"What do you like the most about your car?" "Noting really" "But the speed cameras kept going off when I was driving over here." "I probably won't get busted because I hid my license plate." "And the horsepower?" "Well, it's about 700." "Do you come here a lot?" "once in a while." "I sometimes race on my way here, or when I go back home." "I' m here with my son tonight because he wouldn't go to sleep." "Hi, I'm Satoshi." "My car is Nissan Skyline R32." "I like to stick to 4-doors." "I've owned 3 Skylines, and this is my second 4-door." "It's easier to carry tires in and out of the car." "As for the specifications, I've swapped the engine to an S14 SR20DET," "And I'm also using S14 parts for the suspension footwork lt has around 300 horsepower." "How come can you speak English so well?" "That's because I'm a foreigner" "I couldn' tell at all, you're Japanese is so good!" "What is the most important thing when we customize the car for drifting?" "Umm..." "It's all about heart." "Not about engines, tires and all?" "Losers tend to stick to those details." "What a loser." "So it's your heart" "Yeah, if you have a good heart, it's all good!" "They say this car's really fast." "Yeah, I think I did about 260 km/hr (161mph) lt's a matter of strong will." "It takes a while for a Hachiroku to reach its peak speed," "Unlike a Skyline GT-R that can gain its peak speed instantly." "The thing is how much you can be consistent in accelerating the car." "It's about the heart, again." "I drive Nissan Skyline GTR." "This is the engine, air cleaner, and the turbine is under here" "and I did some minor changes inside the engine." "The horsepower?" "A little over 500." "Well, it makes little difference for the speed by just boosting up the horsepower." "Why is that?" "The horsepower and the speed are different." "Boosting up the horsepower doesn't necessarily speed up the car." "It's how well the power of the car can be transmitted on to the road." "Do you ever compete against Hachirokus on the road?" "Well, not really." "He seems pretty confident..." "This is stock, huh?" "He's looking down on my Hachiroku, huh?" "We mainly make the aero-parts for GTs, sports cars," "and station wagons." "We also make car parts for these cars and sell them nationwide." "So,this is your's." "Yes, this is the tuning facility" "Could you show me around, please?" "This is Taniguchi's car." "We took the muffler off, and we're remodeling this car for Tokyo Auto Salon." "You'll make these door gull-wings ?" "Yes, we will." "We took out the inside and we're going to redo everything." "And this is my car that I use for the D-1 Grand Prix lt's being in for service for the next competition" "Please look inside..." "This is our mechanic." "Wow, look at that engine room!" "I have an HKS GT3037S turbine kit on there, and the car has about 480 horsepower." "Well, I own seven Soarers right now." "Why does this car attract you so much?" "I like the fact that the stock Soarer is kind of ugly." "And, this car is huge in spite of a two-door." "It looks great when you modify it, but it's still a luxury car." "So, when I'm in the United States, people tell me that I'm crazy because drift in a Lexus." "When I was 16-years-old, I got a driver's license for motorcycle." "I was riding motorcycles for a while." "I was really interested in things that have an engine." "When I got the driver's license for car, I was 18 and I already new that that's what I wanted to do with my life I didn't start drifting because I wanted to do just that I just wanted to enjoy the world of cars" "and in it, there is drifting as well as other sports" "Of course, I tried gripping, high way racing, downhill racing, just everything I just devoted myself to enjoying cars." "Among all of these sports, I just happened to be good at drifting the most." "At that time, I had a SOARER and wanted to make it look good." "I asked my friend to make aero-parts for my SoARER." "The aero- parts were introduced in a magazine and people started to ask if they can buy those parts." "That's how I started." "I just wanted to make something for my car." "I didn't even think about doing business off it." "All I wanted to do is make good-looking cars." "I'm just doing things that I love." "I'm not really doing this just to win." "If I wanted to win every time, I could just drive a different car, something easier to handle." "But then I don't think I'fll be able to enjoy what I do." "People sometimes tell me that I should change my car," "But the whole point is to drive the car that I like, and to be able to