D1 Grand Prix
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The D1 Grand Prix (Japanese: D1グランプリ, D1 guranpuri in katakana, abbreviated as D1GP and subtitled Professional Drift) is a production car drifting series from Japan. It was formed in October 2000 by Option Magazine & Tokyo Auto Salon founder Daijiro Inada, and drifting legend Keiichi Tsuchiya. Since the beginning, the series has become a benchmark for all drifting series and is the most highly regarded of them all.
Contents |
[edit] History
The series began in October 2000 as the All Japan Professional Drift Championship (全日本プロドリフト選手権) with Keiichi Tsuchiya (土屋圭市) and Manabu Orido (織戸 学) as judges, and Manabu Suzuki (鈴木 学) as commentator. In some rounds, Daijiro Inada (稲田大二郎) usually make appearances in the opening ceremony and judging stand, Kitahara, as the tech inspector, and Takayasu Ozaku (more commonly known as Zaku) as the series' long serving cameraman. In earlier series, racing driver Eiji Yamada (known as Tarzan) made appearances.
During the first ever event which took place in Ebisu, Fukushima, Japan, with an entry of forty and a crowd of three thousand, drivers were judged individually. That round would be treated as the first round of the 2001 season and would shortly renamed as D1 Grand Prix. From round two onward, unlike drift events which judged the cars indivually each round then elimating the rest, the series introduced the one on one round battle called the tsuiso (twin run) round which has been the tradition for Touge races and has since been adopted for drifting events all over the world. Aftermarket parts manufacturers BLITZ, HKS and A'PEX soon began to get involved by sponsoring drivers entering the competition.
In the 2002, the amount of cars competiting in the tsuiou rounds would be reduced from ten to eight, and was increased to twelve by round two to allow for an additional round. That would be increased to sixteen by round four which stands to this day.
The series would remain domestic until 2003 when they hosted an exhibition round at Irwindale Speedway, Irwindale, California, USA. With a sellout crowd of ten thousand, which broke record for the venue and the series, this venue became the series' opening round in 2004 and has since expanded to capacitate fifteen thousand specators. This event saw the introduction of the English speaking commentator Toshi Hayama, who continues to narrate on the English version of Video Option called JDM Option.
That year saw car accessories store Autobacs as the title sponsor, and brought the first non-circuit event at Odaiba, Japan in January 2004, being held in a Fuji Television car park. It would also later be run as a championship round. In December 2004, the D1GP was held in California Speedway, Fontana, California, USA as a non-championship US vs. Japan event, running alongside the JGTC race as part of the non-championship GT Live event. Manabu Orido would leave as judge at the end of the season to become a driver.
The other regular staff for the 2005 season are D1 girls Kazumi Kondo (近藤和美) and Hatsuno Sugaya (菅谷はつ乃) who previously had careers as JGTC Race Queens. For the 2006 season, Hatsuno was replaced by Jyuri Tamashiro (玉城珠里).
As the series has always been Japanese dominated with few non-Japanese making it to the best 16, in the first round of the 2005 season, after narrowly beating Masato Kawabata who spun during their tsuiso round battle, Rhys Millen would become the first non-Japanese Driver to advance to the best 8 round. Although, he would lose to Yasuyuki Kazama after a sudden death tsuiso battle. The same year saw the introduction of the D1 Street Legal category which was unveiled at the Odaiba round, for cars which are built to be driven on the road.
Also in October 2005, the D1GP ventured to Europe with an exhibition round at Silverstone, Northamptonshire, UK. This event provided an upset, as after putting on a good performance in the first run, Irishman Darren McNamara would advance to the best 8 round after overtaking series regular Hiroshi Fukuda on the first run. Like Rhys Millen did in the first round, McNamara would also fall victim to Yasuyuki Kazama after losing four to six then tying in at the other round. With a crowd attendance of five thousand, the following year saw the D1GP running its own national series in the UK.
