Signal Auto Battle Version Drift Session

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You know, It's funny. We watch OPTION videos everyday. We pick up the latest Drift Tengoku magazine. We brush up on drifting in japan, through the Velocity Racing Team web site, Club4AG, Slide Squad, Sileightymania, and we attend Drift Session and Battle Version events. We've always known how fast, and how crazy the D1 Grand Prix Drivers are. So how is it that WE were all soo blown away, and shocked, when Fumiaki Komatsu started drifting half-way down the track, into, and out of the turn at over 90 miles an hour?

It's because we finally got to see it with our own eyes!



There, in front of our face. The speed and skill of these drivers could never be fully understood by watching a damn video. What we saw in front of our eyes, was a translation of what we always THOUGHT we knew.

Mike and I were at Hypers at 6am monday morning, getting the signal car out. Ken Miyoshi (Founder of Import Showoff - the guy who did the first import car show) stood there, his usual self - slight smile, calm, reserved, careful. When we started pushing the car out of the work bay, Ken looked at me, and started jumping up and down, a look of excitement I've never seen before slapped across his face:

"This is gonna be fucking dope!!!!!!!"

Battle Version, Signal Auto, Street Car Industries, Mainstream Productions, Drift Session, Punish'um TV, Paul Umholtz, and Grip Video, teamed up to present the Clinic/Competition at Hawaii Raceway Park on September 2nd, 2002. The event was designed to give local drifters the opportunity to learn better drifting skills from a Proffesional drifter, learn more about the japan drifting scene, be able to practice what they learned in the classroom on the track, and in the end, be able to drift against one of Japan's best.

The question was, how the hell would we get a Drift car and driver from Japan to Hawaii????

It just soo happened that Signal Auto's D1 Grand Prix car, the Drifter X 180sx was being housed in Torrance, California. After talking with Signal's general manager Yumi Mano, and with the massive help and support of Ken Miyoshi and Streetcar Industries, We were able to bring down the D1 car to Hawaii. We were lucky that Ken jumped on board. He shared the same idea we had long before we both talked about it.

Fumiaki Komatsu is one of two D1 drivers for Signal Auto, and our choice as driver for the event. It was just our luck that Komatsu was able to join us in Hawaii, and show everyone what drifting really was.

Signal Auto is a famous performance company originating from Osaka, Japan. Started over 25 years ago by Kouske "The MAD" Kida, Signal competes in Super Taikyu N1 Enduro, D1 Grand Prix events, Tsukuba Super Lap, Battle of the Imports, and other various race events. Since It's inception, Signal has opened shops in Korea, Thailand and the US. If you've watched Option, You may recognize Signal's Purple Skyline GTR R34 in the Tsukuba Super Lap sections, and of course the Drifter X 180sx in the D1 Grand Prix events.



The night before the main event we were in the classroom of the raceway park til 8pm, talking about drifting, suspension setup (Signal auto suspension set up in Grip vol1 - go buy it now!) and drifting in Japan. Whats interesting, is that in Japan, if you get caught drifting, they can take away your liscence for a year. Then, in order to get it back, your car has to pass "Shoken", which is a kind of recon.

Of course, the guys all brought up questions concerning girl drifters and if drifters get alot of girls in Japan.

*laugh* Komatsu said, "That's part of how the whole competition thing began!" Whoever was the best drifter, got all the girls!

When asked about the current level of competition in D1, Komatsu explained that drivers only get one pass to qualify, and that the competition is soo high, that some of the best drivers won't qualify! He also said that people have become soo good, that even Drift King (Keiichi Tsuchiya) may not qualify! Woah!

People misunderstand drifting. Drifting isn't JUST about taking a turn side ways at high speed. It's not just a sport. It's an art. In Japan, drifting is judged in several ways:

How fast you enter a turn
How long your drift is
Amount of tire smoke
Your ability to follow someone's line
How your car looks (yes, how your car LOOKS)
How insane close you get to the edges of the track if your tires hit the dirt, then it must look crazy dramatic, and you -get major points, or if you lose speed in the dirt, you lose major points.
Insane balls-to the walls type drifting - and you crash - get points - and mad respect!
Style - It's ALL about style


I say drifting is an art because It's all about personal expression of character. Every car, Every driving style, is different. So when you watch drifters compete, you're looking at their character. Thats kinda cool.

And you know what? Watching everyone drive Monday, I could see their character more so in their driving, then I could see it when I'm just rapping with them.

Komatsu made a few passes in the morning just to tune the car and get used to the track. A large group of spectators and drivers were on hand to see the 8am passes, which were some of the best all day. When he took turn 1 at 90 miles an hour, the whole crowd gasp in astonishment, and people started saying "That was worth my ten bucks right there!" Imagine if a D1 event came to America? To Hawaii?

Komatsu went through four rear tires throughout the day, and ended up borrowing my SSR's off my car. It's still streetable - he didn't make TOO many passes with it, but there's chunks missing here and there in the tread.

Alex Pfeiffer from Battle Version took out several driver's cars - including Marcus Ho's BMW M3. He got soo sideways with it, Yumi, general manager exclaimed: "Holy shit! Alex is FUCKING good!"

During the competition portion of the event, crowds lined the school balcony, the gaurd rail in front of the school, turn one, and the hills on the outside of turn one and the inside of turn one. It looked straight out of Option.

What made me smile the most though, was the the crowd seemed to take on a Japan mentality. No one wanted to leave, everyone was smiling, and everyone cheered and clapped for each competitor on the track. Likewise the drivers all worked on each others cars, shared parts, advised the begginers - everyone was in good spirits.

Brayden Lee, Justin Kikkawa, and Ross Petty all went against Koma-san, but it was Justin who came the closest to beating Koma-san, and won the event.

Since that day I've been getting non-stop phone calls and e-mails and AIM messages about everyone's experience watching The Signal Auto Drifter X in action. I'm very happy to see that everyone enjoyed their day with us, and hopefully, one day, when we get enough money to do it again - we'll do it again.

I have to give Special thanks to Steve Oliberos for letting Komatsu use some of his tires, as well as Wendell Yamada and Rex for giving up their throttle bodies to the Drifter X.

I saw Yumi Mano, Kouske Kida, and Fumiaki Komatsu off on their way to the airport. I can't wait to visit them in February!!! !