Drift Tengoku — October 2003

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About this issue

English draft translations are available throughout this issue. Unclear or unreadable OCR remains flagged; these drafts have not received full image proofreading. The archive retains 310 scan files, including two duplicate captures, representing 308 unique pages.

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Page 9 · English draft

Draft translation. Unclear OCR remains flagged; full image proofreading has not been performed.

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  1. Presented by Drift Tengoku
  2. “I hadn’t considered Kimishima a contender. It was only when I led in the tandem battle that I realized how fast he was and thought I might lose. He stayed right on me when I was leading, so perhaps it helped that I returned the favor, following even closer and putting him under pressure.” (Ishijima) “At the entry to Turn1, Ishijima was right behind me. Seeing his car in my mirror put me under pressure and I made a mistake. I suppose that shows the difference in our ability, too.” (Kimishima)
  3. All-Japan Student Drift Championship
  4. Tournament round one: a comfortable victory over his junior!
  5. EXCITING REPORT
  6. Final: demonstrating mental strength!
  7. “I didn’t think I’d lose unless I spun, so I had no strategy. Yone (Yonekawa) and I are in the same school’s automobile club, and I’m always making fun of him. If I lost, I thought I’d quit drifting.” (Ishijima) “I couldn’t believe I’d made the top eight, so whoever my opponent was, I just wanted to enjoy driving. Ishijima and I are worlds apart in skill, so it’s only natural that I lost.” (Yonekawa)
  8. …in Ishijima's favor. Just before round two, Matsuno's…
  9. …engine stopped revving properly.
  10. Against Matsuno, Ishijima again only needed to maintain his consistent driving. He won without any close calls and advanced to the final. There had also been an upset before the Ishijima–Matsuno match: Hagiwara, the leading favorite in an FD, lost to Kimishima in an S13. That meant Ishijima's opponent in the final was Kimishima. The final was to be decided in a tandem battle; Ishijima said he hadn't worked out any particular strategy for it either… [Sentence continues in another region.]
  11. Ishijima led the first run. Neither driver made a major mistake, but Kimishima looked faster. When they switched positions and Ishijima followed, he was left behind from the final corner. The speed difference was so obvious that the judges called, “Kimishima, don't pull away from Ishijima before Turn 1. Let's run it again.”
  12. But this was also part of Ishijima's strategy. He said that in the first tandem run he had let the rear slide too much at the final corner, preventing the car from driving forward, and Kimishima had pulled away. On the second run, he decided to exit without excessive rear slide and put his opponent under pressure. The contest was decided at the entry to Turn 1. Kimishima slowed down as much as he could so the following driver could keep up, but Ishijima closed in at a completely different speed from before. Startled, Kimishima mistimed his entry, mounted the inside curb and suffered costly understeer. Behind him, Ishijima swept through looking completely composed.
  13. Final
  14. [Unclear: isolated sentence fragment.]
  15. [Unclear: badly damaged sentence fragment.]
  16. …he says. [Continues preceding sentence.]
  17. Matsuno's exhaust mani… [fragment; OCR partly unclear]
  18. …fold had cracked… [fragment]
  19. Matsuno, unable to drift… [fragment]
  20. works
  21. [Unclear: logo text.]
  22. [Unclear: logo text.]
  23. [Unclear: logo text.]
  24. [Unclear: isolated OCR fragment.]
  25. ADVAN
  26. 6 [isolated numeral]
  27. [Unclear: logo text.]
  28. [Unclear: logo text.]
  29. [Unclear: logo text.]
  30. [Unclear: isolated numeric/logo text.]
  31. [Unclear: fragment of a shop name.]
  32. Winner
  33. With striking looks and exceptional speed, last year's runner-up Matsuno—in a C33 with a VG engine—and promising young Geki☆Kassodan driver Hagiwara—in a gold FD3S—stood out from the morning at the Eastern Japan event. Whenever they ran, people around the venue exclaimed, “That's unfair! You'd never think they were students!” But neither car made it to the championship final. At the top of the podium stood Ishijima of Ashikaga Institute of Technology, whose white R33 had advanced steadily with consistent driving from start to finish!
  34. An alignment change improves stability!
  35. Takahiro Matsuno — C33 (Matsumoto Dental University). [Name reading/chassis suffix requires confirmation.]
  36. Kiuchi … [given name unclear]
  37. …(Nihon University); Shun Ishijima — HR33 (Ashikaga Institute of Technology); Masanori Yonekawa — PS13 (Ashikaga Institute of Technology). [Personal-name readings require confirmation.]
  38. Kenichi Tsuchiya — AE86 (Kogakuin University). [Name reading requires confirmation.]
  39. Shuichi Hagiwara. [Name reading requires confirmation.]
  40. (Gunma University)
  41. PS13 — Yusuke Kimishima. [Name reading requires confirmation.]
  42. (Josai University); Satoru Yano — A31 (Chiba University of Commerce). [Name reading/chassis suffix requires confirmation.]
  43. PS13
  44. FD3S
  45. [Unclear: damaged result/heading fragment.]
  46. An RB25DET has been swapped into the originally naturally aspirated HR33. Using Drift Tengoku's Cefiro as a reference, he has limited the setup to the stock turbo at 0.8 kg/cm² of boost. He says he tunes the Power FC himself. The current balance gives him a manageable amount of power, but to aim higher, he plans to replace the turbo soon. [Some OCR terms are damaged; source review pending.]
  47. New Neovas on the rear
  48. He normally reuses worn front tires on the rear, but chose new Neovas for this event. “I won because I had no tire problems,” he says, delighted with the choice. Although entering both the individual and team events meant plenty of track time, he made it through on this one set.
  49. [Unclear: isolated logo/model fragment.]
  50. [Unclear: isolated word fragment.]
  51. [Unclear: isolated OCR fragment.]
  52. His preparation before the event included lengthening the traction rods to make the car easier to control. This makes its response gentler, but in return allows more stable driving.
  53. Stock turbo at 0.8 kg/cm² boost! [OCR partly unclear.]
  54. 7