FFFFFFFFFFFF: Kawashima-san’s ZZT Celica drifter

May 11, 2010 4:51 pm Published by

I first posted a pic of this Celica back in my 2010 Tochigi Baka post, but never had a chance to see it run.

So, when it showed up at Drift Matsuri, I thought I’d take another look at it.

Here’s the guy who owns it, Kawashima-san. Since the wait for the tyre changer at this time of day at Matsuri was about an hour long, he decided to flip over the tyres using some tyre spoons instead. You can see what sort of tyre wear he gets running the camber he does!

Before we get to the next photo, I suggest that anyone who is a mechanic or has anything to do with automotive engineering or safety scrutineering at all, please close this post immediately and do something else. Go write on Facebook or something.

Oh yeah, super DIY camber mods!

Washer spacers and everything.

Seriously, was that piece of strap pulled from the bin? I think people use the same sort of stuff to mount shelves.

Oh well, it works, don’t care!

The night after Matsuri ended, I tried driving home on the expressway, but fatigue and an ever-increasing headache made me spend the night at a parking area. I had parked in what I thought was a fairly empty part of the parking lot, so I pulled out a bunch of wheels from the car and stuck them on the pavement so I could recline the seat properly. I woke up in the morning to find families awkwardly trying to park their minivans around me so they could walk their dogs and buy icecream and whatever else it is normal people do.

Anyway, as I packed up and left, I saw Kawashima-san parked off to the side, so I stopped and had a chat.

It turns out that he used to do a lot of time attack and gymkhahas, which is why the car had been supercharged. In the search “for the next 0.1 second” as he put it, he started pulling the handbrake to get the car to turn faster.

Sliding around seemed to be a lot more fun than trying to get a better time, so he changed the focus of his Celica from grip to the small clique of FF drift.

“There’s lots of these overseas, but I bet nobody else FF drifts them, do they?” he asked.

Say what you will, but it looks incredibly mean out in regular traffic.

This is a good example of why Japan’s car people are so awesome. It makes no sense, but it’s fun, so they do it.

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This post was written by Alexi

19 Comments

  • brian says:

    thats awsome.. 1 inch contact patch would get old real quick hahaha japan must be full of honest ppl, if i put some rims on the pavement overnight they sure as hell wouldnt be there when i woke up :p

  • drift kid says:

    “Japan’s car people are so awesome. It makes no sense, but it’s fun, so they do it.”
    i LOVE that quote 🙂

    and that is a MEAN ass celica 😛

  • Joey says:

    ha ha, straight up awesome!!! gang camber…

  • STJ says:

    Thats the best looking celica ever!

  • GenJi says:

    MAN that beast looks tight ..

  • Lone Racer says:

    wow , simply awesome, im dying to see this run, very cool celica , damnnnn

  • Inneredge says:

    Thanks for the detailed look at this Celica.. It’s a bit mad but that’s why I love it, awesome car.

  • Travis says:

    the celica was tearing it up pretty good out there too. I remember seeing this is dori-ten, but was hella surprised to actually see it drive at matsuri.

    get any pics of the gaijin smash dudes?

  • Isidro says:

    “This is a good example of why Japan’s car people are so awesome. It makes no sense, but it’s fun, so they do it.”
    Most car people over here are too worried about what other people think/say about them, thus making Japan’s car people even more awesome; they’re the awesomerests!

    I bet that Celica in public traffic sticks out like a camel in a rain forest. Rad.

  • dangina says:

    The japanese redefine the term DIY!

  • Rob says:

    I saw a couple of pictures of this car on a “rival site” *ahem*.

    But it’s good to see how much more detail you got on it!

  • Corolux says:

    Never know the king of rice car can look so dope.. thats what i called -ve camber.. Makes my camber setup on my rolla lo0k so weak

  • James says:

    That’s some insaaaaane camber he has going on. Not sure if it’s my cup of tea but it does look really mean.

    brian’s right. Those rims would be GONE where I live.

  • Adam Zillin says:

    That is an awesome bit of coincidence Alexi – even if a little less than Mark Webber winning back to back victories in Monaco.

  • Frank says:

    It wouldn’t surprise me if some idiot here in America sees that “camber adjustment” and ends up doing it much worst.

  • steelbluesleepr says:

    there isnt that much of a worse way to do it, that “camber adjustment is dangerous and looks like dog shit. if i was driving next to him and knew what his hacked-up suspension looked like, i’d make a turn at the next street for fear that it could break at any time. i’m studying mechanical engineering right now, so i know the forces involved, and thats just fucking scary.

  • s14shredda says:

    if the camber set up holds up drifting(surprisingly) then fuck it. i could imagine these things come cheap over there. i wouldnt waste the time but i guess work with wat u got. if by some odd reason i HAD to have a celica id prob do the same thing, but get tired of all the ebraking and one hand steering.