Archives » 2007 » July

Originally, Initial D was a manga written by Japanese author Shuichi Shigeno that has been featured in Kodansha’s Young Magazine since 1995. Since Initial D’s inception, Initial D has been adapted into a long-running anime series, live action film, and video games.

The Initial D anime and manga focus on the world of Japanese underground mountain-pass street racing known as touge racing where drifting is key to maintaining speed and winning races. In order to stay true to street racing and drifting culture, Initial D producers hired street racing and drifting legend Keiichi “Drift King” Tsuchiya to their editorial staff.

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The Nissan RB26DETT is a 2.6L straight-6 four-stroke engine best known for being the power plant for Nissan’s premier sports car the Skyline. The “D” indicates a double overhead cam, the “E” stands for electronically fuel-injected, and the “TT” means the engine has twin turbochargers.

If you want to buy a RB26DETT Click Here!

Originally, the R32 Skyline GT-R was planned to have a 2.4L RB24DET (single turbo) in order to compete in the 4000cc class of Group A. But when Nismo engineers added the AWD system to the R32 Skyline it made the car heavy and less competitive. At that point, Nissan made the decision to add twin turbochargers to the now 2.6L engine and compete in the 4500cc class. The resulting engine would be known as the RB26DETT that is popular today.

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HKS is a Japan based automotive engineering company that produces high performance aftermarket parts like: exhaust, intakes, suspension, turbochargers, superchargers, blowoff valves, fuel management components, intercoolers, and camshafts for JDM vehicles. HKS has sponsored many famous drivers over the years and competed in many forms of motorsports including D1 Grand Prix, drag racing, F3, and JGTC.

HKS is led by former Yamaha Motor Company engineer Hiroyuki Hasegawa and partner Mr. Kitagawa, the two secured funding from Sigma Automotive Co. solidifying the name “HKS.”

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Japanese drifter Daijiro Yoshihara drove his Nissan S13 Silvia to victory at Round 4 of the 2007 Formula Drift Season. Round 4 of Formula D was held at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington. Next Formula D event will be held Saturday August 11, 2007 at Infineon Raceway - Sonoma, CA.

Stay up to date with Drift Japan’s 2007 Drift Event Schedule!

Formula Drift Round 4 Results

1. Daijiro Yoshihara - Nissan S13 Silvia
2. Vaughn Gittin, Jr. - Ford Mustang
3. Kenji Yamanaka - Nissan S14, S15 Silvia
4. Chris Forsberg - Nissan 350Z
5. Tanner Foust - Nissan 350Z
6. Samuel Hubinette - Dodge Charger
7. Bill Sherman - Pontiac Firebird Trans Am
8. Tyler McQuarrie - Porsche 911
9. Rhys Millen - Pontiac Solstice GXP
10. Casper Canul - Nissan S14.5 Silvia

Formula Drift Championship Standings After Round 4

1. Tanner Foust - Nissan 350Z
2. Daijiro Yoshihara - Nissan S13 Silvia
3. Chris Forsberg - Nissan 350Z
4. Rhys Millen - Pontiac Solstice GXP
5. Kenji Yamanaka - Nissan S14, S15 Silvia
6. Samuel Hubinette - Dodge Charger
7. Vaughn Gittin, Jr. - Ford Mustang
8. Darren McNamara - Toyota AE86 (Nissan SR20DET engine swap)
9. Tyler McQuarrie - Porsche 911
10. Bill Sherman - Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

Japanese drifter Yoichi Imamura won first place at Round 2 of the 2007 D1 Grand Prix USA Season driving the Top Secret sponsored Nissan 350Z. Round 2 was held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Nevada. The final 2007 D1GP USA drifting event will be a combined D1 Grand Prix USA Competition and D1 Grand Prix World Championship and will take place Saturday November 24th and 25th at Irwindale Speedway, California.

2007 D1 Grand Prix USA Round 2 Top 8 Drivers

• (Winner) Yoichi Imamura - Top Secret sponsored Nissan Fairlady Z (350Z)
• Hideo Hiraoka - Nissan S15 Silvia
• Toshiki Yoshioka - Droo-P sponsored Toyota AE86
• Kazuhiro Tanaka - Subaru Impreza GDB
• Ken Nomura - Blitz sponsored Nissan Skyline ER34
• Takahiro Ueno - T&E sponsored Toyota Soarer JZZ30
• Katsuhiro Ueo - Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86
• Tetsuya Hibino - Toyota Corolla Levin AE86

I get asked often “How to build a drift car?” Here is a short overview on how to make your car drift ready.

Since most of the cars you guys will be tuning have higher miles, they need a little love. The first thing I would suggest is making sure the car is in good running condition. Make sure all the belts are good, check all the fluids, and change the oil. If the air filter is dirty replace it.

Next, check the brakes. Make sure brake pads have life left and the rotors are not too worn. Since you will be using the e-brake to initiate drifts and to correct drift angle once the car is sliding sideways, you need to make sure the rear brake pads are in good condition. Otherwise, you will have a hard time getting the rear wheels to lock up when you pull the e-brake. If they are worn out go to Napa, Auto Zone, or Oreilly’s and buy the brake parts you need - most of these auto parts stores have lifetime replacement policies.

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Taniguti Akira Makoto (Nobuteru Taniguchi), or “NOB” (No One Better) as he is known by drifting and motorsport fans, is a professional Japanese driver who has many wins to his credit including the 2001 D1 Grand Prix Championship in Japan.

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.

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