Drift Tengoku — October 2013
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About this issue
188 available scans from Drift Tengoku — October 2013, in right-to-left reading order. Japanese OCR and English translation drafts are available throughout. Drafts have not received exhaustive image proofreading; unreadable source remains recorded in the archival data.
Page 15 — English draft translation
Masayuki Iwamoto was born November 7, 1972, and lives in Hiroshima City. He used to compete in events with Team Signal; now he is active under the slogan, “We’re crazy about drifting!” He got hooked on drifting at 26 and entered drift competitions in a Publica pickup. About a year later he happened to drive an AE86 and fell in love with it; he has been an AE86 fanatic ever since. He also got into grip driving, setting a class course record in the 49-second range with an EF Civic on the old Yatabe circuit course. Outside cars, he enjoys photography and takes pictures of his friends driving with his Canon 7D.
…and I had the freedom to run things my own way, so I agonized over it. But now I believe the decision was right. Three months after joining 326POWER, I am busier than I ever was at Signal and constantly on the move. I am deeply involved in planning, prototyping, and testing products such as Chakuriki dampers (coilovers), and it has been a very fulfilling time…
Captions and page details
BLACKMARK
The story of a life devoted to drifting
326
JOmeC
i
326POWER executive director
I have closed my own shop and am opening a new path. From Hiroshima to the world, we will bring excitement through our products and driving!
Masayuki Iwamoto
326POWER
SIGNAL
He teamed up with his AE86 friend Nakahara to win the Bihoku twin-drift event. His Trueno has a 7A-G engine and S15 turbo, making 300 PS. His Altezza uses a six-speed gearbox and has a number plate, true to his street-car philosophy. His favorite AE86 is the two-door Levin; he kept an excellent example until he closed Signal.
Formerly representative of Auto Service Signal; now with 326 Co., Ltd.
I’m Iwamoto, an executive at 326POWER. After running Signal in Hiroshima for 15 years, I closed it at the end of April and have now joined 326POWER. Today I would like to explain how that came about.
Rumors say I was arrested for illegal modifications, or that Signal…
I made my decision.
There seem to be wild rumors that a car built at Signal caused a fatal accident, the family sued us, we lost the case, and had to pay ¥10 million—but that is completely untrue!
To be honest, Signal was not in financial trouble, and the employees were not…
I have known Haruguchi, the head of 326POWER, through the same automotive world…
We work in the same automotive industry, but our specialties are different. We respect each other’s experience and opinions, and I had long felt that working together could make one plus one equal four or five.
And although I love the AE86 dearly…
I will do my best to help our region win!
…he finished.
Recently, you hardly ever see them on the streets, and the number of AE86s at drift events has also dropped—such a shame. But lots of people who do not enter competitions still want AE86-only track days, so I would like to organize events like that and get the scene going again!
As for drifting, it had started to feel like work was my hobby…
…I had been thinking that for a long time.
That is because Haruguchi once asked whether we should run a shop together…
There had been talk of working together before. At the time we could not agree on what to do with our respective shops, and the timing was not right, so the idea faded away naturally.
…that is how it felt; my drifting passion was cooling quickly. I joined M-Challenge thinking, “I have to do something!” but got no results and felt even more discouraged.
However, this time Haruguchi invited me to join as an employee…
I will put to use the know-how I built over 15 years focusing on drift cars…
However, at the end of last month I entered the Bihoku deciding round…
Then Haruguchi made a passionate offer: “Why don’t you come work for us as an employee?” It moved me, and my family did not object. I thought, “A chance like this may come only a few times in a lifetime,” and decided to close Signal…
I will use that experience to help make drifting in Hiroshima—no, the whole Chugoku region, and all of Japan—even more exciting through product development at 326POWER!
…and won both the individual and twin classes! That earned me a place in the West Japan championship in November, where I will represent the Chugoku region…