Ebisu welcomed Alan and Jason from Singapore for a special day of tuition from Team Orange star Naoto Suenaga.  The guys had little or no drift experience, with Alan having zero and Jason had only attended one half day event were he had been told his hand-eye coordination was the worst the instructor had seen!  It seemed Suenaga-san would have his work cut out!  The day started with a briefing were Suenaga outlined his 3 step basic drift training program, derived from years of development within Team Orange, the world’s premier Drift Performance Team.  The emphasis is firmly put on changing direction and complete car control, not simply power sliding.

Things quickly progressed on to the track.  The safe environment of KuraKura Land was where Alan and Jason got their hands on our rental cars for the day.  One was the Team Orange training S14 that Alan piloted, and Jason was in the Powervehicles Sil80 rental car.  Both cars have SR20 Turbo Engines, aftermarket 2-way LSD’s, coilover suspension and bucket seats – a package that is perfect for getting sideways in!

Suenaga watches over the guys as they attempt to master drifting around cones, both clockwise and counter clockwise.

It wasn’t long before Alan seemed to be getting the hang of it, not bad for a complete beginner!

Jason wasn’t to be outdone either…. he had it down soon too.   

Suenaga gives Alan some pointers whilst his able assistant, Sumica-san, checks the tyres.

A water sprayer is used to cool the cars down in between outings.

Suenaga congratulates Alan as he shows he’s ready to progress to the next challenge.

After a quick briefing the guys head back out to try Step 2 – use of the handbrake, after mastering step 1.

Both the guys focussing on the job in hand.

The heavens had opened but that doesn’t stop the action here at Ebisu circuit!

They guys adapted well to the dramatically different conditions.

And it made for some spectacular splashes!

More advice from Suenaga as he helps Alan understand what he needs to do.

Jason slides the sil80 around the cones as directed…

and he’s enjoying every minute!

Time for more tuition and another variation on the task to keep the guys advancing their skills.

Both Alan and Jason showed great car control and quickly learned the required skills to allow them to go to the next stage.

Alan gets Thumbs up!

As does Jason.

Alan and Jason then progressed to a rain soaked “Drift land” Course to put what they have learned into action.

Jason has a 400+ps S15 back home in Singapore but hasn’t ever drifted it. We wonder if that will continue from now on?

Not bad for a single days work, both of them going from novices to drifters!

The days event comes to a end.

Jason’s exhausted!  Who said drifting was going to be easy!

Alan emerges victorious.

It wasn’t quite over yet though, Suenaga had arranged a little end of day surprise….

Some Twin Drifting on Ebisu’s infamous Touge course with Sumica!  That certainly got Alan and Jason’s heart rate up!

A great day was had by all, Alan and Jason were great students and picked up what they were told quickly and wore a smile all day. It was a pleasure having them and we hope to see them again soon so they can take on the next challenge! 

Think you want to try your hand at Drifting at world famous Ebisu Circuit?  Please get in touch!  We can arrange tuition like this for beginners through to pros with tailored packages that are ideal for every level.  Check out the packages on offer here.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 at 12:58 pm and is filed under Ebisu Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.