Drift Tengoku — October 2013

This generation of the Beetle is commonly called the New Beetle. It went on sale in 1999 and was fully redesigned as “The Beetle” in 2012. Akuzawa chose the earlier model. It is not hard to believe stories that an early example can be bought for around ¥100,000. If you had a free Beetle and a wrecked Silvia, you might imagine combining them into a drift car—right? With Jade, that idea can become reality!

The target was an appearance at Tokyo Auto Salon 2014. First, the car would be unveiled at Hot Import Car Showdown. In mid-June, Akuzawa called: “I got hold of a Beetle—what should I do with it? What kind of modifications would get me invited to Exciting Car Showdown?” It was hard to know what to say. Then an idea came to mind. Around that time the editorial office was preparing a magazine about European cars, and a September show at Pacifico Yokohama had just been announced. I casually offered to put him in touch with that editorial team if he wanted to exhibit. Maybe it could even become an editorial demo car. A few days later he called again: “So I just need to install an SR20DET, make it rear-wheel drive, and get it drifting, and then they’ll invite me?” This guy was serious! With Akuzawa, the idea would not stay a fantasy. He used the same basic approach as on the Pao—swapping in the front and rear subframes, right…