Drift Tengoku — October 2013

Street smarts matter too! Going off course can mean death! His first car was an automatic 20-series Soarer. He had no interest in drifting at all, but watching from the sidelines and copying what he saw got him started. Then he wanted an easier car to drift, so he went through two AE86s before quickly switching to an 180SX that was easier still. Both Hachiroku were three-door Truenos; his preference for the sporty pop-up headlights and hatchback has never changed. He finished the 3,000-km break-in in a week and headed straight to the docks. Right away, he ran up onto a curb—

He once climbed onto a rock and crashed. He stalled after pulling the handbrake without pressing the clutch, and knew so little that he spent a month wondering why. He mostly drove at docks and mountain passes. Once he had gotten comfortable, he had a major crash at Nagao Pass. The ¥1.8 million repair was covered by vehicle insurance. The following year he crashed badly again at the Maihama docks; insurance covered that ¥1.6 million repair too, and after that he switched to focusing on circuits. The crash damaged the car so badly it wrinkled the roof, but he never considered replacing it. He had bought it new and was attached to it—

—he had grown attached to it. His lesson from street driving is: ‘I drive on a circuit as if going off course would kill me. That tension may be the secret to avoiding crashes,’ Sugano says. His relationship with the car changed dramatically 11 years ago, after he began visiting Nouvelle Vague in Yamanashi. A friend introduced him to the shop when he needed an exhaust-manifold gasket replaced. When he picked up the car, they gave him a three-hour lecture. ‘They pointed out everything wrong with the car and really cared; their knowledge and explanations are excellent, and they look after me so well.’ It is 130 km each way, but the shop has become indispensable.

With enough care, it can always run in top shape! Around 2005 he began entering events such as the BM Cup, MSC, and local competitions. As modifications progressed, the 180SX's familiar problems started appearing too, so he rented a garage and began maintaining it carefully. He never skips the post-drive inspection: ‘I spend about two hours underneath the car, just looking it over,’ he says. There were cracks in the wheel well and bolts had come loose—

He has been through all the usual problems, such as broken and cracked parts, but now he says there are no more track troubles. ‘You will never see me fixing the car in the paddock,’ he declares. Last month he placed third in the MSC Honjo Super Class; his best result was runner-up at the 2012 MSC Fuji national event. He has won more than 20 event trophies, but says he threw them all away—a bold move.

The Nouvelle Vague one-off 14-point roll cage is welded together, including at the gussets. It is built to support the area above the rear subframe mounts, and three bars are joined inside the boxed sections. The change in load transfer and traction was dramatic; even the 6 kg/mm springs could bottom out. Sugano says that after all this, it is only about as capable as a stock S15.

He changed from old Cusco coilovers to Aragosta without seeing a difference, then ordered custom Cusco ZERO-3 coilovers with springs unavailable in the catalog, rated at kg/mm front and rear. After countless broken front and rear knuckles, he used modified knuckles to improve steering angle and durability. Ikeya Formula traction rods and rear lower arms are fitted; the upper arms and toe-control arms are Cusco.