Drift Session Jan 21, 2006
January 21, 2006 Group A Competition Video
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January 21 , 2006 Open Practice Video
Music by "The Golfkart Rebellion "
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Group A Competition Scores & Season Points
Aloha race fans and welcome back to the Drift Session. It’s the start of the Drift Session’s 6th season of events and hopefully the start of another great year.
As is tradition at the Drift Session, the Reverend from the Izumo Taisha shrine in Downtown Honolulu came out to visit us on this first event of the year. The Drift Session received a blessing for good luck and our vehicles were blessed as well. Everyone that’s been to the Drift Session knows that we can use as much good luck as we can get.
Also visiting us this month were our friends Ryusuke Kawasaki and Kenji Yamanaka from Drift Tengoku magazine (aka Doriten) in Japan. Kawasaki and Kenji took us around while we were in Japan last week for the Tokyo Auto Salon so we were happy to see them again in Hawaii. They had both heard so much about Hawaii drift life and wanted to experience it for themselves.
While we were in Japan a week ago, Kawasaki told us that he would be coming to Hawaii to check out the Drift Session. When asked why he’s interested in us, he said that he likes Hawaii drivers and wanted to do a story on them. He said that after watching numerous videos off the DS website, he was amazed at the level of skill our drivers display. He also said that even though the DS drivers are not from Japan, they have “kamikaze” style, and bomb the corners with lots of throttle. Big ups to the guys out here for putting us on the map.
“Shaggy” Matt Scarfone allowed Mr. Kawasaki to borrow his Tomei powered 240sx hatchback for use at this Drift Session. Kawasaki mounted a set of Advan Neovas on Tom Bryant’s wheels and he was ready to go. Mr. Kawasaki was also issued an honorary Group A license for competition, making him the first foreign driver to compete in our series.
At 9am, we looked out the gates and saw that a line had already built up, stretching from the entrance gate to the highway outside. It’s been a 7 week intermission since the last Drift Session on December 3rd, 2005 and Hawaii drivers were anxious to return to the track.
Once the gates opened, drivers poured into the racetrack in mostly 240s and AE86’s. Pit areas were quickly established and soon cars were up on jacks as wheels were changed in order to get onto the track as quickly as possible. During setup, Kawasaki was running around with Kenji and his photographer talking to various drivers, taking pictures and video, and getting a feel for the Drift Session’s drivers.
After months of abuse, the chasm on the outside edge of Short Course Turn 1 had been filled, giving our drivers a little more leeway on that corner. Hopefully, the patching will last a little longer this year and prevent vehicles from getting stuck in the gravel pit.
Once the drivers were ready, the track went hot and some of our top drivers hit the Short Course. The Drift Session operates on a “continuous run” format allowing drivers to enter and exit the course at will. Drivers are instructed to be responsible and courteous to prevent the track from overcrowding and drivers need to be aware of other vehicles on the track to avoid slowing down the faster drivers.
Nearly 2 hours of uninterrupted drifting went by before we shut the track down for our daily drivers’ meeting. Kawasaki and his staff were introduced to everyone and Kawasaki managed to give a brief hello and announcement to the drivers in English. Our umbrella girls for this month were also brought out: KC and Tsuki, thanks to our friends at Racesauce.com.
After the meeting ended, the course was opened up for the Drift Session Group A drivers special session. Starting in 2005, the Group A category is a selection of our best drivers picked to participate in monthly competition. Since, these are our fastest drivers, 2 special sessions are set aside for them at 12pm and 1pm for them to run on the Short Course without worrying about getting held up by slower drivers.
The rest of the day continued without much incident. Several cars ended up making contact with the outside tire barrier in the Sweeper, but no major damage. Kawasaki and Kenji were having a blast, pounding Matt Scarfone’s car all over the track and going for rides with several Group A drivers.
Since there seemed to be a lack of participation in past months for the Beginner Competition held at Long Course Turn 1, the staff decided not to hold the competition this month. However, when several drivers came to Chris Messer and asked about the competition, Chris said that he would go down to Long Course Turn 1 to hold the competition only if the drivers could organize the competition themselves with a minimum $10 buy in and 6 drivers participating.
The beginner drivers managed to get a field of 8 drivers to compete, getting the pot up to $80 for the day. David Shimokawa and Chris Messer went down to judge the competition and umbrella girls Tsuki and KC went down as well to provide shade for the starting line staff person, Avery. Despite telling the drivers what we’re looking for, most of them decided to slow-speed manji the straightaway and set up for a shallow drift from the middle of the roadway. Oh well, it’s just the beginner competition.
At 2:30pm, the Short Course shut down for the Group A competition. 2005 season champ Steve Oliberos would not be able to compete due to vehicle problems and 3rd place finisher Shige Hirabayashi could not attend the competition today due to an injury sustained the night before. Paul Umholtz finally returned to the track after an engine blow sidelined his vehicle since September 2005. 3 new additions to the Group A category this month as Maui boys Ron Freitas and Kekiki Miyashiro joined in as well as special honorary Group A license holder Ryusuke Kawasaki.
As the drivers took to the track for a 5 minute warm up, Royce Fujimoto was worried that his tires would not last and opted to sit out of the warm up and participate in the judged competition lap only. 4th place season finisher Keoni Rodrigues was also busy trying to get his vehicle ready for the competition and forfeit his warm up laps as well. Keoni went into the outside of the Sweeper exit while practicing reverse course earlier in the day, causing minor cosmetic damage to his vehicle.
To find out how the competition unfolded check out the Group A Competition video.
All in all, it was a great start for the beginning of the 2006 season. 300+ spectators and 80+ drivers at this Drift Session. Mahalo everyone for making the Drift Session the fastest growing motorsport in the state of Hawaii! Special thanks to our friends at Drift Tengoku Magazine; pick up a copy in March to see the Drift Session feature.
