At the beginning of my road trip to Mie Prefecture, I decided to make a detour down to the Izu Peninsula to visit my good friend Ando. Ando operates Auto Rescue Izu, a wrecker/tow service in Shizuoka. Over the past 2 years he had built a new shop to house and work on his personal cars.
1990’s motoring in Japan, for a few people, has recently increased in popularity, becoming somewhat of an abstract study into a very unique culture. A lot of what we see today, especially in drifting, is an amalgamation of trends and lifestyle cues from that era; things that we aren’t necessarily privy to (unless of course you were a teenager in Tokyo in 1995). Yuji Hasunuma, owner of Pro Shop Wave, was a prominent figure in the peak times of ‘hashiriya‘; a time where the older generation today, was growing up and exploring the world of motorsports. Despite the change in trends, Yuji and his shop is still around today in Kanagawa, and as a ‘tip of the hat’ to the age his generation loved, he began the Bari Dori Heaven events.
This year, the collective minds behind Final Bout set out to unite a country over the sport of drifting; instilling in the nation a certain set of qualities they feel are necessary for the sport to thrive with it’s Japanese roots intact. Each carefully selected location of the Special Stage events provided their own unique characteristics in both venue and demographics that helped define what drifting is in each corner of the nation. Uncovering, and highlighting these places allowed others to experience different parts of the country, both first and second hand, that we wouldn’t have otherwise had the opportunity to. I think this alone is reason enough to undertake a project as massive as Final Bout has been in 2016. This time the crew headed to Canaan Motor Club in central New Hampshire to host the third, and final stage of the trio of special events.
Picking up from where we left off in Portland, coverage in V2 will review the remaining teams that were competing over the weekend. I gotta say though, the first article on Final Bout was so wordy that I really don’t have much to say for the follow up; I kind of broke the dam gates on that one. For those who missed it, to get an overview of the event check out the first article published last week. If you’ve done that already, I won’t put you through it again – so let’s jump right into some photos.
There’s something to be said about those who go out of their way for the preservation of ideas. These people, when sensing a degradation in quality or process, will consciously take on the role of safeguarding origins. There are quite a few of us who, in our day to day, fail to see the importance of upholding certain ideologies. While the majority of us don’t fall into this category, it’s safe to say that those who do, have the ability to carry many. To them the priority lies in guidance. It’s about the teaching and the development of a new generation. A generation that may not be exposed to the superior pedigree of the past, but hold with them a desire for growth. Having spent the lesser side of a week with a few of these individuals, I can tell you it is a rare quality they possess. It is their calling, and they answer to it; and how they’ve answered has ignited a world-wide call to arms.
Car Modify Wonder had several cars on hand to introduce their somewhat new lineup of Glare aero parts, and as usual, they did not disappoint. It’s refreshing to see a truly unique and creative offering, especially for older chassis’. It’s a stark contrast from what we’ve recently been used to seeing; which is more or less a cookie cutter approach to exterior styling (I don’t need to say anymore than that for you to catch my drift). Check out the shots below and let me know what you think.
There’s a tremendous amount of history that kind of flies under the radar when it comes to the roots of the concept of ‘hashiriya’ in Japan. As is the case in most of life, a lot of what we see today is derived from a heavy influence on trends from the past. When the current generation of tuners in Japan were growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, before they were old enough to drive cars, they were introduced into the world of motor sports through motorcycles. To celebrate this derivation of history, Yuji, owner of Pro Shop Wave, assists in putting together the Bari Dori Ten event at Mobara. This year was the 3rd annual event, and the turnout was as good as ever. Sekinei was on hand to handle media for the event, as per Yuji’s request!
When I left off the first post, I had just got done making my rounds in the pit, getting acquainted with a few people, and generally just getting a lay of the land. It was my first time at US Air and really wasn’t familiar with any of the track layout. After Mico introduced me to Nick from Touge Factory, I was able to get a media pass and head out to the infield to start getting some shots of the open practice session that was going on.
Being on an airplane nearly every week for the last year has somewhat numbed me to the miracle of flight. Commercial airlines have figuratively made the world a much smaller, and more obtainable place. The opportunity of creating new relationships and experiences are increased exponentially because of our ability to understand flight. As I travel for work quite frequently, I often have to step back and view the act existentially as to remind myself of what I’ve been able to accomplish with the help of those winged metal tubes. Arriving home Thursday after a 4 day stint in Tucson, Arizona, I had one day to catch up on work, and gather my camera gear, as I had made the decision to make my way Northeast on Friday night.
Mobara invites from Team Yamada. Lots of good street teams out this day.
So, yeah. This will probably go down as the most random post of 2015 NDF, but I figured I’d combine the two as we didn’t spend that much time at either. The same day that HKS held their Premium Day event, our friends at Tension reserved the Fuji drift track and held their own ‘Premium Day’ so to speak. While the guys in Tension are all super nice, they have a somewhat sketchy history, so I’m glad Sekinei is good friends with them. They’ve always support NDF and I couldn’t be more stoked about it.
