EBISU DRIFT MATSURI COVERAGE: Prepare to be disappointed

May 4, 2009 2:47 am Published by

I’ve been very selfish. I didn’t even take my camera out of the bag, so here’s a couple of snaps of the aftermath taken with my mobile phone.

If it’s any consolation, I had a great time!

So, once again, Drift Matsuri was a whole lot of fun.

Here’s a list of the fun things I did that I can remember:
Rode in Yasushi Wakamatsu’s NA RB25 R32 practice car on Nishi Course, then had him ride in my car to check my style. He said my steering was very smooth, then he said something about Jack Bauer.

Tandemed with Tony Angelo’s beard on school course.

Met a bunch of crazy Air Force guys from Yokota who gave me beer that tasted like water (just kidding, thanks guys) and finally met Lindsay Ross.

Won a copy of the Bakusou Drift R movie, which was shot mostly at Ebisu Circuit, in a game of janken with Naoto Suenaga.

Absolutely killed some big sanpatsu drifts on the main straight on Kita Course, missing the wall by centimeters, according to one guy who was standing in the gallery.

Met up with D1SL driver Kitaoka-san and his girlfriend Yuki after a long time. Yuki’s really cute and speaks good English, which is a bonus. Kitaoka-san was driving a JZX90 missile that used to belong to Daigo Saito, and had fitted it with roof-mounted spotlights.

Probably set a new personal best record for changing a tyre with the Ebisu tyre machine, which is the most busted one you’ve ever seen.

Here’s some of the things that sucked:
Crashed headfirst into the wall at Minami Course (the D1 track) and smashed my front bumper, cracked the kouki indicator, dented the guard and dented the door, which you can see in the picture above.

Didn’t have enough power to do some fun things that other people were doing.

Fell asleep in the car at 9:00PM and didn’t wake up until 7:00AM, so I missed drifting on the touge course at night, which is fun.

My fellow Aussie Andy blew the second piston on his S14’s SR20 on the third lap of the first morning. I think he’s going to quit drifting now.

Also, this random guy wasn’t watching where he was backing up in the pits, and ran into me. He only tapped me, but it must have dislodged the indicator, so it fell out! I had to rig up a new indicator with some spare parts I had pulled out of a garbage pile at Nikko Circuit a few months ago. I knew it would come in handy some time!

I made my tyre sticker collection a bit bigger too. Those Falken stickers are actually from Vaughn Gittin Jr’s car, that his mechanic Mickey stuck on there. I highly recommend the V-rated 17-inch Federal SS595 tyres. For some reason, this size and speed rating lasts forever, doesn’t chunk and has a very linear loss of grip as they go bald.

Someone finally took a photo of me, thanks Dino! That’s kicking it sideways into Minami’s downhill, obviously some time before I stacked it. You may also noticed that I finally lowered the Skyline a bit.

You can check Dino’s coverage on Speedhunters as well as Keisuke’s from 86fighters (when he puts it up) and Peter’s from 7Tune. Luke from Running Life was there too shooting video, but that might not be up for a little while.

You can see why I didn’t end up shooting, since there were a bunch of dedicated guys there doing it all weekend.

Also, because I had a car to drive, a bunch of tyres and drifting heaven at my disposal!

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This post was written by Alexi

22 Comments

  • Slappy says:

    Having a good time is all that matters!!

  • dousan says:

    I’d besame way if I was you
    Drive rather then shoot
    Sounds like a blast

  • N/Aontherun says:

    Yea, saw a few shots of you on Speedhunter. Awesome pics. The 32 is looking sik.

  • zhenkin says:

    Indeed a bit disappointed, BUT dousan was right..for me too..Drifting rather than shooting!

  • Isidro says:

    Alexi, you did exactly what I would have done: leave the camera safe and drive the car as hard as I can.

  • Adam says:

    I’m disappointed Alexi – not even a bare mention of a fellow Aussie R32 driver, in black I might add, with the same cheap ass Donkey Hotei pimp glasses as you. Tsk Tsk.

  • leongsoon says:

    I’ve always been wondering how anybody can just stand and shoot pictures all day without getting into the action themselves. Now you let me know not everybody can 😀

  • Matt says:

    Good stuff Alexi! Sad to hear about Andy’s piston..

  • kyteler says:

    Awesome man, congrats on just having a day out biffing the car around.

  • Brian Harte says:

    Was this Kitaoka guy the old managed of Signal Auto USA by any chance?

    Did he used to have a white ER34 over there in Japan?

    any idea off hand?

  • Fury-S12 says:

    i dare say wed all do the same and drive not photo, i woulda slammed the japanese equvilant of redbull into so i didnt miss the night action tho 😛

  • Mitz says:

    shame you broke the front bar are going to stick with the white if u purchase a new one? cause the white looked sick must of been awesome fun tho. Is there anything like this at any tracks in NSW, Australia?

  • Zac says:

    Poor thing lol. If you get rid of it ill buy your corner bulb and connectors lol

  • Daniel says:

    heya what does sanpatsu mean btw? is it the same thing as ‘manji-ing’ a straight? (ie going from side to side down it?)

    disappointing all those things happening to u! but at least it seemed liek a HEAp of fun! remember, ur living the dream while we’re down under living the daily life… >< haha

  • MeZ says:

    Spewing for Andy! 🙁

    Alexi i need to get amongst all this jap action and film it! haha

  • Uookaa says:

    Hey as long as you had fun! Too bad about the downsides 😛

  • Alexi says:

    @Adam
    Yeah, that was weird…

    @BH
    No, he’s a D1SL driver with a red JZX100 Mark II.

    @Mitz
    Actually, the broken section of the white one matches the black piece I still have from the original bumper. Might Frankenstein them together.

    @Daniel
    Sort of, but it specifically means “three motion”. Ippatsu, nihatsu, sanpatsu, yonhatsu etc.

    @MeZ
    Yes, you do.

  • Keisuke86 says:

    Hey Alexi, Sorry about the long overdue pictures, have been up north till now with no internet!
    Im in process of putting them up now! Have some good shots of you but they are in the 2nd post (still only on the 1st)
    Was good to meet you, get back safe and sound?
    haha
    Cheers Keisuke

  • martin says:

    i think i might have saw you down their.
    i was with all the other americans that took over school course haha
    did you drive up like early sat morning asking about something?

  • Alexi says:

    @martin
    Yeah, I came to say hi to Jim and those guys.

  • martin says:

    yeah i blem 3rd gear like 5 hours in so i was riding with jim and the other guy that came with him, i can never remember his name. just met all those guys that day. first time at ebisu. i was the only guy that came down from misawa. hopefully we can get more of us down there. anyway next time i will say hi.

  • Luke says:

    Hey Alexi i just put up another Matsuri video, if you wanna check it out.