At the non-championship D1 USA vs Japan Allstar Exhibition at Irwindale Speedway in December 2005, we saw the series first non-Japanese winner for both car and driver: Vaughn Gittin Jr. with his Ford Mustang GT. At the following season opener in March 2006, Samuel Hubinette with his Dodge Viper SRT/10 took things further by making it into the best 8 by beating Gittin in a sudden death tsuiso battle, only to be beaten by Nobushige Kumakubo in his Subaru Impreza GDB. Kumakubo then went on into the finals to be beaten by Yasuyuki Kazama, who won his third successive first round championship event.
In 2006, the D1GP will venture into the highly lucurative Asian market by hosting a feeder series in Malaysia, as well as in New Zealand, both who are currently only running a drivers search event, which gives the drivers who do well in any of the national series' a chance to compete at the final event held in the US.
Since the series began, Video Option along with the English language sister title JDM Option (est. 2004) have exclusively covered all the official D1GP events.
[edit] Road to D1
Usually, drivers in Japan have to make it to the top of the championship table in one of four major national drifting series':
- Advan Drift Meeting
- A'PEX Cup
- ORC Drift Championship
- BN Sports D1 Drift Championship
Outside of Japan, drivers have to enter a Driver Search. Once they have qualified, they receive a D1 License, which enables them to enter the qualifying rounds and the newly introduced national series, plus the exhibition events that they are invited to.
In a championship event, usually entries are restricted to one hundred cars. Each car gets an allocation of three individual tansou (solo run) qualifying runs: only the best one counts. At the end of the day, the top twenty qualifiers join the ten seeded cars who are determined by the top ten on the D1GP championship tables. The seeded drivers are usually a red background on their number to identify them.
On race day, after two sets of practice runs are done through, competitors will go through a starting ceremony which they will be introduced to the crowds and then a driver will be rounded up in group of fours and be given a set of three qualifying runs to make it into the best 16 tsuiso (twin run) round battles, which involves two cars drifting simultaneously. The Tansou groups would be given, Priority A,B and C. "A" indicates seeded drivers and "C" indicates as qualifiers. The Tansou rounds always starts with the series leader and then goes through to the last driver with the highest number, which usually indicates that he is a qualifier. At the end of the drivers three rounds, only the best run counts and on each run, they are judged with an assistance of a DriftBox, which determines angle, keeping to the correct racing line and speed. That will be given a score upto a maximum of 100.0, should a driver score that point, he will be given a bonus score of 1 point which will be added to his score they accumulates diring the tsuiou round.
At the end when all drivers are judged, the judges picks the sixteen drivers for the tsuiou round, the highest scoring driver will be paired up against the sixteenth highest scorer, the second highest will be paired against the fifteenth highest and so on. Between this and the following tsuiou round, there is a pit walk session at the paddock area for spectators, usually off-limits to them, where they can get close to the D1 personnels, drivers and cars. This usually lasts upto an hour which the crowds disembark back to the crowd area ready fot the tsuiou round.
During a tsuiso round battle, one car follows another through the course, attempting to keep up with or even pass the car in front. It does not matter if the drifting line is wrong: it matters who has the most exciting drift. Normally, the leading car usually produces a maximum angle drift, but still closes off the inside line to prevent passing. The chasing car usually drifts with less angle, but very close to the lead car. However, the chasing car does not even have to keep up. In fact, in some cases, if a car that was left behind on the straight manages produces a beautiful drift, it could win that round. A spin, understeer, or collision, results in a disqualification and a zero score for the offending party in that battle.
At the final round, the two finallists will be gathered in front of the judging stand, which they park up together and stand by their car to be formally addressed by the judges, the driver would return to the starting line to continue with their last sets of tsuiou rounds. Until 2004, there was a third place playoff for the losing semi finallists, which has been dropped. Should there be no sudden death rounds being called up, the finallists would return in front of the judging area with the losing drivers, who would return from the starting line; where the winner's name will be called up be the lead judge, which a large trophy and bottle of champagne will be presented to them by the D1 Gals. A cheque would usually be presented to the top 3 drivers, the winner's cheque is usually worth ¥1million or $5000 in US events. After the name is announced, in some event, the driver would be given a toss up by competitors, a common tradition in some sports and usually the spectators will be invited onto the track.