win in that car." "I think drifting will become really big in the U.S. too." "If we don't watch out, the U.S. drivers will catch up to us really fast." "Still, the drivers over there are still a little rough with their driving." "They need to learn how to control their cars more in detail." "Like steering techniques how to use their gears." "There are a lot of good people out there, so if they practice more in those areas, they'll catch up to the Japanese drivers in no time." "I really look forward to driving with the U.S. drivers again." "How did it feel out there today?" "Tsukuba Circuit is a great course!" "Well, we have great weather today, so... lt was pretty slippery for this condition, though." "It's better than rain" "Are you not good in the rain?" "No, that's no problem for me at all." "You're in good shape?" "Yup!" "How about you, Mr. Ueno?" "No." "Not very good at all." "You know what?" "Most D1 racers say they're no good." "We can't say we're doing great at a practice session." "They all say they are in bad shape just because of some trivial problems." "When really they're doing fine lf they're doing great, they'fll say they're doing horrible" "Yeah, everyone says their not doing good" "is that because people might think you're arrogant?" "Not so much that, but I guess we don't feel that we'fre doing 100%%%" "We're doing almost pertect, like 90 to 95 percent of what we can, but that's not enough for them." "Yeah, we have to constantly push ourselves to do better." "Do you guys get psyched when you race each other?" "Well, we do, like the last race in the United States." "Yeah, I was so sure I was going to win, but..." "That was a really great event." "We're really looking forward to this year'fs too." "You are So going down next time!" "This guy goes to Irwindale for a secret training, you know." "oh yeah, that guy, too!" "Yeah, I'm not the only one." "He rents out the speedway all to himself to practice!" "What did you think about the event in the U.S.?" "Well, it was really fun and exciting." "I think the drivers had a blast too. '@A@" "What did you think about the U.S. drivers?" "Well, I think the U.S. drivers have a really great sense of speed, and I think that's something that we lack." "The U.S. drivers are more aggressive" "They'e technique is still a little bit rough, but they handle their cars well." "Japanese drivers may be good in detailed techniques," "But American drivers are not afraid of speed." "I believe we have just started off in the U.S." "How can we practice for the improvement?" "Well, there are many ways to practice." "I think they can improve by watching other good drivers." "but I really felt that American drivers at D1 Grand Prix were getting better by just watching other good drivers in the race." "Then, how will you advise people who want to get their car started?" "First thing they need is LSD, or as we say, Def." "You can drive the car without customized footwork" "And the car does run without LSD" "But LSD is absolutely necessary for drifting the car." "So, just start off by installing LSD and practice drifting." "What is so fascinating about drifting?" "Hello, may I come in?" "Sure, come in." "Sorry about this mess." "What's all this stuff here?" "Here, I store some of my racing equipment, like helmets and suits." "It's basically a storage room." "I also use my computer here drafting articles for magazines and so on." "This room's kind of small, you know, so I sit down here and type like this... I check my website," "Don't you write diaries on your website?" "Yeah, people write message for me, so I write back and stuff." "You must be busy, though." "I'm rarely at home, so, I try to check them out as much as I can whenever I get back home... and just whenever I feel like." "Yeah. lt's just been sitting here since I replaced this reclining one with a full-bucket seat." "I'd sit on this when I was using the computer, but my arms go like this and it was really uncomfortable" "It' such a guy's room isn't it?" "I'm ashamed to show you this room," "I would've cleaned it if I knew you and your crew was coming." "I call these my working caps'h," "I used this one up here for the National GT race." "This next one is what I used for the D1 competitions." "And, I'm planning to use this one for the this year." "Wow!" "I had the design changed and they put in my character." "I stole this thing from HKS USA." "You did?" "while other kids were playing soccer or baseball." "I was racing and doing freestyle" "Then, in high school, I got a motorcycle license." "And I started