D Car — July 2004

Is Signal about to expand into Australia? Drifting, recently popular in Japan and the United States, has now arrived in Australia. On March 20, Melbourne hosted “Drift! Nations,” Australia’s first drift event. It was a show-style event, and Signal Auto from Japan performed a demonstration run. More than 2,000 spectators were captivated and erupted in cheers. The demonstration drivers were James, who runs tuning shop D Garage in Adelaide, and Kazunari Uta, known as a drift specialist and D1 driver. After the run, Signal staff and their demo cars were surrounded by TV cameras and reporters. They were examined from every angle and peppered with questions, but they left a powerful impression of Japan’s high level of drifting. Signal has long looked overseas: it opened Signal USA two years ago, followed by shops in Korea and Thailand. Could Australia be next? Company representative Kida was enthusiastic: “We’ll light the fuse soon.” Signal has also been invited to a summer drift event and plans to heat up the Australian scene even more.