As a D1 Licence has a lifespan of twelve months, a driver must qualify into the best 16 spot for an automatic renewal for the next year. Failing to do so, they must re-enter the Driver Search.
[edit] Typical D1GP Vehicle Regulations
Considering the fact that the D1GP is a series geared towards production cars only, there are a number of different race regulations that the vehicle must undergo in order to be eligible to compete. They are:
- The vehicle has to be a constructed by a major vehicle manufacturer and must be rear wheel drive.
- Vehicles constructed by a vehicle manufacturer solely for the purpose of racing are prohibited.
- front wheel drive (FF) cars with any RWD platform conversion are prohibited.
- all wheel drive (4WD) cars withtout any RWD platform conversion are prohibited.
- The vehicle must retain the original chassis/body -- only stock body constructed from an vehicle manufacturer is allowed.
- No tube frame vehicles or tube frame chassis extensions are permissible unless part of the OEM structure
- Space frame chassis are not permitted, additional triangulation and bracing of suspension turret/mounting points is allowed so long as the car vehicle contains its original monocoque chassis.
- Vehicles must retain their original VIN in its OEM position as well as the OEM chassis plate where applicable -- VIN must not be altered, clearly visible and readable.
- Convertible vehicles must have a hard top installed and a roll cage which will be effective in the event of a vehicle rolling onto its roof. The hard top must be securely fastened to the body.
- The vehicles appearance must be similar to that of the original vehicle.
- Slick Tires (S-Tires) were prohibited after the first season as they are not road legal, after Nobuteru Taniguchi used them to win the championship in 2001. The series now only permits commercially available road tires approved by the organization.
- Catalytic converters must be installed to keep the vehicle to the maximum noise limit at race circuits.
In the past, Drivers’ Search rules were more lenient to that of the championship rules until 2005, which the same rules apply to this day. For a full list of these regulations, please view them at The Official D1GB Rules Page.
[edit] D1 Street Legal
As the D1GP category was moving away from its grassroots during the earlier days, and budgets and development costs were getting higher, the organisers introduced the D1 Street Legal (D1ストリートリーガル (D1 sutoriito riigaru in katakana), as D1SL) category at the Odaiba round in 2005 for road driven cars which were different to the main category as they are trailer driven between races.
Being a budget series, this meant that there is tighter restrictions on how a car can be modified. For example, the car must have a working car stereo system and must have the original engine to whom it was originally supplied with. Also there is no wide body extension and wings must be within the width of the car. The car must also retain many of its original features, especially dashboard, doors, and etc. which sometimes can be replaced/removed/modified in the D1GP category. In all the car has to prove its roadworthiness by its entrant providing a shaken (Japanese motor-vehicle inspection) certificate.
Initially, the new series was treated to two exhibition rounds in 2005, and was given a full seven round the following year. Although the series is geared towards novice drifters, it also attracts D1GP star drivers including the Suenaga brothers, Masao and Naoto, many of its former D1GP regulars, and fan-favourites like Ken Nomura.
In 2006, the organisers started a divisional series called D1SL Divisional Series which does not require a D1 License and is broken up in four regions: north, south, east, and west, with rounds that consist of 3 to 4 events in each region and a point scoring system that is the same as the other series'. The winner of the series at the end is awarded a D1 License.
[edit] Typical D1SL Vehicle Regulations
Although the items that are prohibited in D1GP also applies in D1SL, the prohibited items in the car are
- Sequential transmission.
- Fuel cells.
- Carbon/beamless/FRP door replacements, must be OEM doors with side impact bars intact if possible.
- Airjacks.
- Tubed fenders/one-off metal body components, must be one that is available to the public.
- Custom/standalone relay/fuse switchboxes.
- Acrylic glass/polycarbonate window inserts and replacements, must be OEM glass.
- complete dash replacement parts, must be stock.
Other restriction in the category are…
- Spoilers must within the width of the vehicle.
- Brakes must stay stock dimensions; no swaps from other models of same make or not.
- must retain OEM amenities (ac/navigation/heater)
- A functioning car audio system must be in place.
