JUMPING DRIFT CANNOT LOSE: 2004 D1GP crash at Ebisu Circuit
February 13, 2009 12:30 am
I’ve been going through more of the photos I took on some of my earlier trips to Japan, and there’s some fairly interesting stuff in there, like this little incident that happened at the first D1GP round I ever attended, at Ebisu Circuit in 2004.
Miki Ryuji, while trying to match Hibino’s ridiculous late-corner entry speed (Youtube video) ran a bit too wide and collided with the dirt wall.
The Silvia made a really loud thump as it hit. It wasn’t the usual “crushing an aluminium can” sound of a car crash.
Orido was the first person on the scene, after jumping down a couple of meters from the judging stand.
Someone in Norway bought this car, didn’t they?
Kazama, Maeda, Kumakubo, Miki, Smokey, Tsuchiya, Tanaka and Hiraoka.
There’s pretty much a zero percent chance of ever seeing all of these people in the same photo again.
I’ll probably put up some more photos from that D1 round a bit later.
Tags: Ebisu Circuit, Miki Ryuji, Nissan, S15, Silvia, Top SecretCategorised in: Crash クラッシュ, D1GP
This post was written by Alexi
28 Comments
http://www.topsecretjpn.com/d1s156.jpg
That car had an awesome koala picture on the trunklid…
It must have been drawn by someone pretty awesome! 🙂
It may also have been used as criminal evidence 🙁
Looks almost like he might have hit his read off the door or cage and been shaken up a little bit.
That was a pretty solid impact
Love the 2nd photo, everyone else seems to have just started reacting in the judging booth and superman Orido has already flown down to assist Miki. That’s racing reflexes right there.
Nice pics mate.
If i remember correctly, this car is in the USA, owned by Ben from Bulletproof Automotive, as it is Top Secret’s Time attack R34.
The S15 from D1 which went all the way to norway was Kazama’s green S15 (and i think the blue one is in europe somewhere too)
cool shit, that crash was rough!
Gosh damn dude.
That car was so cool looking. I remember that
This was before Top Secret switched to the Z w/ the RB, right?
Awesome pix as usual. THANKS!!!
Ouchies.
Quite a legendary group standing right there…that’s for sure.
this event was nomuken’s first win
Far out, that’s a fairly solid smack into that dirt. Awesome to see that the judges are just that onto it in getting in and helping to see whether the drive is OK.
ouch that did look like he smacked his head one something in crash glad he was ok tho
A.Gomez. i thort that kazamas green s15 was turned into the light blue one still used in d1 today, if im wrong that awesome tho coz kazama’s green s15 is by far my favourite d1 car, id love to see it in action again even if kazama wasnt the pilot
i remember seeing this on HPI dvd very big smack!
Laurence,
I’ve heard, yeah.
Sneaky,
I reckon Orido was more concerned about the swimming pool of oil forming on the track from the still-running engine pumping out through the shattered oil cooler.
Wait isn’t Kazama’s car now the Prodrive Bridgestone S15 driven by Yoichi Imamura??
Damn, now im confused…
I think both of you are right, probally there was more than 1 car…
The green one from norway :
http://japanauto.no/brukt/biler/184.htm
It has the the number box from D1 USA, and iirc the last time that car run on irwindale was circa 2005 ( I think in 2006 he used the blue one, don’t have time to bother searching about it now though ) then Imamura used the red one in 2008 (probably it was the blue one as you guys said) so i’d say there was (atleast) 2 different shells, the original green car (now in norway) and the blue one which turned into the red later.
My little 2 pennys.
Haha someone needs to keep track of what happens to all these “old” D1 Cars after they are retired.
The green Kazama car was sold to norway.
There is however a “copy” of the top secret s15 buildt here in norway that goes by the name of “No Secret”
I think Ben Schaffer of Bulletproof Automotive bought both the Top Secret time attack R34 and this one.
Ok then, oil it is. You were right there in the action Alexi. Orido still looks like he moved a hell of a lot faster than anyone else to stop said Exxon Valdez oil slick (……or maybe he was saving Miki from the invisible fire!)
Imamura’s car is different from Kazama’s car. Ueo bought Kazama’s car. (I think) Yeah, I know it’s sad to see an AE86 legend switch to a newer car because the AE86 can no longer keep up with the high-horsepower drift cars of today. I miss the old D1.
“Kazama, Maeda, Kumakubo, Miki, Smokey, Tsuchiya, Tanaka and Hiraoka.
There’s pretty much a zero percent chance of ever seeing all of these people in the same photo again.”
Oh yeah! Thanks for that one.
@james banks – thats the car i was thinking of thanx mate, last i heard they turned the green car into that one
kazama’s S15 was NOT sold to norway. a S15 built strictly for promotional/D1US running was. though as said, the original car was sold to the M.O.V.E team which ueo drove under for the 2007 season.
(green interior was clearly visible @ rd. 1 in ebisu)
from what i hear the original car now sits retired.
Laurence; that koala is the aust. version of the punched out cat 😉
-bc
Hahah I give up. Miki’s, Kazama’s and Imamura’s S15 are all fantastic machines!
bc, hehe yeah, I actually originally drew that sticker and made a run of T-shirts.
As I understand it the sticker was given to Miki by Darren Appleton because he thought it looked like Tanaka. Hopefully Alexi will know if that is correct or not.
Currently Initial Drift in Australia has the original file so if anyone is interested in one they should contact someone on http://www.initialdrift.com.au/
you can buy miki’s s15 if you have $115,000 USD
http://bespokemotoring.com/tss15.html
ahh good man Laurence, mates of mine brang some koala stickers back from their east coast excursion a few yrs ago, didnt know how they got them.. i liked the idea of a koala haha
-bc
Actually, there is a S15 in norway that look just the same but with “no secret” on the side.. might just be that car 😀
:Edit: it wasn’t, found the answer here.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQb44P_5edE