As I pull away in First gear I'm overcome with a sort of nervous excitement, the kind a teenager might feel as he's about to undo his first bra clasp. While I've never had that pleasure, I have put in plenty of hours with some fairly feisty mannequins in preparation for when my time finally comes. But this day my performance anxiety isn't about the high degree of difficulty of my one-handed hook-and-loop technique. No, I'm afraid of my passenger's opinion of my shift points and corner entry position.
Riding shotgun in my little RSX is none other than Katsuhiro Ueo. He's not giving me any track instruction; we're merely going to an Outback Steakhouse for dinner (Japanese guys love American beef steak). I'm nervous because the night before I was part of the frothing mob, thousands-strong, who watched in awe as Ueo-san won the D1 Grand Prix USA (see our coverage elsewhere in this issue). Now the champion is in my car smiling cordially as I ride the clutch and mistake my wiper stalk for the turn signal. Did I mention that he doesn't speak English? Couple this with the fact that my entire Japanese vocabulary consists of pronouncing every I as an r. While my Engrish bit kills at the ramen house by the office, somehow I don't think it's appropriate in this setting.
Further adding to this surreality is the hotel where Ueo is staying. This D1 champion is not at some trendy joint like the Mondrian or the W. Ueo and his crew are staying at a Days Inn. The accommodations couldn't be more appropriate because Ueo and his '85 Toyota Corolla Sprinter Trueno are the perfect examples of making more with less. Ueo wields his little AE86 like a slingshot, continuously beating up on the drift Goliaths.
Ueo doesn't look like much outside of his car. He is courteous and humble, both very rare traits in a world of big-headed drifters who are more attention-starved than Jessica Simpson. At 5 feet 6 inches tall, Ueo is also small of stature. While he may walk softly, he carries a big stick with his tremendous driving talent. The 31-year-old from Kumamoto actually fell into drifting on a whim.
"At 26 years old I used to compete in gymkhana, and one of my younger colleagues took me to the touge [mountain] runs and challenged me," recalls Ueo. "He said, 'You cannot do this,' and I proved him wrong."
Contrary to popular belief, gymkhana is not where Jonny and Russ get their T-shirts; that's Gymboree. Webster's (not Emmanuel Lewis, but the dictionary) defines gymkhana as "a timed contest for automobiles featuring a series of events designed to test driving skill." It's much like a large-scale autocross course. Ueo's gymkhana experience has served him well.
"In Japan in gymkhana, the cornering speed is a lot faster [compared with drifting] because of the slick tires," according to Ueo. "Because I'm used to the speed, I am able to control the car at the slower speeds for drifting. I competed in Class D, where the cars had under 2,000cc displacement with no limit on the modifications."
When he's not unleashing his quart of blood technique on the D1 stage, Ueo runs his own tuning shop, Sift Racing Garage. The shop is also a used-car dealership, which explains Ueo's extensive car history. His list of past cars includes the "R32 and R33GTR [Skyline], KP61 [Starlet], AE86 [of course], Z32 [300ZX], etc., for a total of about 50 cars."
But Ueo's heart lies with Hachi...Roku, that is. An AE86 Trueno was his first drift car, and since then, he has learned much about the setup of this nimble and well-balanced car. But there is the question of power. The D1 judges have always given big points to the high-horsepower turbo cars with their lurid, smoky drifts.