- A 6 point roll cage with 4 point harness must be in place (same as that of D1GP).
- Restriction of engine swaps from other model into other model, as S15 Silvia Spec-S to Spec-R specification (SR20DE→SR20DET) may be permitted but a RB26DETT into a HR32 Skyline GTS-t is not unless the model is a BNR32, nor even is converting a AE85 to AE86 is permitted. Engines from other manufacturer’s car (e.g. Darren McNamara’s SR20DET powered AE86) are not permitted as well. But bolt on turbocharger and supercharger is permitted, the engine in the car can be determined by the VIN plate
Unlike D1GP, D1SL permits FWD cars to compete.
[edit] D1 National Series
During the 2005 exhibition event at Silverstone, a domestic series was announced with a plan to run the UK round as part of the world series for the following year, though plans for a point scoring round at that location never materialised. The series took over where the Autoglym Drift Championship left off, which was formerly run by the OPT Drift Club, an offshoot of a tuning business called Option Motorsport. The club held a championship in 2002 called D1UK (the previous moniker), though not related to the magazine, for the 2004 season, the business was forced to drop the Option and D1 name for legal reasons.
The difference between the Autoglym series, which was sponsored by the car care product manufacturer, and the D1GB is that the former had a separate championship for beginners called Clubmans which was run in a tansou (solo run) format only and did not require the common safety amenities (e.g. rollcages), and the latter is a main championship for experienced drivers which consists of the usual tsuiso (twin run) rounds. The other difference is, D1 regulation is more stingent on car modifications. The club was since absorbed into the D1 franchise as a national series.
The GB series, was followed by a Malaysia series (D1MY), though the series and drivers' search began earlier than its UK counterpart due to the difference in climate with its first round in March, compared with the UK series in May. The MY series tends to have the privilege of having Tsuchiya to judge the rounds, whereas the UK series only had Dorikin and Manabu Suzuki as judges in Round 2, on the weekend of the D1GP exhibition event. The New Zealand series (D1NZ) are currently run as a drivers' search rounds, which awards a D1 License to the winners and allow the top four to compete in the world exhibition event in the US in December.
At the end of the year, the D1 organisation would dissolve the UK franchise as it had not been much of a sucess they have hoped and the series was replaced by the European Drift Championship (EDC) which uses the same rule as the series itself while the D1 franchise would itself move to the US after three seasons of being opening points scoring round.
[edit] List of D1 Drivers
The following is a list of ten of the best known drivers in the series that are currently competing. For a full list, see main article.
- Yasuyuki Kazama
- Masao Suenaga
- Youichi Imamura
- Nobushige Kumakubo
- Ken Nomura
- Katsuhiro Ueo
- Toshiki Yoshioka
- Takahiro Ueno
- Masato Kawabata
- Ryuji Miki
[edit] Championship Winners
| Year | Driver | Team | Car |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Nobuteru Taniguchi | HKS | Nissan Silvia S15 |
| 2002 | Katsuhiro Ueo | Racing Garage SIFT | Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86 |
| 2003 | Youichi Imamura | A'PEXi | Mazda RX-7 FD3S |
| 2004 | Ryuji Miki | Top Secret | Nissan Silvia S15 |
| 2005 | Yasuyuki Kazama | Kei-Office | Nissan Silvia S15 |
[edit] Statistics
- Youngest Driver To Compete — Ken Gushi, age 18, 2004 Round 1
- Youngest Driver To Win — Youichi Imamura, age 24yrs 5mths, 2000 Round 1
- Youngest Championship Winner — Youichi Imamura, age 27yrs 5mths, 2003 Season
- Oldest Driver To Enter Best 16 (Non-Championship) — Rod Millen, age 55, 2005 D1 USA vs Japan Allstar Exhibition
