Japanese Drifting
Drifting in Japan has been commercially popular for over fifteen years and now drifting is rapidly building a fan base in North America, Australia, UK, and Malaysia. In order to better understand drifting culture, you need to look at drifting’s biggest influences in the county were it began – JAPAN.
Daijiro Inada may be the biggest influence in Japanese automotive culture. Daijiro Inada is the founder of Option Magazine and its video spin-off series, creator of the D1 Grand Prix series, and founder of Tokyo Auto Salon, which is the largest automotive event in the world. Daijiro Inada is the heart of Japanese automotive culture, but like any savvy businessman, Mr. Inada understood he couldn’t promote drifting culture alone, so he enlisted the help of Drift King himself - Keiichi Tsuchiya. Together, the two icons would spread drifting to the world.
Keiichi Tsuchiya is a famous Japanese street racer turned professional driver. Keiichi Tsuchiya is credited with developing several drifting techniques widely used by professional drifters today. Unlike most professional drivers that come from wealthy backgrounds, Keiichi Tsuchiya earned his reputation and honed his racing skills from illegal underground street races. Drift King is a D1 Grand Prix Judge and regular fixture in drifting dvds like JDM Option and Best Motoring International.
Click Here to view a map of Japan displaying popular drifting and motorsport destinations.
Posted on March 31st, 2008 by Tom
Filed under: Drivers | 2 Comments - Leave a Comment »
The HPI D-Box drift assist system is an adjustable electronic stability control device that allows beginner RC drifters to drift like pros and pros to drift like gods. A small yaw control sensor in the D-Box detects when the car’s rear end is sliding and then automatically makes corrections in steering to keep the car from spinning. The D-Box connects between the receiver and the steering servo and can be used with all radio gear with Futaba style connectors. Although specifically designed for RC drifting, the D-Box can improve any RC car’s handling.
Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift features many beautiful drift cars like tuned Japanese imports, Eurotuners, and American muscle cars. More than 200 cars were used for the film and since body kits and other modifications can make it difficult to recognize the original car, this is a guide to the vehicles of Tokyo Drift.
Initial D is a live-action film based on the popular Japanese Initial D anime and manga. Overall, the Initial D movie stays true to the original story line and does a good job bringing the characters to life. The cars drifting and beautiful visuals during the race scenes are my favorite parts of the movie.