So during the lunch break on the Speedway side, Sekinei and I meandered over to Fuji’s drift track to say hi and snap some photos.
There’s something to be said about those who go against the grain. Those who have a need to create the outlandish, to disregard outside opinion, and to construct their true vision. They are the ones who will be remembered long after they’re gone, and the ones whose ideas will eventually be cherished. Go Nakamura is one such person, and he happens to be the owner of G-Corporation – and what you see before you is, in fact, his dream Silvia.
It’s safe to say, especially now that it has passed, that Final Bout was one of, if not, the most anticipated event stateside of 2014; not only because of who was attending, but mostly […]
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t follow Formula Drift here in the States in the loosest sense… My good friend Karl competes in FD, and the extent of my knowledge is […]
This past weekend marked the date for one of Japan’s largest motorsport festivals I think I’ve ever come across; not necessarily in size, but in overall variety. A large part of that had to […]
Like I mentioned in the previous post, we arrived pretty late to Honjyo Circuit because prior to coming here I had a photoshoot with Takahashi’s FD at T-One’s in Gunma. We arrived at […]
I had been up North in the Gunma area photographing Takahashi’s FD at T-Ones the other week, and thought, while up in that area we should check out Honjyo Circuit because there was […]
Last weekend, since we were in the area, we stopped by Honjyo Circuit to check out the fourth round of Drift Muscle that was taking place this past Sunday. Here is a shot […]
Imai-san sure sealed the deal on the controversy envelope with this one. His 2J powered, GT-R converted 180SX has made a resounding impact throughout the world. Catch it in the Drift Muscle series […]
小山哲さんのZ32 This weekend at Fuji Speedway, the All Japan Z Meeting took place. This event is the largest Z meeting in the country, and is held annually at Fuji. This year, Satoru Koyama, the […]
Ran into this super clean R33 at Fuji last month. I didn’t get to see it on track, but it sure looked good sitting in the lot. It’s funny because I’ve reached a point […]
I’m so behind on coverage of pretty much every event in Japan it’s killing me. Hyper Meeting, still have the last of the HKS Premium Day coverage (which is long overdue), several drift events […]
Throwing it back to last year when Jay and I stopped by Kunny’z to say hi to Kuniaki-san and Masahiko-san, seen here rocking the Uggs. I had met Kunny-san awhile back briefly, but had […]
I mentioned on our Instagram account (@naritadogfight) that Sekinei was at Tsukuba this past weekend covering Hyper Meeting 2014. I initially wanted to post up a bunch of shots from the event but honestly […]
A few months ago I flew up to Nor-Cal to visit some friends and to attend a drift thingy put together by Club Drift; you can see it here. The first one was a […]
Team Yamada is a team…kind of. Well, maybe the word ‘group’ would better fit the description. Team Yamada is a group who organize じゃんけん (Janken) events in Japan. Janken, if you’re unfamiliar with the […]
OK, so one day a few weeks ago, Sekinei, Matt and I headed to Mobara the morning that I was supposed to be on a flight back to America. I’m not sure what the deal […]
Came across this Kazama equipped Chaser at Mobara during a Team Yamada event earlier in the year. I’m not sure if it was still the 1J in there, or if the owner swapped to […]
This weekend I decided to take a little trip up to the Bay area to hang out with a few friends. I’m pretty lucky in the sense that pretty much anywhere I travel to now […]
Last weekend at Mobara, the drift team Perfect Style made a pretty solid appearance for the open event. I was pretty excited to see such a solid turn out, it really speaks to the […]
Caught this really cool R32 sedan at Mobara a week or so ago at the Team Yamada event. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised that it was owned and driven by […]
At the Team Yamada drift event at Mobara Circuit this past weekend, the old D1 Pro Shop Wave JZX100 made an appearance and put in a couple practice runs. It was quick to […]
Fuji’s drift course typically has a wide variety of course at any given event. On this day though, this particular 86 caught my eye. There are a few things about it that appeal to me. […]
I first saw this car when my friend Teddy posted a few pictures of it in our Facebook group page. I inquired about it pretty quickly and he mentioned it was a friend of […]
Wow. Such Drift. Just kidding; I’ll do my best to maintain decent grammar. Sekinei attended the Lowbrain drift event last weekend, mainly to drive in it, but he also was able to snap a […]
Our first run in with Art Engine was quite awhile back at Tsukuba Circuit during an open track event. Which, after this post, will give you an idea of how versatile Art Engine is. […]
If you don’t know Weld, then read up. If you do, then I don’t need to explain to you how great their cars are. Now, I’m not too sure who the owner of this […]
Tonight (this morning?), we met up with Yusuke-san and went out to catch some of the streeting that was going on outside of Daikoku. I’ll be pretty busy for the next week or so, […]
Sekinei grabbed this shot of the Magician C33 throwing down at Mobara a couple weeks ago. Just a reminder, the Winter Cafe is less than a week away! If you are interested in attending, please […]