- Oldest Driver To Compete (D1SL) — Daijiro Inada, age 59, 2006 Round 2
- Oldest Driver To Win (D1GP) — Ken Nomura, age 41yrs 2mths, 2006 Round 4
- Oldest Driver To Win (D1SL) — Kazuyoshi Okamura, age 47, 2006 Round 5
- Oldest Championship Winner — Yasuyuki Kazama, age 35yrs 9mths, 2005 Season
- Most Wins In A Single Season — 3 wins, Yasuyuki Kazama, 2005 Season
- Most Points In A Single Season — 110pts, Ryuji Miki, 2004 Season
- Narrowest Title Margin — 1pt; Yasuyuki Kazama (97pts) over Masao Suenaga (96pts), 2005 Season
- Widest Title Margin — 28pts; Youichi Imamura (106pts) over Nobushige Kumakubo (78pts), 2003 Season & Ryuji Miki (110pts) over Nobuteru Taniguchi (82 pts), 2004
- Oldest Car To Compete — 1969 Chevrolet Camaro - driven by Ryan Hampton
- Highest amount of entries – 109 (Rd 7, 2003)
- Lowest amount of entries – 25 (Rd 5, 2001)
[edit] All-Time Winners list
excludes non-championship, D1SL & non-Japanese National events
[edit] Driver
| Position | Car | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Youichi Imamura | 1 | ? | ? | ? | ? | 0 | 8 |
| # | Yasuyuki Kazama | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| # | Nobuteru Taniguchi | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | 6 |
| # | Nobushige Kumakubo | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| # | Katsuhiro Ueo | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| # | Ken Nomura | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| # | Mitsuru Haruguchi | 1 | 0 | ? | - | - | - | 8 |
| # | Takahiro Ueno | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| # | Masatoshi Asamoto | 0 | 0 | ? | ? | ? | - | 1 |
| # | Ken Maeda | 0 | 0 | ? | ? | ? | ? | 1 |
| # | Kazuhiro Tanaka | 1 | 0 | ? | ? | ? | ? | 1 |
| # | Ryuji Miki | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | 1 |
| # | Kouichi Yamashita | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| # | Toshiki Yoshioka | 0 | 0 | ? | ? | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| # | Masao Suenaga | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| # | Hideo Hiraoka | 0 | 0 | ? | ? | ? | 1 | 1 |
| # | Masato Kawabata | - | ? | ? | ? | ? | 1 | 1 |
[edit] Drivers all-time score table
| Position | Name | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Youichi Imamura | (1) 66 | (2) 54 | (2) 106 | (2) 78 | (1) 68 | 12 | 384 |
| # | Nobuteru Taniguchi | (2) 68 | (1) 64 | (1) 64 | (1) 82 | 36 | - | 314 |
| # | Nobushige Kumakubo | 0 | 56 | (2) 78 | 60 | 55 | 61 | 310 |
| # | Yasuyuki Kazama | 20 | 18 | 26 | (2) 72 | (3) 97 | (2) 58 | 291 |
| # | Ken Nomura | 0 | 58 | 44 | (1) 72 | 49 | (2) 54 | 277 |
| # | Katsuhiro Ueo | 24 | (1) 70 | (1) 70 | 0 | (1) 45 | 34 | 243 |
| # | Masao Suenaga | - | 24 | 20 | 14 | (1) 96 | 26 | 180 |
| # | Toshiki Yoshioka | - | 24 | 50 | 18 | (1) 40 | 31 | 163 |
| # | Ryuji Miki | 4 | 6 | 20 | (1) 110 | 1 | 156 | |
| # | Kazuhiro Tanaka | 0 | 18 | (1) 38 | 32 | 20 | 17 | 125 |
| # | Hisashi Kamimoto | 50 | 34 | 32 | 6 | - | - | 122 |
| # | Ken Maeda | 32 | (1) 20 | 0 | 42 | 9 | 103 | |
| # | Takahiro Ueno | (1) 52 | 12 | 4 | 20 | 18 | 9 | 115 |
| # | Gen Terasaki | 0 | 34 | 56 | 6 | 0 | 96 | |
| # | Masato Kawabata | - | 0 | 0 | 4 | 55 | 25 | 84 |
| # | Hideo Hiraoka | 18 | 30 | 0 | 20 | 3 | 4 | 75 |
| # | Tsuyoshi Tezuka | 20 | 16 | 8 | 0 | 19 | 9 | 72 |
| # | Masatoshi Asamoto | 0 | (1) 34 | 36 | 0 | 0 | - | 70 |
| # | Tatsuya Sakuma | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 24 | 67 |
| # | Tetsuya Hibino | - | 0 | 0 | 30 | 28 | 1 | 59 |
| # | Mitsuru Haruguchi | (1) 32 | 16 | 8 | - | - | - | 56 |
| # | Hiroshi Fukuda | 0 | 16 | 34 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 55 |
| # | Takashi Haruyama | - | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 47 |
| # | Yuuki Izumida | 0 | 40 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | ||
| # | Akinori Utsumi | 0 | 10 | 14 | 16 | 0 | - | 40 |
| # | Ryota Yuasa | 28 | 10 | 0 | - | - | - | 38 |
