In pursuit of a last chance to get a D1 Street Legal License we headed down to Nikko Circuit to enter the Goodyear “Gurachan D” competition.  It was to be a tough comp fought keenly between 72 hopefuls in-front of a squad of Goodyear D1 Driver judges….

I had swore that the crazy early starts were over now we had moved to Ebisu, but here we were again, braving zero degree temps for a 3.30am start.

This was one of the more unusual entrants at the comp, a Lancer Evo 6.  The car was still in 4wd, super rare for a drift car.  It managed to drift most of the track but the transitions never really flowed.  Also the car had very little counter steer due to its 4wd config, and to a drift crowd that looks a little weird!  Was a cool, unusual site though!

This was the kind of entry the judges were after….. BIG angle.  Notice in this pic the JZX100 Cresta is about to loose its rear bumper.

The strong Goodyear presence meant there was a lot of big names in attendance.  This is Bee-R’s Imai-san out having a go!

Love this Laurel, couldn’t be more OTT!

Check the rear Fenders on this 180SX. They have been vented in the same style as the front ones.  A few cars were sporting this new style, I wonder if it will be the next thing?

This sort of angle looks great but so often ended in a trip off the course.  So many cars spectacularly headed off, I’ve dedicate the next post to the “Course Outs”!

Another one of the vented rear fender crowd.

D1 Driver Murayama was here in his monster S14, showing-off his twin drifting skills.

This car participates in D1 SL so I knew he wasn’t here for the license, just the glory!  He was pipped on this occasion though into 2nd place overall.

TGS’s JZX90 was so low I’m surprised it never lost any aero kit, unlike so many others.

It’s my JZX90’s twin brother!  Cant believe how similar this is to my JZX90, though this one had all the luck.  The driver who knows this track inside out showed that practice makes perfect as he claimed 1st place.

Another well known local driver – Tucker from Team Magician in his striking pink JZX110 always puts on a show.  Like me however he spun in 1 of his 2 final runs trying to be just a little too spectacular!

I used to drift this track a LOT but over the last 18 months haven’t been to Nikko once.  This really showed as the recently re-layed tarmac and revised layout made it feel really unfamiliar.  I struggled to get back to grips with it but at least made it to the final and got a shot at the coveted D1 SL License.

Loved this car, nice shot here of its wastegate flaming away!  The sticker on the rear quarter displays their cool team-name “Street Junkies”. 

This Sil80 is real nice too and has spec to match it’s looks.  That said it will star in the next “Course out” thread…. won’t be this pretty for long!

These were the guys we were trying to impress all day – from left to right: D1 Drivers Kunnyaki, Tezuka and Tokita.

I wanted to give my all infront of the D1 Driver Judges but that lead to a big spin on my 1st attempt.  My 2nd pass was ok but not enough to really dazzle.

This is fellow foreign entrant, Alexi from Oz.  More action from the Pits on Alexis Blog – Nori Yaro.

D1 Driver Murayamawasn’t competing, just there as a Guest driver.  Here Alexi joins the group as they glide round the 1st few corners at Nikko.

Too soon though it was all over.  I had even brought my JZX90 as a spare car should I have needed it, but my faithful JZX100 never let me down as ever.

Here’s a quick snap of the winners.  I think I placed 15th which was a real shame as the top 10 drivers that didn’t already have a D1 SL License were given one.  I could have really done with a days practicing before hand as I felt a little rusty on the course, but I had great fun and as they say….. “I’ll be back”!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 at 10:06 am and is filed under Other 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.