Before you click “play”, can someone tell me what the hell is that course on the lower left? Damn, they’re letting people drift through the safari park now?
Nope, someone in the editing department just screwed up. Ebisu does have eight “tracks”, but they left out Kurukuru Land, which is actually a small skidpan, and not really a track. If you move your mouse over the timeline until it says 2:45 and look up until you see that second little dark patch just below the gooseneck on Nishi Course, that’s it.
This might be a good time to point out that I’m available for freelance consultancy on these kinds of matters. Hourly rates start at ridiculous and end at obscene, but as long as you throw in gas money, I’m happy.
Anyway, I was still driving up to Ebisu the morning most of this was shot, so I don’t have much else to add.
The next video is a bit more interesting though.
You can see me a little bit in this one during the dinner scene, wearing that same stripey Element hoodie I seem to wear in every photo.
Damn, they really should have made this video longer and shown some of the food we were eating!
Suzuki-san (the lady in the kimono) is the third-generation boss of the Azumakan Onsen, a huge hot-spring hotel about fifteen minutes from Ebisu Circuit. She already knew about Kumakubo and drifting, so she was actually really keen to come out and go for a ride in JR’s car. In the kind of style you’d expect a big hotel manager to have, she turned up right on time, went for a ride and left, only to come back wearing a completely different outfit and some souvenirs to give to the crew!
When we arrived at the onsen, most of the American crew freaked out about the fact that we were all staying in group rooms instead of one person per room. Sleeping in a big room on futons is the traditional way to do things at an onsen, since it’s all part of getting to know the people you’re with and enjoying each other’s company rather than everyone disappearing into their respective rooms and watching CNN because that’s the only thing in English.
While they all ran back and forth freaking out, Tokyo Drive’s Kenta (JR’s translator) and I sat down and tried the complementary spicy ginger tea and pickled burdock root. Not exactly the usual “mint on the pillow”!
I’ve stayed at the Azumakan before, and was looking forward to going downstairs and sitting in the outdoor hot spring. I only managed to convince Gay Andy (Drift Alliance’s camera dude) to go downstairs and try it though, but he enjoyed it.
These videos really should be longer. So much more happened than what they’re showing!
Yes, I’ve missed quite a few posts recently, so I apologise to all of you who look forward to a daily Noriyaro fix.
Odaiba D1 took up the whole weekend, most of last week was extremely busy, and this week so far has been the same. Writing lots of words, going through lots of photos, and spending eight hours doing a what should be a one-hour job on the Skyline. On the upside, I took it to Nikko Circuit today for a Winds Auto drift event, so I feel a bit better after standing there being teased by watching other people drift all weekend.
Speaking of that, if you’re wondering why there’s been no report on Odaiba D1, that’s because it was sold to a magazine just like the Ebisu D1. Yep, I’m a sell-out, but I still have plenty of interesting photos to put up that go beyond the usual “drift car sideways with a crowd in the background”, so look forward to that.
One cool little thing that happened at D1 was that Ryuusuke Kawasaki, the editor of Drift Tengoku magazine (AKA “The Bible”), said he found my website and really liked the photography. Nice.
Also, it was cool to meet Zhandos, a reader of Noriyaro who came all the way from Kazakhstan to watch D1.
Tomorrow is a “sitting on the computer and doing proper work” day, so look forward to some new content soon.
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Congratulations Yoshinori Koguchi, winner of the 2009 D1GP Exhibition Round at Odaiba.
Koguchi’s car looks more like a red banana than a 180SX now, as he had a little t-bone accident with Kawabata, which he luckily came away from with just panel damage and drove through to win.
Second place was Masayoshi Tokita in the Goodyear Zero Crown, who drove the massive Toyota ridiculously well all day, skimming the foam block wall on almost every run with his police lights flashing, becoming the crowd favourite as a result.
On another note, sorry I haven’t been updating with longer posts recently. There’s been a lot of other work to do, and not enough time to go over pics I’ve taken for the site. Everything should be back to normal next week.
Until then, I’ll update the Twitter feed with anything interesting that happens tomorrow at D1!
Skidmarks that long usually mean you’ve had enough time to think about what you did wrong, what you should do next time, and to size up the dirt wall in front of you to see if there will be a next time or not.
Here’s a one-shot of a Hakosuka’s tough profile for my buddy Kevin over at Japanese Nostalgic Car blog, who has been having a bit of the hate part of the love/hate relationship with his own Hako at the moment.
Remember Tomonori Akai’s purple AE86 hatch? After cracking the crankshaft of his 10,000rpm engine clean in half, he bought this turbo 86 we saw at Tsukuba circuit, transplanted the engine and replaced the transmission with a Toyota W55, replaced the diff with a 7.5-inch item bought from C&Y Sports.
So what happens when you run an industrial laser cutter all day? You make neat custom panels to fit your Defi gauges and other bits and pieces.
I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of the Stagea, and part of that because of all the people who go frothy at the mouth as they go on about how it’s really a Skyline but it’s a wagon and how awesome that is.
It should just be taken on its own merits, such as how good it can look when lowered on some wide and shiny wheels.