| # | Atsushi Kuroi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 21 | 36 |
| # | Yoshinori Koguchi | 12 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 34 | |
| # | Makoto Sezaki | 24 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | 30 | |
| # | Kouichi Yamashita | 0 | (1) 20 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 29 | |
| # | Wataru Hayashi | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 26 |
| # | Shunichi Tomikuda | 8 | 8 | 2 | 8 | 0 | - | 26 |
| # | Manabu Orido | - | - | - | - | 25 | - | 25 |
| # | Toyohisa Matsuda | - | - | 0 | 22 | 2 | 24 | |
| # | Kuniaki Takahashi | 0 | 0 | 18 | 4 | 2 | 24 | |
| # | Toru Maruyama | 22 | - | - | - | - | - | 22 |
| # | Tomoyuki Kubo | 0 | 22 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 22 | |
| # | Takahiro Imamura | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 2 | 20 | |
| # | Masayoshi Tokita | - | - | 4 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 20 |
| # | Yasushi Wakamatsu | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | |
| # | Daigo Saito | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 16 | 17 |
| # | Samuel Hubinette | - | - | - | 2 | 0 | 14 | 16 |
| # | Yukinobu Okubo | 0 | 14 2 0 | 0 | - | 16 | ||
| # | Teruaki Itai | 14 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 14 | |
| # | Shinji Matsukawa | - | - | - | - | 14 | 14 | |
| # | Naoto Suenaga | - | - | - | 0 | 11 | 2 | 13 |
| # | Noritsugu Totani | 0 | 0 | 12 0 | 0 | - | 12 | |
| # | Kazunari Hayashida | - | - | 0 | 12 0 | - | 12 | |
| # | Rhys Millen | - | - | - | 0 | 12 | 12 | |
| # | Hiroshi Takahashi | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 12 |
| # | Hideto Tao | 10 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 10 |
| # | Toshimasa Maruta | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | - | 10 |
| # | Shuichi Yoshioka | - | - | - | - | 8 | 1 | 9 |
| # | Toru Inose | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| # | Shinichi Yamada | - | - | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8 | |
| # | Kenji Takayama | - | - | 0 | 0 | 8 | 8 | |
| # | Kaoru Yoshikawa | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 8 |
| # | Michihiro Takatori | 0 | - | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| # | Yoshifumi Tadokoro | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| # | Takumi Nozawa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 | |
| # | Kensaku Komoro | - | - | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| # | Shoji Nakazawa | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| # | Tetsuya Saito | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | - | - | 4 |
| # | Ken Shinose | - | - | - | - | 4 | 4 | |
| # | Hisashi Oginome | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 2 |
| # | Takayuki Matusi | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 2 |
| # | Chikara Mizuhata | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| # | Seigo Yamamoto | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 2 |
| # | Kusunori Tanaka | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 2 |
| # | Shingo Murao | - | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | 2 |
| # | Shinji Minowa | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| # | Manabu Fujinaka | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| # | Vaughn Gittin, Jr. | - | - | - | - | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| # | Tomokazu Hirota | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| # | fujirao | 2 | 2 | |||||
| # | Junichi Miyamoto | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| # | Masaru Kakemizu | - | - | 0 | - | 1 | 1 | |
| # | Koji Togasaki | - | - | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
- italics — inactive driver
- bold — current score
- Wins — (bracket)
- If the driver who had been competing but had not scored points, they would be given a 0 in their score.
