Wacky Saitama...

Back on board the Shinkansen again for an early morning blast back to Kanto...Yokohama! After checking into the hotel it was off again on train to Higashi Tokorozawa, in Saitama-Ken to meet my good friend Shino! It's been a while since last seeing Shino, so we had alot to catch up on. She pops up quite alot on this blog We met at the station with Shino and her co-drifter boyfriend R chan and went off for a great big feast of a dinner, maybe the best I've ever had! It was great to talk about old times, and future too, and nice for us all to switch off from cars, even though the 4 of us are so immersed in the tuning scene. It was just a great relaxing time for us all.

Here is Ed out cold on Shinkansen, and a very tired me...

At Shino Kouba 'Amazement' Garage...
After dinner and a few too many beers and chu hi for Ed and Shino, they became a little umm 'drunk' which could only mean one thing...Karaoke! How my ears survived I will never know, but WOW Shino can sing, I had no idea haha! For me, I played it simple and safe, but Ed went all out, blasting out some Led Zeppelin for all of the Saitama prefecture to hear... it really was CRAZY stuff!
Farewell and off to work again...See you soon Shino, arigato!

Nikko Circuit...

While in the Kanto area, I was invited to Nikko Circuit for a 'Practice Day' by Shino Murai (Shino Kouba Garage, Saitama). We arrived at Higashi Tokorozawa station by train from Veilside and met with Shino, then went to the garage around 11pm. Shino told me she works from 6am to 2am usually...CRAZY! After some food, chatting and a shower it was off to bed for a few hours sleep.

Up again at 5am, we made our way to Nikko Circuit with the AE86 on board. Not too long a drive, and we passed the time with some 80's music Karaoke and holding on for dear life as Shino played 'chicken' with the Toll barriers - SCARY!

We arrived at Nikko Circuit early to be greeted with about 40 or more drift cars all preparing for today's event. Also on the day there was Time Attack (Grip), which was good to watch also. We unloaded the AE86 and got it ready for some action. After a quick driver briefing it was good to go. Here are some photos from the day.

Onto the drifting, this was a VERY high spec AE86, and a hardcore lover of ONLY 4-AGE. I got a passenger ride and he is one of the craziest drifters I know...


This photo says it all...Drift life!

Shino in action (*^_^*)

This FC RX7 was SUPERB all day...

Funky Style 180sx...

Sideways Shino...

I'm sure most of you will have heard the name 'Shino Kouba' before...

It's been TOO long since I caught up with Shino, but she's still the only lady I know can get an AE86 to go as sideways as this... AWSOME! We need to catch up again soon Shino!

Honjo...

Ed sent me this video today (Thanks Ed, made my day). It's the Honjo Circuit, near Tokyo! It's footage from a recent drift day there and you see plenty of familiar faces! You see plenty of Japan's top drifter's including good friends Kenji Takayama (Orange D1GP FC RX7) and Shino Murai (White Amazement Shino Kouba AE86. Shino and Kenji were kicking some major ass around Honjo circuit. As always. Keep up the good work guys! Hopefully I can check out this circuit soon, as it looks like ALOT of fun!

D1GP @ Suzuka, Japan

Hey everyone, on my recent trip i was lucky enough to get to cover D1GP round at Suzuka Circuit in Japan. This was the first drift round to be held at Suzuka, and it certainly won't be the last. We arrived the Saturday morning greeted by scorching sunshine, and crazy temperatures, we just knew there would be plenty of tyre smoke, haha! After paying in on day 1, we were told the Sunday was sold out!! NOT GOOD! We tried all our contacts, but nobody could help, then we got talking to one of the mechanics in the pits, and explained the situation. Shino Kouba is a mechanic for her company AMAZEMENT, and Winds Auto cars in Saitama, Japan, near Tokyo. How she did it i will never know, but she managed to blag us VIP, all access passes for the sunday, we could not have been more grateful and lucky, we are still thanking Shino for all her help, and will be forever grateful, amazing kindess! The Sunday kicked off in style with us meeting Inada Daijiro in the train station on the way to Suzuka, and chatting about Option/D1, great start! The event itself was unreal, HIGH speed drifting, with plenty of action. The final was Hiraoka in S15 and Nomura in R34, but Nomuken spun out on last run and handed the win to Hiroaka! There is just nothing like a domestic round of D1 in Japan - UNREAL atmosphere! I can't wait to i get back, here are a few pics from the camera....enjoy!

Snow Drift...

Christmas is right around the corner. In Ireland now, and the Snow is here...

Something to put you in the mood...Snow Drift with Shino Kouba!

Remember this?

Remember this stunning Shino Kouba built AE86 Corolla?

I got up close and personal before Nikko Circuit back in 2008..

 

Well, it now resides in Ireland, with owner Adrian Walsh...

 

Not so much has been changed on the outside...

 

But it now boasts a crazy 410bhp SR20 instead of the previous 20v 4AGE

Be sure to catch up with it at your next Irish Drift event, making Smoke Trails!