Mobara circuit, about two hours east of Tokyo, was the location for the final round of MSC-hosted competitions this year. The event was judged by professional drivers, including the world famous Orido Manabu who also got a bit of track time in his Ridox Supra. There were individual, tsuiso (chase) style, and triple tsuiso team events, with plenty of non-stop action throughout the day.
A whole slew of drivers came out to compete, from beginners all the way up to seasoned veterans. Skill levels were consistently high all day, even among those relatively new to drifting.
The only downside to judged competitions like this, is that drivers are only given the chance to show their skill on a single corner of the course. I much prefer to see them go all out and attack each and every bend in the course. I’m not complaining though, because there was still plenty to take in, as you can see.
Even though the judges were looking for precision of line and consistency, those drivers brave enough to drop in at the entry to the judged corner really got the crowds going.
Unfortunately, one attempt didn’t end well for this beautiful Eight-six. He lost control coming out the dirt drop and had a hard meeting with the wall. Such a shame to see rides this clean get damaged!
One of the most well-known teams in the area is Team Magician, who may or may not have gotten such a reputation because all their cars are all different shades of bright pink. Not my taste, but there’s definitely some style there!
Orido’s Supra at rest after a quick thrashing, and sporting some bright yellow kicks for a change.
A large part of the judging criteria was how well drivers could hold the drift on the outside line of the wide hairpin. This driver in the C33 Laurel was hitting the mark all day long. Amazing skill.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve got ugly decals plastered all over your car if you can drive like this!
A stroll around the paddock is a great opportunity to get a closer look at these cars.
After lunch, drivers paired up to compete in tsuiso action. One of the judges favorites was this maroon “Speedholic” S15.
With the spectators stands right at the outside of the turn, everyone spent nearly eight hours getting smoke and tire bits thrown in their faces. Such is the life of a drift fan, I guess.
This very clean FC was eliminated early, but was one of the best looking cars there, at least in my book.
As the sun went down, the team “Triple Tsuiso” round heated up.
It was hard to capture how close these drivers got in the team runs. Not a bad effort by team SIGN141 here.
A bit heavy on the drift events lately, but I hope you guys don’t mind. We’ll be kicking it up another notch very soon, with possibly the year’s biggest grassroots event coming up this weekend. That would be the EBISU DRIFT MATSURI!!
~Park Baker