[edit] Car
- Nissan Silvia S15 — 19 wins
- Mazda RX-7 FD3S — 9 wins
- Toyota Sprinter AE86 — 8 wins
- Nissan Skyline ER34 — 3 wins
- Toyota Soarer JZZ30, Mazda RX-7 FC3S, Subaru Impreza GDB — 1 win each
[edit] Car all-time winning table
| Position | Car | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Nissan Silvia S15 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 19 |
| 2nd | Mazda RX-7 FD3S | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 9 |
| 3rd | Toyota Sprinter AE86 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| 4th | Nissan Skyline ER34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 5th | Toyota Soarer JZZ30 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5th | Mazda RX-7 FC3S | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5th | Subaru Impreza GDB | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 1 |
[edit] Top 10 Largest Spectator Attendance
| Venue | Event | Date | Raceday |
|---|---|---|---|
| Odaiba | Allstars | April 18, 2004 | 21,000 |
| Odaiba | Allstars | April 17, 2005 | 18,546 |
| Suzuka | Rd.6 | September 10, 2006 | 17,000 |
| Odaiba | Rd.2 | April 16, 2005 | 15,606 |
| Irwindale | Rd.1 | February 28, 2004 | 15,000 |
| Irwindale | Rd.1 | February 27, 2005 | 15,000 |
| Autopolis | Rd.4 | July 30, 2006 | 14,500 |
| Fuji | Rd.6 | October 23 2005 | 14,190 |
| Odaiba | Exhib. | April 19, 2004 | 12,000 |
| Irwindale | Rd.1 | March 4, 2006 | 12,000 |
Source: D1GP.co.jp
[edit] Trivia
- Nobushige Kumakubo, D1GP entrant, owns Ebisu circuit, which is why D1 originated from there, and is also why he tends to perform strongly in tsuiso (twin run) rounds.
- On Nobushige Kumakubo's hood of his 2004 Nissan Silvia S15, the words Big X appear. Big X is an invitation only outdoor show that combines drifting, FMX, supermoto, car stunts and other extreme sports featuring the experts from each field.
- Each of the Big X stunts are represented by the same teams, they are: Team MX-Virus, who represents FMX; Asphalt Dancer representing motorcycle stunts, otherwise known as Extreme Bike; Trialpromotion.co.jp representing Motorcycle Trials
- Of the BigX performers other than drifting, one of the most notable FMX rider is Eigo Saito who have performed in events outside Japan such as the renowned invitational only Red Bull X-Fighters and the X Games.
- Big X's drifting squad is called DriftXtreme, which the top drivers of the D1GP are invited to join once they are well known. You can see the DriftXtreme decal on the featured D1 driver's cars. These include, but are not limited to: Nobushige Kumakubo, Ken Nomura, Yasuyuki Kazama, Miki Ryuji, Kazuhiro Tanaka, and Yuuki Izumida.
- Many of the D1GP entrants are considered as celebrities in Japan and outside the country, and also usually have racing careers in the Super GT or Super Taikyu races. Manabu Orido and Nobuteru Taniguchi are examples, and Keiichi Tsuchiya serves as a Super GT team manager until recently. Both Youichi Imamura and Miki Ryuji compete in the one-make Altezza Cup. Other D1GP drivers outside Japan with motorsport career include the father and son team of Rhys and Rod Millen, who were rally drivers up until their entry to drifting. Rod still currently holds the overall Pikes Peak fastest time record that has stood since 1994 in a 3S-GT powered Toyota Celica ST205 which was especially built for the race. Stephan Papadakis is another example, being best known for import drag racing in his factory supported Honda Civic. Prior to drifting, Darren McNamara has a long history of racing from the age of 11 as he competed in various dirt track races and rallies in his native Ireland.
- Masao Suenaga, the RE Amemiya driver, was personally chosen by Isami Amemiya to drive the fully tuned Mazda RX-7 FD3S. He was personally taught by Nobushige Kumakubo, along with his brother, Naoto Suenaga, who currently also has a D1 license.
