Shots from D1GP Tokyo Drift Odaiba

Wednesday 27 November, 2013 | By Edo

We’re back with another installment from our international SNTRL Fam STREETMETAL! Following up the slammed society fuji speedway coverage, Bank has now made his way to an event that’s still on my bucket list, D1GP Tokyo Drift in Odaiba! When it comes to drifting, one cannot think of the sport without thinking of D1GP, the original drifting championship series from Japan. This was the epitome of JDM and drifting back in the day when we could still hit up Mitsuwa or Kinokuniya for english subbed JDM OPTION DVD’s. These days, D1GP has changed quite a bit. Tsuchiya and Daijiro, the founders of the series have moved on to create the drift muscle. Though Manabu Suzuki “Mana-P” still announces the event, one can’t say the magic of D1GP hasn’t dwindled a bit over the years ever since the new management took over. One thing that hasn’t changed though, is the awesome drivers and the incredible machines. The opening shot is a perfect example. One of the OG’s in D1, Takahiro Ueno, boss of VERTEX is still at it with his 2JZ 335i, which, may I add, sounds AMAZING. Regardless of what D1GP was before and is now, it remains a spectacle that any fan of Japanese drifting can appreciate and admire. On to the photos!

UP-GARAGE / Droo-p 86’s ready for a day of battle. Hibino’s and his bad ass FR-S are always a crowd favorite. For more on this car watch Orido, Taniguchi and Hibino himself take it out for a few test runs earlier this year.

And now for some beauty shots:


LOVE this S14!

Super clean Z33 at the work wheels booth. Seems like this one is fitted with a 370z front end conversion with Do-luck aero parts to match. Nice work!

TEAM ORANGE! D1GP Legends. Glad to see this EVO is still put to use after it was literally on fire at a previous event.

THIS. The MF’n sick BenSopra R35. It was originally owned by BLITZ and was intended to be Nomuken’s new car after the ER34. Nomuken now drives a FR-S, so the R35 didn’t work for him unfortunately. Shame though, I really wanted to see him pilot this beast. The good thing is, the people at BenSopra took this car off of BLITZ’s hands when the bailed on the project. They’re goal is to run a full season which would be damn fun to watch…

Now for a few action shots!

Hibino tearing it up!

Suenaga, another OG in the game piloting the RE-Amemiya RX8!

This is actually Daigo Saito’s back up car. According to Speedhunters, there was an unfortunate fire where the real Daigo monster machine was being stored. RIP to Daigo’s old machine. Hope to see him come out with something bigger and better next season!

Something you don’t see every day…

Taniguchi’s HKS everything FR-S. I’d love to see this car rank higher in D1. He will need some crazy amount of horsepower to do so. D1 is all about big power these days.

So that wraps it up! Hope you guys enjoyed our quick look into D1GP Odaiba. Don’t try this at home! Words: EDO Photos: STREETMETAL

About the author

Co-Founder/Creative Director, Edwin has been applying his years of experience in the graphic/web design + development to SNTRL since day one. Highly interested in all forms of sub-culture, especially JDM cars, fighting games, street art, street wear, and the fascinating world of Dubstep. Follow @yo_edo to keep up with his quirky tweets about daily life in NYC.


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