Best in D1

I am well aware that Imamura demolished the field in the 2003 D1, but is he the best in the field? Driving for the A'pex factory team is bound to help, as is 500bhp, more than anyone else in the field and also with the best power to weight (video option 115 I think). Ueo is probably the better driver - what he does with 200bhp is impressive... As is Ken Nomura, my personal favorite, not only is he completely nuts in general, he manages to do such perfect (carcenogenic) drift in that massive four door skyline and without being from a factory team (If the car was Blitz not Uras then I'd call it "Factory"). I love the way he drifts with a fully open throttle...


P.s. D1 is the only pro drift series to my knowledge. It's the only series where the drivers get paid to drift. There are other series where ring in's are used but they don't get paid for their trouble and aren't contracted. They just have expenses covered. Professional of course denotes that you are being paid and this is the defining factor.


Anyway - WHO IS THE KING OF D1?????

Anyway - WHO IS THE KING OF D1?????

thats like saying, "which is better, pepsi or coke", just with a lot more options i guess. everyones gonna have a different opinion. i would choose imamura however, cuz he wins a lot, and he drives my favorite car.

NOB, maybe? He seems pretty skilled. But im no drift expert so i cant really say...

Well, what's his face in that huge Soarer has always impressed me, since you've got to have some pretty impressive car control to read a long wheelbase car quick enough to get it wrenched around for the next corner.

And D1, this year, is not the world's only professional drift series. The SCCA is sanctioning "Formula Drift" in the U.S for professional teams, and the group that promotes the US D1 GP at Irwindale is doing the promoting for Formula Drift. It'll be home to many of the American stars you saw at D1, including Rhys Millen and his badass Pontiac GTO.

As someone whos followed drifting before D1 came about, I can tell you Ken Nomura is the best of the "top 16". Back in the day, nobody was as good as him, but he took it to new levels. He was, and IMO still is the king.

Tied in 1st place is Dart Izumi. He is my fav. personally, but I feel his skill is kinda waning. He used to have a 1JZ powered S14 that was absolutely badass, and although he's still good, something missing.

I also like Tezuka and his GX81, Gen Terasaki, Shingo Murao, Atsushi Kuroi(one of the nicest people Ive ever met-he spent half an hour talking to me throguh and interperter and in broken English).

Imamura is over-rated IMO. His skills arent great. Look at him when he ran with ICBM or when he had his Altezza. Mediocre at best. His ICBM team mates blew him away. He won because he has the biggest budget, which is usually the case(except for Ueo last year, and that was to appease the many Initial D fans at Ah-win-dale)

Imamura is way over-rated.

this is another case of D1's wonderful "politics" coming into play.

Tezuka, Hariguchi, Murao, Kumakubo etc could all drift circles around him in the main competition, but him or Taniguchi will almost always win or go through even if they don't do great, simply becase they're well known.

i like Nomura, Hariguchi (yellow FC), Izumida, Team Orange (Kumakubo, Asamoto, and Tanaka), Tezuka, Kuniaki Takahashi, suenaga...basically i'm more of an underground fan. i like the guys who are insanely good drivers but don't get any recognition. :lol:

my 2 personal favorites are Hariguchi(Yellow FC - which is my favorite car) and Koguchi(Falken S13 - was red but now I believe it is blue and grey, unless he has two) I love watching Hariguchi, hes amazing. I haven't seen a whole lot of Koguchi but what I have seen is very nice :)

you can't really say whose the best though, its all opinion

imamura won i think that says he's the best and since there alot of other cars in the field with 500ps that didn't come second ie the 190ps Yukes Trueno of Ueo did says it all

Imamura is way over-rated.

this is another case of D1's wonderful "politics" coming into play.

Tezuka, Hariguchi, Murao, Kumakubo etc could all drift circles around him in the main competition, but him or Taniguchi will almost always win or go through even if they don't do great, simply becase they're well known.

i like Nomura, Hariguchi (yellow FC), Izumida, Team Orange (Kumakubo, Asamoto, and Tanaka), Tezuka, Kuniaki Takahashi, suenaga...basically i'm more of an underground fan. i like the guys who are insanely good drivers but don't get any recognition. :lol:

u got any vids or something? cuz im always down for anything underground. All i really konw about D1 is waht ive read in magazines and heard about and i know theres much more than what i see. I wanna see that stuff. Put me on d0od!

imamura won i think that says he's the best and since there alot of other cars in the field with 500ps that didn't come second ie the 190ps Yukes Trueno of Ueo did says it all

You have alot to learn. Watch an Option video. Imamura is meh at best. Any of the guys that Brian and I mentioned will fucking OWN Imamura. Imamuras got a hot car and a big budget, same with Taniguchi thats why everyone rides thier jock.

Ueo is the Imamura of the low budgeteres, he won because the crowd in Cali were Initial D fans. Gen Terasaki owns him.




u got any vids or something? cuz im always down for anything underground. All i really konw about D1 is waht ive read in magazines and heard about and i know theres much more than what i see. I wanna see that stuff. Put me on d0od!

Well D1 is alot different that others think. ANYONE can enter in Japan, one event at FISCO had over 100 competitors. Its just that only the big budget teams can afford to travel across Japan, buy new shit etc.

The format for D1 USA is B.S., they should have a Drivers search the day before that includes the big names, so everyone has a shot at it, then have the event the next day.

No US or white person for that matter will ever win. Ueo Katsuhiro said "we invented drifting so we will not let the US take it over". That sounds like a playful challenge, but thats how it is. They dont want "gaijins" beating them at their own game. D1 is fun to watch, but people take it too seriously.

Read Young Version or watch Drift Tengoku and the Ika-Tens they hold. Thats real underground stuff.

I don't think that "no white-person or american won't ever win because of politics!" BS! If the driver is good enough he can win! Well, it doesn't really matter now... cus we are starting this whole Formula D thing. I believe more Americans may compete in this rather than D1 anymore...

...also take into account that D1 is judged by appearance and performance rather than just performance, people. So, if you have the money you can build the sickest looking car with insane HP (this also wins) and win...

I must say the Corolla team in Drift Tengoku vol.19 are odds on the best I've seen.
But of the main guys I'd have to call it close between Kats Ueo and Nomuken.

One thing though, about Ueo, all this "only 200ps" stuff is true to a point, but also remember his car is unbelievably lightweight (J-Blood and revolver supply him with FRP fenders, doors, rear hatch,bumpers -with no supports- , carbon bonnet, and its as stripped as it gets inside), and as 16V 4AGE's go, and as for AE86 drift chassis set up, its unbelievably well developed. It has the absolute best of everything an AE86 can have, to replicate it would cost huge money. Its hardly a budget setup. Though, certainly Revolver isn't quite as big an operation as some of the others. Cusco, D'sift are pretty big operations though.