- Youichi Imamura, unlike other competitors in the series who work within the car industry, manages his family run floristry business, Silky House Flower Boutique, when he is not racing.
- Manabu Suzuki is well known for working with Option Magazine and in car designs, even working on the paint scheme and decals for Manabu Orido's RS*R Toyota Supra JZA80. Suzuki also has a background in motorsport, competing in the Japanese Formula 3 series entitled Formula Toyota.
- In most cases, cars with the rear wheel drive drivetrain layout are the most popular in the series, seeing as all wheel drive (4WD) cars are barred, and front wheel drive (FF) cars are usually outperformed. In hindsight, FF cars are not able to carry out a drift as a drift is often controlled by applying power to the rear wheels - which FF cars are inherently unable to do. Under the revised rules, FF cars do not qualify for entrance into the event. However, cars with this drivetrain layout have started to make a regular appearance in the qualifying stages in the D1SL. Although, they are usually outperformed and outqualified by their rear wheel drive competitors.
- D1SL standalone events tends to take places on former D1GP venues as they are outcapacitated by the large crowd attendance required by the latter events, therefore cost of hiring the course for the D1SL events are low as they are held on smaller courses.
- TV presenter, singer, Super GT driver and amateur drifter Hiromi Kozono (ヒロミ; real kanji name 小園 浩巳) guest commentated at the Odaiba Allstar event in 2005.
- Toyohisa Matsuda and Masayoshi Tokita are former bōsōzoku members, given the trademark toy baseball bat that they like to wave about, the twisted towel headband and Tokita's pompadour hairstyle and fondness of a jumpsuit (all a popular feature of gang members).
- Many of the D1 cars have made appearance in driving games that are not specific to drifting. One of Nobuteru Taniguchi's private Nissan Silvia S15's with early livery can be seen in the Genki videogame Shutokou Battle 0 as a hidden car. Also, his HKS Hipermax S15 RS2, and Ken Nomura's Blitz ER34 (2004 livery) are available to buy in Gran Turismo 4. Shingo Murao, as he is credited for his involvement in the game, has his Vigoras FC3S avaiable to be unlocked in a Tuned Car Race. Another available D1 car is Youichi Imamura's A'PEXi FD3S in Battle Gear 4 as a Special Shiyou Car. [1]
- Other cars that rarely appear in the D1GP series include:
- Porsche 911 (Rd 4, 2003) -- Katsumi Inagaki (稲垣勝巳)
- JZA70 Supra (Rd 2-3, 2001) -- Yuuki Izumida (出水田裕樹)
- Z32 Fairlady Z (Rd 4, 2001; Rd 2, 2003)
- AW11 MR2 (Rd 5, 2001; Rd 2-3, 2003)
- TA63 Celica (Rd 2-5, 2001) -- Shunichi Tomikuda (富久田俊一)
- Toyota AE85 (single-cam) (Rd 3-4 2002) -- Shuji Kaneko (金子修司)
[edit] See also
- Drifting (motorsport)
- Video Option
- Option (car magazine)
- D1 Grand Prix (game)
[edit] External links
[edit] Official Sites
- Official Japanese Site
- Official US Site
- Official UK Site
- Official D1 Grand Prix Malaysia Site
- Official NZ Site
- UK National Series Site
[edit] Fan site
[edit] D1 personnel's site
[edit] D1 Gal's site
- Hatsuno-Jyuku (Hatsuno Sugaya)
- Innocent Jyuri (Jyuri Tamashiro)
- Kazumi Photohouse (Kazumi Kondo) - currently inactive
[edit] D1 driver's site
- MAX Orido (Manabu Orido)
- Tsuyoshi Tezuka
- Ryuji Miki
- Ryuji Miki (Yahoo! Blog)
- Takahiro Ueno (Blog)
- Gen Terasaki (Blog)
- Yuke's D1 Project Blog (Nobushige Kumakubo)
| D1 Grand Prix |
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| Seasons: 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
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