My personal car, I’m not huge on looks but its got a tuned ECU, aftermarket engine, locked front and rear diffs, plastic / rubber mix tires for higher speed drifting and bad ass scando flicks, something you can’t do running normal hard plastic tires.

Just chucked some videos together that I had laying around on my computer.

My mate Aaron with Hoshino locking his front and rear diffs.

The RC dedicated area of Hoshino’s workshop.

Aarons slow junk RC car, even worse looking then mine haha. <3

Some of the Geki boys.

Our good friend Pants from Geki acting like a fool. He owns the orange bashed up S14 I posted on here not to long ago.

Hoshino being his normal self haha.

There will always be someone with an RC car at every local track day.

Heres some more serious ones which can usually be found at D1 events etc.

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Past couple of months I have seen quite a few cars roll in and roll out oh Hoshino’s workshop, here are 2 of the boys car from Team Geki (Geki Kassou Dan). They were running close tandems at Nikko when another car spun infront of Koro’s S14.5 and well his car along with Pant’s car could not pull up in time and contact was made, quite a bad crash damage wise.

Excuse the mobile phone pictures, sorry!

Koro’s S14.5 after the Nikko crash with fellow team mate Pants.

Koro’s s14.5 before the crash.

Pant’s S14 after the Nikko crash.

 What else can I say but drift happens.

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You done well, you placed in the top 10 at your first D1 event, you have taken wind to some comments saying you might be in line for some tire sponsorship after your efforts. You are in good spirits as you drive to your next D1 event. At the event you manage to lay down perfect runs against your rival Tezuka whose piloting the Goodyear backed Nissan Skyline. You take the long drive back to the start line waiting to hear an outcome. What! Your called back for a re-run, even after your rival made a mistake causing you to lead in the points score, it does not matter the judges want to see a re-run. You know you clearly that you beat him but you head out again for a re-run. The results come in, you just happened to miss out and wont be making it into the top 8. This is your first taste of the real world in D1, as you and your pit crew pack up for the long drive home you cant help but feel some sort of failure.

Your car is all ready, you have paid the ridiculous 70,000 yen entry fee again, the truck is loaded and everything is packed, you just got off the phone to your new tire sponsor, this year Yokohama who are happy to have you on board but did they forget to mention that you will never ever have a chance of wining D1 because of their main tire competitor Goodyear. Goodyear is one of the D1GP’s main sponsors who will always have the last say in who wins, thank the King for the that. You happen to being doing flawless runs but yet the Goodyear backed big guns still manage to score more points then you every run without fail, you can also thank the King for that.

Yoshida from SuperMade in his super gangster S13.

Whose the King you ask, well its none other then Keiichi Tsuchiya also known as Dorikin . The King is the largest icon in drifting, who brought the D1 Grand Prix to all its glory but now he seems to be closing it down event after event with the crazy entry fee costs and his ridiculous judging. Only 2-3 years ago you would find over 100 cars entered into any D1 event around Japan, that was before they decided to up the price from around 25,000 yen to 70,000 yen, and for what? So you had the pleasure of packing up and leaving early because the judges decisions were completely biased. You and the other 40 or so competitors, did I say 40 or so, sorry I meant 100 no actually I didn’t, D1 now struggles to even get entries and have resorted to calling up ex-D1 drivers personally to see if they would like to enter upcoming events. I have seen with my own eyes at the Suzuka 07 D1 event the lengths that Tsuchiya will go to when one of his friends, not mentioning names but he drove a bright pink S15. He did not quite achieve the points needed so they called for a re-run against lesser backed privateer, resulting in the higher profile driver wining. The judging got so bad that they even started brining in guest judges such as Nobushige Kumakubo from Team Orange for the pure fact of just trying to make the judging calls fairer for all participants not just the high profile drivers.

These higher entry prices coupled with the fact the economy is going down the drain is not good for the Smaller privateer drivers who would usually just put everything on the credit card and worry about paying it back another day. Not this year with banks cutting down credit limits in Japan it also means a lot of privateers now have no money to enter D1. Now days you will see most D1 drivers at local events just drifting for the passion and fun of it, before it was taken over by money and sponsors. They are returning into the real drift scene, not this Pamela Anderson version of drift, with new improved bits and pieces but the price to pay is getting Hep C, turning green and losing your hair.

Good friend Tomohiro Murayama from Team Geki in his 550HP SR2.2.

So its clear there is only one way to the top and that’s making it to the Kings table, make it their and your sure in for a win. Do the hard work kiss the right backsides and in no time you will have a spot. But once your there don’t ever think of leaving, leaving the table would result in having all you hair cut off then getting it dyed green upon the Kings request of following the traditions and showing your loyalty. After that process you may never enter a D1 event again unless you make piece with King Tsuchiya. Your now a free man with a name, where do you go? You go to America where the grass is greener, the money flows like water and your fans line up in dozens just to get a glance at you. If you done all of these things you would sound just like Nobuteru Taniguchi also known as NOB, a very smart man who seen the light and happens to be one of the best drivers in drifting or grip to date and whose making a killing for himself in America the land of opportunity.

