KAZAMA WINS THE 2005 D1GP TITLE !

Kazama & D1 GP trophy for US D1

It all started February 28th 2005 - The D1 2nd Pro Competition on US soil! (And I was there) - Congratulation Kazama !

Check out some of the pictures we took aka (we = Bruno & Erica Simonet).

Drift is like most people would say a crazy sport.

I like crazy things and especially rally racing. Someone mentioned to me 2 years ago about drifting and I checked it out and just loved it. Of course I love all things car racing that require skills.

Drifting is all about artistic handling of a car out of control on the edge of reason. No they are not drunk when they drive - they are just crazy and the tire smoke has gone to their head.

If you have not attended a Drift competition please go because it's wonderfull - 3-6 hours of non stop action at the D1 grand prix in Irwindale.

We plan on going to the US vs Japan race in December and some day we will go and see it in Japan.

Other things I may go see are an Indy race and of course F1. Rally I just enjoye it on TV going to a race maybe - maybe not...

Bruno and Tarzan kicking it Rasta Man.

Smoking it sideways

Beautifull S15

2006 D1 ROUND 1 PICS

Initial D

D1GP - Irwindale CA 2005

Kazama

Silvia S13.5

Anguile Initiating a drift at age 4

D1 GP Series 2005 Point Ranking (as of 12-22-05)

Champion Yasuyuki Kazama / Silvia(S15) 97p
2 Masao Suenaga / RX-7(FD3S) 96p
3 Youichi Imamura / RX-7(FD3S) 68p
4 Nobu Kumakubo / Impreza(GDB) 55p
5 Masato Kawabata / Silvia(S15) 55p
6 Ken Nomura / Skyline(ER34) 49p
7 Hiroshi Fukuda 45p
8 Tatsuya Sakuma 41p
9 Yoshioka Minoru 40p
10 Nobuteru Taniguchi / Altezza(SXE10) 36p

Pictures by Erica Simonet

Check out these incredible pictures from JTuned

Read On from Urban Racer

D1GP 2005 Season Opener at Irwindale

D1 Grand Prix Round 1 Season Opener

Thank you to all the fans, sponsors, and drivers contributing to another spectacular event! D1 Irwindale, February 27th was a huge success with over 10,000 in attendance. Congratulations to Yasuyuki Kazama of KEI office in his Nissan S15. Determining a winner this year was more difficult than ever. All who qualified seemed amazing and indistinguishly good. The twin drift would determine their fate. It came down to Imamura driving his APEX sponsored Mazda FD and Kazama. Imamura, despite being incredible all day, was passed in one of the final rounds by Kazama in the final hairpin turn. Notable performances were shown by Ueno's in his Soarer, Nomuken Blitz Skyline, Suenaga's FD, and Rhys Millen's RMR GTO.

New to this event was a GPS monitor within the cars which determined the car's angle, speed, and throttle, which aided in a more objective judging that we at D1 are aiming for. As the sport continues to grow, keep an eye out for more interesting advances in judging.

This was my first Drift competition I saw in person and with Erica tagging along we had a great time. She took most of the race pictures and I took the video footage and some of the pit pictures. It was awesome and we cant wait till next year. Maybe we can even go to Japan to see one D1 GP...Stay tuned.

I love the smell of rubber in the morning !

My next car - The GTO it almost beat Kazama

Talking with the JDM Option Editor

Kazama smiling for his fans !