nissan ER 34 Skyline
8. Tsuyoshi Tezuka - Nissan BNR32 Skyline
9. Tsutomu Fujio - Mazda RX-7 FD3S
10. Kazuhiro Tanaka - Subaru Impreza WRX GDB
11. Tomokazu Hirota - Toyota Chaser JZX110
12. Toshiki Yoshioka - Toyota AE86
13. Kensaku Komoro - Toyota AE86
14. Atsushi Kuroi - Nissan PS13 Silvia
15. Toyohisa Matsuda - Toyota AE86
16. Tatsuya Sakuma - Nissan S15 Silvia

As of May 18, 2007 – the D1 Grand Prix USA event scheduled at Altamont Motorsports Park, California for June 23rd and 24th is cancelled due to unresolved issues between Altamont Motorsports Park and the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.

In reference to the recent Alameda County imposed ban on drifting Altamont Motorsports Park CEO John Condren says, “We will continue to work towards some resolution of this impasse; however, given the timing of the upcoming D1 event date, the Altamont Motorsports Park Board of Directors feels that it is prudent to cancel the event at this time. We are hopeful that we can correct this situation and the perceptions of Supervisor Haggerty over time, perhaps shortly; but financial responsibilities outweigh any further delay of this decision.”

2007 is the first year D1 Grand Prix has sought to hold a complete professional drifting season on US soil, so it is fair to expect problems but this is the second event cancellation D1 Grand Prix has announced for its inaugural 2007 USA Season.

The first event scheduled for March 10th and 11th at the Irwindale Speedway, California was cancelled because the Japanese drivers participating in the event would not be ready in time to compete…read more. Now there are 3 events instead of 5 scheduled for the 2007 D1 Grand Prix USA Season.

The 2 remaining D1 Grand Prix USA events will continue as planned.

• July 13th and 14th Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Las Vegas, NV
• November 24th and 25th Irwindale Speedway - Irwindale, CA

After canceling the Skyline GT-R in 1973, Nissan revived the GT-R name in 1989. Nismo, or Nissan Motorsport International, originally designed the new R32 GT-R Skyline to have a 2350 cc straight six turbocharged engine, and produce 600 horsepower using a RWD drivetrain. Under Group A regulations, a turbocharged engine must multiply its engine displacement by 1.7, putting the new Skyline in the 4000 cc class, and requiring the use of 10 inch wide tires. Knowing that the new Skyline would be required to use 10 inch wide tires, Nissan made the decision to make the GT-R all wheel drive.

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Chris Forsberg won Round 2 of the 2007 Formula Drift Season “Road Atlanta” Event held at Winder Highway, Braselton, Georgia.

Formula Drift Round 2 “Road Atlanta” Results

1. Chris Forsberg - Nissan 350Z
2. Darren McNamara - Toyota Corolla AE86 Levin
3. Tanner Foust - Nissan 350Z
4. Rhys Millen - Pontiac Solstice GXP
5. Daijiro Yoshihara - Nissan S13 Silvia
6. Bill Sherman - Nissan S13 Silvia
7. Ross Petty - Nissan S13 240SX Silvia
8. Ken Gushi - Ford Mustang GT
9. Ryan Tuerck - Nissan S13 Silvia
10. Tony Angelo - Mazda RX-8

Often in drifting, the term Countersteering or Opposite Lock Steering - is used to describe the steering technique drivers utilize to maintain control of an oversteering or drifting vehicle. Countersteering is fundamental to drifting because without accurate countersteering, the car will spin to a stop.

Countersteering begins when the car starts to oversteer or drift. That is, the REAR wheels do not track behind the front wheels but instead slide toward the outside of the turn in a more straight-line trajectory due to the vehicle’s momentum.

Once the car starts drifting you must countersteer. For example: Say you are about to drift a right hand turn like in the example above. When entering the corner you turn the steering wheel to the RIGHT to get the car going in that direction. If you have enough speed, the car is going to oversteer and the rear end of the car will be sliding outward because of momentum. To keep the car on the road or from spinning out, you must countersteer by turning the steering wheel to the LEFT. Countersteering is the only way to keep the car from spinning to a stop.

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Some of the elite Japan drivers made their way to participate in USA’s first ever east coast appearance of the D1 Grand Prix USA Series. Round 1 of the new D1 Grand Prix USA drifting competition was held May 4th and 5th at New Jersey’s Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

Japanese driver and 2006 D1 Grand Prix Japan Champion, Nobushige Kumakubo, took First Place in Round 1 of the inaugural D1 Grand Prix USA Series driving his Team Orange sponsored Subaru Impreza GDB. Nobushige Kumakubo is the man to beat this year because Kumakubo is also currently sitting in First Place in the D1 Grand Prix Japan Series!

2007 D1 Grand Prix USA Round 1 Top 8 Drivers

• (Winner) Nobushige Kumakubo – Team Orange sponsored Subaru Impreza GDB

• Toshiki Yoshioka – Droo-P sponsored Toyota AE86

• Ken Nomura – Blitz sponsored Nissan Skyline ER34

• Takahiro Ueno – T&E sponsored Toyota Soarer JZZ30

• Robbie Nishida – Team Falken / Peak Performance sponsored Nissan 240sx

• Yoichi Imamura – Top Secret sponsored Nissan Fairlady Z (350Z)

• Ross Petty – Team Falken / BOSO sponsored Nissan 240sx

• Andrew Hateley – Modiride / Retax sponsored Nissan 350Z

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