2nd October 2005 - Event Report: D1 GP Exhibition, Silverstone (for Fast & Modified Magazine)

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Event: D1 GP Exhibition, Silverstone Racetrack, Northampton, England

Dates: Saturday 2nd October 2005

Those of you who have been following the Irish D1 championship this year or have been keeping an eye on the various drifting events featured in Flat 2 The Mat will be up to speed on some of the Japanese drivers who descended on Silverstone to compete in the first ever D1 UK Exhibition last weekend. Faces we first saw earlier this year were the likes of Nomura and Kazama who put on the first Japanese drifting display in the UK at the GT Battle event run at Rockingham Motor Speedway, then on Irish soil as they showed everyone at Mondello their skills as part of the Autofest/D1IRL event.

Having watched these guys in action several times now we knew that any event they took part in was going to be a spectacle to behold. If that wasn't enough to keep everyone entertained and on the edge of their seat along came a further 14 drivers from the D1 Japan championship as well 6 European drivers who had progressed through a qualification round last month. A pair of twincams made the trip over from Ireland for the D1UK event, with their drivers Darren McNamara and Eric O'Sullivan having the full support of everyone involved with the current D1IRL setup.

The first thing that struck home was the number of people who made the trip over from Ireland to the event, so much so that you would have sworn that you were at the likes of Mondello and not Ireland, everywhere you turned you would find familiar faces from this side of the channel. Going by the cheers from one of the main grandstands as the Irish lads hit the track during free practice we came to the conclusion that half the country had set up base camp there for the day.

As the day kicked off around 9am the drivers were allowed out on track during a couple of free practice runs to get used to the section of track being used for the competition, involving a very fast straight into a left hander which then straightened out and led into a long right hand curve and across the finish line. The corners chosen were perfect for maximum crowd participation as this combination of corners lay directly in front of the several of the main grandstands. During free practice there were a few spins and excursions into the gravel traps as the drivers pushed their cars (and themselves) to the limit and beyond to find out just how hard they could possibly take the corners with a view to scoring more points later in the day and progressing through the knockout stages.

As the practice time came to an end all of the competing drivers arrived out on track and were introduced to the crowd, with many of the drivers hanging out the car waving to the crowd as they drove past the grandstands. With 22 drivers taking part in the event it meant that at the end of the qualification rounds where each driver had 3 runs at the course to score as many points as they possibly could 6 drivers would be able to relax and enjoy watching the top 16 fighting it out on track for the top spot. The standard of every one of the 22 drivers was very high, and that showed in the scoring during the qualifying runs which were marked out of 100 possible points - 3 drivers (Miki, Nomura and Imamura) all scored maximum points with the remaining drivers all scoring 96.00 or above which shows you just how close everyone compared.

After a short lunch break which included an autograph session in the pits (which gave the team mechanics a chance to change wheels and tyres and tweak the cars a little here and there) the crowds were treated to Bigfoot performing a display in the grass area out centre of the track where a selection of old scrap cars had been lined up. As you would expect there wasn't much left of the cars once the monster truck had used them as a cushion after launching itself high in the air off of the leading car of the line-up. Bigfoot's finale saw it diffing on the grass which going by the chunks of earth and grass being shot up as it circled, will certainly have the groundsmen at Silverstone busy for a while carrying out repairs to the normally pristine grass areas.

Now it was time to get down to the serious business of the final 16 knockout stage which is run differently to the free practice and qualifying stages as it now involves 2 cars running the circuit at the same time, in a format which is known as "Tsuiso". The pair of drivers head for the first corner with one being the lead car and the other being the chasing car which makes for some great action as the cars get very close to one another as you can see in the pictures. Each pairing runs the circuit 3 times with each driver having the chance to be the lead car, with all 3 runs being marked by the panel of judges. After the 3 runs have been complete the winning drivers progressed through to the next round of the competition with the loser left to watch the rest of the event from the sidelines. In the event of a draw after the 3 runs have been completed, the pair of drivers then compete in a sudden death run to decide the winner of that heat. Darren McNamara and Julian Smith had proved themselves worthy of inclusion alongside 14 of the Japanese drifters for the final 16 stage of the competition. Unfortunately Julian Smith was unable to defeat Imamura in his heat, but Darren showed huge confidence as he attacked the first corner at speeds not far off of 100mph and disposed of Fukuda in his Nissan S13 even with a trip into the gravel trap after being forced off track by the Japanese driver in the 3rd run of their heat. Darren appeared to be loving every second of the day as he took time to wave to the crowd while his Corolla was dragged out of the gravel which was returned with what was probably one of the loudest cheers of the day as everyone appreciated just how hard Darren was pushing himself and the car to prove that Ireland too has some top class drifters.

The final 8 found Darren up against Kazama who is well known after his demonstrations around the UK and Ireland this year, and this was going to be no easy heat. The first run saw McNamara seemed to take an easy win, but Kazama then upped the pace and took the win in what must have been a very closely marked heat. That left the Japanese drivers Miki, Kazama, Kumakubo and Nomura left to fight it out for the title. The first semi final between Miki and Kazama was a battle of the Nissan S15's and this meant for an evenly matched heat on paper. Miki showed everyone the skills which have seen him do well in the D1 back in Japan this year to progress through to the final against Kumakubo who defeated Ken Nomura in his R34 Skyline who many had down as a favourite for the title before the event even took place.

As the semi-finals came to a close the top 2 drivers made their way onto the track for a quick interview before the final battle of the day which found Miki in his Top Secret S15 against Kumakubo's Impreza. Miki had a spin on his way into the first corner in the 1st of the final runs, which Kumakubo pulled up on to allow it to be re-run after the car was recovered from the gravel and checked over for damage. This helped to build the atmosphere some more as it was clear just how hard these guys were pushing and close to the edge they were to stake their claim for the competition. After the early off-track excursion Miki produced some of his best runs of the day to lift the first D1UK Championship trophy and was then swamped by fans and media alike on track. It was great to see all of the competitors taking the time to chat with and have pictures talked with the fans after the final race of the competition, and going by the reaction of many at the event this is only the start of things to come for drifting in the UK.

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PREVIOUS JOURNALISM ENTRIES

2005-09-24 - SWRC Track & Race Event Report (Flat 2 The Mat Magazine)

2005-09-10 - Cruise Control Event Report (Flat 2 The Mat Magazine)

2005-09-04 - Trax Event Report (Fast & Modified Magazine)

2005-09-03 - Edition 38 VW Event Report (Flat 2 The Mat Magazine)

2005-08-21 - Halfords/Ripspeed Event Report (Flat 2 The Mat Magazine)

2005-08-14 - Fire & Ice Event Report (Flat 2 The Mat Magazine)

2005-08-05 to 2005-08-07 - Ultimate Street Car Event Report (Fast & Modified Magazine)

2005-06-26 - Overdrive Event Report (Flat 2 The Mat Magazine)

2005-06-12 - Quickshift Drag Racing Event Report (Fast & Modified Magazine)

2005-06-11 - Club GTI Trackday Event Report (Flat 2 The Mat Magazine)

2005-05-22 - Modified Mayhem Show Report (Flat 2 The Mat Magazine)

2005-03-26 - D1 Drifting Dates & Drifting Background Info (Fast & Modified Magazine)

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