Not only did Millen have a new paint scheme for his GTO, but he also had a large, clear Lexan diffuser thingy (excuse our aerodynamic jargon) that connected the passenger side C pillar to the wing. The doohickey (another technical term) looked like it was designed to increase the GTOs stability during high speed drifts. It's not as if Millen needs the help; the guy is always smooth as butta. If a non-J-spec driver were to ever win a D1 round, it would probably be Millen.
The Top 16 pitted the best against the best with many of the usual suspects, so the final outcome was tough to predict. Each driver performed beyond his capabilities, showing further improvements from last year's sliding techniques. Nomura blazed the rear wheels heavily, producing a huge cloud of smoke, while the DriftBox telemetry sensors registered Nomuken's wheel speed at more than 100 mph! Maeda performed a textbook perfect drift to advance past Toyohisa Matsuda, and Ueno-san in the Vertex Soarer outdrove '04 D1 champion Miki, who is still getting used to his new Z33 setup. The battle between the top Silvia drivers, NOB and Team Orange's Kumakubo, was a very close call, although the Team Orange leader had tighter control and more aggressive maneuvering against Taniguchi.
With the most popular and winning drivers out of the running, the Top 8 leading into the semifinals proved to be the most exciting, and controversial, part of the day. Although Imamura, Ueno, and Kumakubo all moved to the semis with great ease, the matchup between Millen and Kazama was a bag of mixed feelings, particularly because it seemed that Millen had the upper hand on Kazama on plenty of instances. But Kazama did not back down against the V-8 muscle; he gained the winning nod from the D1 judges and Millen ended his day in an upset.
After much heated debate and driving, the Top 4 were set to stage up the final round. Imamura had the upper hand with a lighter weight chassis against Ueno's heavy Soarer and drove without fault to meet Kazama in the finals, edging out '04's final round D1 winner, Kumakubo. While Imamura put up the good fight, it was no match for Kazama's fast and on-point technique, thus showing plenty of U.S. drift fans that day what it means to once again be the best. Kazama's efforts not only place him at an early lead against his fellow D1 competitors, but also $5K richer!
Fast Times At Tsukuba High
If you think D1 is only for slide rides and time attack is reserved for those of the grip, think again. Peep the list of the top 10 super lappers at Tsukuba circuit and then consider that the current record holder-the HKS TRB-02 Evo-stopped the clock at 54.739. This only proves how fast the D1 machines have become. As food for thought, Nobuteru "No One Better" Taniguchi drove both the TRB-02 and HKS S15 to their respective records. You know what else you should consider, Jerry, that the human head weighs eight pounds.
1. HKS Silvia: S15 58'261"
2. HPI with Koguchi Silvia: S15 59'280
3. HKS Altezza: 59'350
4. A'PEXi RX-7: 1.00'268
5. T&E Soarer: 1.00'304
6. Kei Office Silvia S15: 1.00'874
7. Top Secret Silvia S15:1.01'099
8. JIC RX-8: 1.01'125
9. Asamoto RX-7: 1.01'153
10. Esperia Corolla: 1.01'964