Another good friend and fellow Team Geki member, Zema in his RX7 along with his bright green D1 Street Legal 180sx below.

So there it is D1 is dying, prices have doubled and entrants have been cut by at least 50% or more. You cant really run a D1 event with no cars drifting. If you do intend on seeing some drifting in Japan I would be hunting down some MSC events or if you demand on seeing D1, the Ebisu event is always the best one to watch.

All my information has been based on facts and truths, its not just a propaganda rag out on the D1 Grand Prix even if it does sound a bit far fetched. My close relationship with a few good friends who happen to be ex-D1 drivers for all the reasons mentioned above have always brought up some great stories about D1 and the trouble it has caused.

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A week later I got a phone call and list presented to me with the title JZX90 at the top and under a list of all its modifications and in a flash we were in Hoshino’s cars heading down to GOODS car yard a good friend of Hoshino’s to see what they had lined up for me. Presented to me in all its matte black dented up broken aero glory was my future JZX90, after a quick test drive by yours truly I handed it over to Hoshino for the drift test to which he had no problems kicking it out sideways inches from the corners guard rails, a very good selling technique I must admit.

After some hard work by myself, Andy and all the guys down at Hoshino Car Style the car had been sanded back, fixed all these little dents that were everywhere on the body of the car from the last owners who also decided matte black was a good paint scheme, pulled the front and rear fenders to suit its new shoes and she was ready for her new war paint and my welcoming to Team Geki or in full Geki Kassou Dan.

Look at her, all pretty and new not a dent or a mark to be seen, she was in need of some new wheels and lower stance but that was already organized.

After a couple track days at Honjo Circuit and Ebisu disasters struck in the name of understeer and lack of confidence. When attacking Ebisu’s Minami course there is one main thing you need, its called confidence. If that course senses for a second that your not committed to every corner laid out in front of you it will make sure your car does not leave with out a reminder of your stupid mistake.

The car had a touch up and got pulled straight it was time to head back out to Honjo Circuit for a shake down as it just had some new Swift 14kg / 12gk springs and rear Ikeya Formula solid mounts installed. On the day I was playing around with my damper and that in conjunction with my front tire choice being Advan Neova’s this car turned from a sluggish boat into a car that felt very much like any smaller chassis S13 or S14 drift car, it felt great!

Some video footage from the Honjo track day.

Now that the car was feeling perfect and it had just had all its paint work finished, got some new offset and adjusted the car height I had my eyes set on conquering Ebisu’s unforgiving Minami course at the upcoming Drift Matsuri. Some gentle persuading and hints from my friend Paul who was over from Australia on holiday and success, I had now mastered Ebisu. I was so worried about crashing again I lost all my confidence but after Paul forced me to do it I realized how easy it is as long as you treat it with the respect it needs, it really is such a scary and dangerous course in person, DVD’s don’t do it justice. The only bad thing about drifting on Minami is not one course I have been on gives me the thrill that Minami does, when your faced with completely writing off your car with just one little mistake it adds to the adrenalin rush.

New wheels filled the guards perfect!

New ride height made sure I could ummmmm, no longer store drinks under my car.

My front guards after the Drift Matsuri at Ebisu, was cool to see streams of smoke coming from my front tires while drifting.

This is a shot grabbed from the below video of my car on Ebisu’s famous Minami course.

Drifting footage from Ebisu’s Minami course.

After a great last year of drifting its now time for a little break and a breather, this year the JZX90 will be lucky to see one track event and the last time I drifted it was at Mt Akagi last week which was cut short by a JZX100 crashing. So its just going to gather dust in waiting for its retune in 6-8 months. Until then I will try and borrow some junk cars to thrash at local events but that’s about it for me and drifting this year.

How the JZX90 currently stands, dirty and rough around the edges, how any drift car would look after 12 months of hard work.

Current mod list
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Engine standard running 1.1 bar on standard gutless twin turbos
HPI Front mount kit
Re-Tuned ECU
Coilovers 14kg fronts and 12kg rear springs
2 way LSD
Defi guages
Bride Seat
CST Wheels 9.5 +15 offset at all four corners
Full straight through exhaust
Big Koyo alloy radiator
Real Dream Aero
Rear floor brace
Rear Cusco sway bar
Project Mu brake pads
Slotted front rotors
Ikeya Formula solid mount rear end

Im sure I have left off quite a few mods, but they are the main ones.

The offices front desk.

Nothing great in here, it just works and does its job.

Team stickers, Geki Style!

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