Drift Tengoku — October 2013

It is a good choice. The coloring deliberately stays solid white, tightened up with matte-black stickers. The car looks cohesive as it sweeps through a drift at angle, and driver Shiro Deura seems pleased with how well the 180SX has come together. He entered the Honjo round aiming to win, and qualified fourth—a solid start. In the first knockout tandem battle he faced Motegi's S15, which qualified fifth. The match went to sudden death, but on Deura's first run as leader, oil sprayed out after a level-gauge issue. He had to retire, a bitter end. Motegi, the driver who beat Deura, went on to win round 6. It was his first MSC Challenge appearance, and he took the title. MSC regular Yuki Takamiya's JZX110 finished second.

After qualifying fifth, he beat Takamiya twice and then Yamaguchi twice in the knockout bracket to reach the final. His opponent was Tarumi, who came through the other bracket. Nakamura started as chaser on the first run and attacked with a simultaneous initiation, earning 2.5 points. He kept the second run even while leading and won the Super Class on his first attempt.

Many first-time entrants! At round 5 at Nikko Circuit, veteran and rising drifters entered together. Among the veterans was Yuichiro Takahashi (JZX90), runner-up at the first MSC Challenge national event. It had been six years since he last appeared. D1SL regular Koji Yamaguchi (S14), Daisuke Nakamura (S15), and Jun Tarumi (S15), all strong at Nikko, also entered. MSC regular Yuki Takamiya (JZX110), Shuichiro Ohana (S14), and Tatsuya Suzuki (C33) joined them. Kazunori Ueda (RPS13), who had debuted in the Super Class at Suzuka Twin, traveled from Kansai too. New Super Class challengers included Dai Hamada (S15), who had excelled in Expert Class, as well as Yusuke Fujita (JZX90), Takashi Yamaguchi (S14), and Hirohide Tanaka (JZX100). The rising drivers dominated solo qualifying, but in the end the veterans—

—along with MSC Challenge regulars, filled the top places. To enter Super Class, drivers need a Super License. The criteria are: 1) placing in the top three in MSC Challenge Expert Class; 2) achieving results comparable to an Expert Class top-three finish; or 3) holding a D1-A license. MSC Challenge's Expert Class remains popular because its tournament is decided through solo runs, but the series also wants more people to compete in Super Class. It welcomes new challengers. Nakamura, competing in Super Class for the first time, won at his favorite Nikko Circuit. He said he had not yet settled the suspension setup, but former national MSC Challenge champion Hideyuki Fujino acted as his spotter, and Nakamura came prepared to win.