Alexi goes to Yachiho Lake in Nagano Prefecture to do some super-slow ice lake drifting with Naoto Suenaga from Team Orange and Shino from Shino Kouba.
Alexi goes to Yachiho Lake in Nagano Prefecture to do some super-slow ice lake drifting with Naoto Suenaga from Team Orange and Shino from Shino Kouba.
Despite having some extremely talented drivers; no Australian has ever competed in the Japanese drift championship D1GP Japan. In December 2011 Jake “Driftsquid” Jones took a holiday to Tokyo and ended up being invited to drive a Team Orange Drift School car around Ebisu. Soon after he returned to Australia he was offered a drive in the Team Orange Subaru WRX at Round 1 of the 2012 D1GP Japan event known as Tokyo Drift in Odaiba, Japan. So how the hell did this 22 year old from Adelaide score the drive? We’ll let Jake tell the story.
Wataru Furutani from Yokohama Japan’s Motorsport Dept. and Jake Jones in the secret Yokohama Design Centre.
So there I was, sitting in a meeting at the Design Centre in the headquarters of Yokohama Tyres Japan next to Kumakubo-San, the owner of Team Orange. I had no idea what they were all talking about. Then Kumakubo turns to me and says “You should come to Ebisu tomorrow”. I looked at Ian Baker, the CEO of World Time Attack and Hi Octane Racing, and he said “Yeah why not”. With no hesitation I said “Let’s do it. I would love to come and watch”. Kumakubo looks at me and laughed “Watch?” he said smiling, “You’re going to drive!”. Haha alright now this is insane!! I was in Lala Land for the rest of the afternoon. I wanted tomorrow to arrive sooner. Continue reading →
Dear D1GP USA Fans,
This is D1GP USA’s Official Statement regarding the events that transpired at the Chicago D1 Grand Prix event.
In the case of Driver conduct at the event there were several instances that involved Team Orange. We feel these instances were boiling over from the Anaheim event where Forrest Wang had beaten Tanaka and fought a hard battle against Kumakubo that resulted ultimately in Kumakubo’s victory over Wang. In Chicago, Wang and Tanaka were paired up again with Kumakubo once again waiting in the wings.
I am sure, as anticipated as this battle was for the crowd, it was maybe more anticipated by the drivers. There was a lot of pride on the line. After Wang and Tanaka’s first tandem battle there was a slight advantage given to Wang. The drivers reversed positions and Forrest got a huge lead from the start with Tanaka letting off the gas about 50 feet after the start. Wang realized this mid course and also ceased. Continue reading →