racing with that." "I won a lot of the of the races. I was pretty fast." "Then, I got an AE-86 when I was 19." "I went to mountains for drifting and gripping." "Around that time, drifting was becoming popular among racers in Japan." "There was a video called 'gKeiichi Tsuchiya's Drifting Technique'h and I was really influenced by that." "So when I was 19, I started drifting, and I would go to the mountains to race every single day in Hiroshima where l grew up." "When I was 21 or 22, I participated in the competition" "I don't want to be just a racer." "I want to continue drifting and I also want to be an automobile critic, so I need to have a criteria as a top driver as well." "But, once I started racing, I really wanted to be a 'gtop driver.'h l want to win and become No.1 in the field." "So, for now, I mostly do racing and D-1 and I try to do my best." "Tht was my first time to go to the United States, so I was kind worried about what's going to happen." "I was amazed when I saw the full crowd" "They had a different response from Japanese audiences." "American audiences responded more honestly to my drifting." "Whether their cheering or booing I think the audiences in Japan are used to watching the scene" "And also Japanese people are rather shy, so they don't react to our pertormance as much." "I was impressed how much the American audience cheered for us, and that motivated me and made me feel great." "I really enjoyed it." "A lot of those guys who competed were really good." "I think all of the Japanese drivers were rather surprised." "We, Japanese drivers have to watch out for the U.S. drifters." "Without that much information and limited products for their cars, they did really a good job." "They'fll catch up in no time." "I'm glad that American people are starting to get interested in drifting and expect that they'll become more eager to develop car parts I'm sure we'fll see a lot of great cars in the near future." "That stimulates us to rise to a higher level also." "Hopefully, we can all improve together and make drifting a greater sport." "At the beginning, I think it was the joy of being able to control the car." "But now, drifting became so popular and we are watched by a lot of fans." "I guess people get excited to see our drifting techniques I'm sure people find it interesting how we control the car and the techniques we use to slide the car." "It's a really intense sport, and I have a lot of fun showing my drifting technique." "but I think the audience enjoys it." "I'd like to make drifting more popular and make it a major event, even in the United States." "This is my living room, kind of empty" "What's this ?" "Such a guy thing, huh?" "Did this tire use to be on your car?" "No." "My friend made it and gave it to me when he moved out." "I thought it was pretty cool!" "very racer-like" "Here, I have lots of these" "Wow!" "Look at all that!" "Aspara Drink sponsored me for the GT competition." "If you want some of these, please place your order here'c" "Lots of sponsors," "This car was originally yellow, and I had it painted to red" "But I only painted the outside, and the inside is still yellow I always wanted to have it all painted red..." "This is a side port engine done by R Magic" "This turbine here is a Blitz K5-700R." "And this is our original, v-Mount with the inter-cooler on top and the radiator beneath it ." "It has about 400 horsepower." "Look at that shining door!" "What is this made of?" "This is just a sticker, I wanted it to look like a huge chrome plate." "This is a GT wing." "You can find it in the U.S. too." "I just have for looks I thought it helps the wind press down on the car and stuff?" "I guess so, but I just have it cause it looks cool." "Footwork is done by jlc" "That's also in the U.S." "LSD is absolutely necessary for drifting." "And you need to get well-balanced, tires and suspension which will help you to get better at drifting." "Drifting is a sport where you try to exceed the maximum pertormance of the tires." "So, you'll have trouble getting control of the car with bad tires and suspensions." "You should first get the regular equipment, then move on to the next level once you get a hang of it." "Are there different types of LSD?" "Yes there is." "But I recommend you start with normal ones, like two way." "The LSD on this car is by Deft Force." "This is the APEX'l power FC, or the computer, that regulates the engine." "This brake balancer adjusts the balance of the front and rear breaks." ",You actually use this while drifting?" "Not while I'm drifting."