Drift Tengoku — October 2013

Saturday, July 20 — First time driving at Ebisu Circuit! After being discharged from the hospital, I hurriedly prepared for MSC Nikko and went to Utsunomiya, Tochigi. There I met up with Ryo from R.Y.O. I had come without hardly driving the car at all, with only the knuckles and six-speed transmission installed. Then I heard that I could drive at night at Ebisu Circuit, so I made a sudden detour there. The night lighting made it a little difficult to drive, but the car seemed to have no problems and felt good. Tomorrow I'll do my best at MSC.

Sunday, July 21 — Triple runner-up at MSC Nikko! Today I'm at MSC Nikko. It brings back memories of driving at Nikko Circuit. I entered the MSC triple event with Vito and Kazumi, last year's East-event runner-up. The three of us had never practiced driving together before. We somehow managed to take second place in the triple event. I was really happy! We beat Komazaki's team, so even though we didn't win, I'm satisfied.

…but I couldn't do it individually, so I realized I still need a lot more practice. Friday, August 2 — cone practice at Speed Park Koinoura. I took the juniors preparing for Student Drift to Speed Park Koinoura for a free practice session. The circuit is small, but just right for practicing with cones. Everyone worked hard practicing in the heat. I wonder if they'll be able to nail it in their one run at the Student Drift event…

Then one person's fuel pump failed and had to be replaced in a hurry. After that, turbo gaskets blew, and several cars developed broken crank-angle sensors and wouldn't rev. Roadster driver Kitashiba-san was there and lent us a crank-angle sensor, so we managed to repair everyone's cars. We were kept pretty busy. There were a lot of crashed cars, though. In the evening I took two students competing in Student Drift out for dinner. Do your best tomorrow!

The new engine is finished! Lately I've been spending too much money on the car—it's getting dangerous. I barely made it to D1SL Setonaikai, but my Silvia has come back with a new engine. Once again, I had almost no time to drive it before the event, but I don't think it's gotten worse, so I'm looking forward to it. Thank you to Yamao-san for working on it despite the tight schedule.

August 17–18 (Saturday–Sunday) — D1SL Setonaikai was a disaster. Student Drift is over, and now it's my turn to compete. This was my first time at Setonaikai Circuit, so I practiced the day before. The car felt good and I had a promising feeling. I qualified seventh on Saturday. On Sunday, with more spectators, the atmosphere felt different from the day before. I couldn't put together a good run in either of my two solo final runs. During the run I think I was overthinking things. From now on I'll give it everything and work even harder.

He entered the car world through dirt trials, and his first car was a CA4A Mirage. In 2008 he won the Kyushu Junior Championship Series. He discovered drifting after watching The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and began seriously at age 20. He entered Student Drift three times and, in the 2012 event where he aimed to beat Katayama, won both the West event and the unified championship. He is currently studying at Kurume Institute of Technology graduate school, researching solar power, and expects to graduate in 2014.