It's hard to believe how difficult it is to keep yourself entertained on an 11-hour plane ride. Sure, there are a handful of movies the airline provides to soften the blow, and I watched them all before the midpoint of the flight. I tried to bust out my laptop to watch some DVDs I brought along, but that, of course, somehow broke. All I could do was hope that the giant storm would end before we landed and the airline wouldn't lose my luggage. Well, it did, and they didn't, so that was a good thing. Even after we finally landed, we were still a five-hour car ride away from the Ebisu Circuit where Round 6 of the D1 Grand Prix was about to go down.
Unfortunately, the practice day for the HKS Altezza was cut short when it started pouring at the track. We only managed to see driver Nobuteru Taniguchi make a couple of passes before the downfall hit.
On the day of the race, it was almost as if the powers from above knew that we were there to cover the event and blessed us with plenty of sunshine and a cool, crisp Japanese breeze. As the day started, our Canon commander Wes Allison and I trotted through the mud in order to get a good position in the bleachers before they opened the gates to all the drifting fanatics. One by one we watched the top drifters scorch through the course, each one praying that they won't screw up in front of the three judges, get cups thrown at them, and then have to jump into the stands to beat up some spectators. Oh, wait. That only happens when you play basketball in Detroit. But much like the NBA, even securing a spot in the top 16 doesn't mean you're going to win or even make it to the finals.
Oddly enough, watching a car run 80 mph into a big foam barrier isn't quite as satisfying as seeing it slam into a cement wall. Even more bizarre is that last month's cover car, the HKS Altezza, didn't make it to the top 16. Entering Round 6, Taniguchi-san was in First Place with the S15 Silvia. Although he was ranked in the number-one position, he was only six points ahead of Ryuji Miki in the Top Secret Silvia. However, not making the top 16 left Taniguchi-san with zero points for the event, which also made it very questionable whether or not he will be able to take home the gold for the 2004 season.
After crashing into the BW Sports FC3S, Ken "Nomuken" Nomura was quickly taken out of the picture, leaving the final round to Miki-san and Yoiichi Imamura in the A'PEXi FD3S, the '03 D1 champ. Eventually, Imamura-san, who was ranked so low in the seeded drivers, came out victorious in the finals. Champagne was popped and we were off on our merry way down to Yokohama with Taniguchi-san for a couple days before we headed back to the States just in time to listen to some fobby lady bitch at me and for the airline to lose my bag again. Good times.
Hangin' a Brain
Our second day at the track was just as cold, a lot dryer, and equally uninteresting considering that it was still just another practice day. In a quest to keep ourselves amused for a couple hours, we decided to roam around this bizarre place known as Ebisu. Sure, it's a racetrack with a few different courses, but it's also a zoo that houses plenty of albinos and very unhappy-looking animals that sleep on cinder blocks locked up in rusty cages. Isn't there some kind of animal rights organization in Japan? I guess not. What was more peculiar than the wacko zoo was this little red shack that was, uh, well, we'll let the pictures speak for themselves.