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JAPAN NORWAY SWEDEN: Tsuyoshi Tezuka and Driftmonkey, Part I

By in 10-10-2015 7:12 pm

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This isn’t the most recent of content, but before it disappears into the vaults of backed-up files, I thought it should finally make an appearance on the site.

Early last year, the Norwegian drift team Driftmonkey’s boss Ove Harlem asked me to find him a Japanese guest driver for the Gatebil event in Mantorp, Sweden. I suggested D1GP driver and Kids Heart manager Tsuyoshi Tezuka, since I knew he was keen to do some more drifting overseas. Driftmonkey usually has three cars, two driven by regular drivers Reidar Andresen and Anders Klerud, and a third for guest drivers.

After not too much messing around, Ove had both of us on a plane from Tokyo to Oslo, where picked us up and took us for a nice dinner at the port area of Aker Brygge, before heading to the Driftmonkey garages the next day in Rakkestad.

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SWEDEN SLIDES: Gatebil Mantorp with Tezuka

By in 25-07-2014 10:06 pm

Check out this edit of the Gatebil event at Mantorp Park in Sweden last month! This was the one I took Tsuyoshi Tezuka to, so he could drift the new Team Driftmonkey guest driver car.

私がD1GP手塚強選手をスウェーデンの改造車イベントに連れて行ってきました!手塚さんはチームドリフトモンキーのゲストドライバーでした。

I love the epic slide starting at 1:13 with all three Driftmonkey cars. That’s me on the interior GoPro with Tezuka.

I didn’t actually drive at the Mantorp event and only rode passenger with Tezuka to get used to the car so I could drive at the next Gatebil in Rudskogen. Since I couldn’t drift myself at Mantorp though, I ended up getting pretty good at the Crazy Cart we had at the booth, which you can see at the 3:24 mark.

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BREISLADD: Powersliding, Norwegian-style

By in 19-07-2014 8:47 pm

It was my birthday last week, and on that day, I was given the chance to guest-drive 750hp Driftmonkey Supra at Gatebil Rudskogen, the world’s most insane modified car event. Not bad eh?

先週、私がノルウェーに行って、「ガテビル」と言うイベントにゲストドライバーをしました!これはパワースライド大会の予選。一本だけ、ウオームアップなし、クリッピングポイントのパイロンも知らなくて、6番気筒をミスファイヤーでも、ガンガンでがんばった!ルーヅコーゲンモーターセンターと言うサーキットです。お客さんもすごかった!D1GPより多いけど、ビビッてない!ご覧ください。

There’s lots more video to come, but for now, here’s my solo run in the “breisladd” (powerslide) competition.

Even with one cylinder not firing, and some pretty wonky angle, I managed to place 20th overall. There were 84 cars invited to the qualifying, including the two other Driftmonkey drivers, team regular Anders Klerud who ended up ranking 5th, and the other guest driver Ken Gushi, who came 24th after mistaking the final outer clipping point as an inner clipping point.

The placement of the clipping points also surprised me a bit, as I wasn’t expecting them to be a good two metres out from the ripple strip! I was just happy to make it fairly cleanly around the course (apparently my clips were all spot-on), but I probably didn’t make as much smoke as the car should have been able to. More pics and vids from Gatebil Rudskogen coming soon!

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HARDLINER SKYLINERS: Team A-Bo-Moon at Motorland Mikawa

By in 05-03-2014 11:39 pm

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I headed down to Motorland Mikawa last weekend (2nd of March, or 3/2 on the calendar) for the Skylines-only “32 Matsuri” event put on by Team A-Bo-Moon. Enjoy some pics of one of the raddest drift teams in Japan while you wait for the video coming out this Friday.

チームあ〜ぼ〜ムーンのモーターランド三河32祭りに行ってきました。ビデオは金曜日に出てくる!

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