Anatomy of a Falken Driver
Seigo Yamamoto
DOB: April 16, 1971
City: Takarazuka, Hyogo prefecture, Japan
Affiliations: Garage-S, Falken, OS Giken, Your Mom
Born in the Hyogo prefecture in the spring of '71, Seigo Yamamoto started his driving career even before he could drink; well, at least legally, anyway. Although Yamamoto is known for drifting his Chaser in both D1 and Formula D, he also focuses a great deal of energy on Garage-S back in Japan.
Seigo was being supported by Falken Japan before his switch to the West. Nick Fousekis was at the helm of the original Falken drift program. "When we started getting into it in 2003, it was simple to work with him and Koguchi. Those were the first two pro-drivers from Japan, going as far back as the first Drift Showoff with him in '03. Since then, he's been a staple in the drifting program. He has proven to be a great driver, a great person with a great personality, and we're proud to have him as part of the Falken Family. Extending NTB. "
This practically makes Seigo the Grandfather of American Drifting. And why not? Fans can see how genuine the dude is. He goes out of his way to let American fans know he's part of our scene and not a Japanese transplant who crosses the pond just to compete and forget about us.
Fast Facts
Owner Falken Tire Corp.
Hometown Fontana, CA
Daily Grind Burning Falken RT 615's
Under The Hood 13B-RE Cosmo engine, Speed Machine streetport; NRS 2mm Ceramic Seals; Ianetti apex seal springs, Balanced assembly, High flow e-shaft oil jets, tear dropped oil ports; FD3S RX-7 Rotors; Mazdaspeed Race windowed bearings and Oil Pressure Regulator, Speed Machine twin turbo tubular manifold, 2 Garrett GT28rs turbochargers, 2 Turbosmart 48mm Pro Gates, twin BDL throttle body intake manifold, swirl pot relocated alternator, surge tank, 4-inch stainless exhaust w/burns stainless 4-inch race muffler; Blitz GT-R Intercooler with Speed Machine end tanks v-mounted with Ron Davis modified dual core radiator; 2 Turbosmart RacePort blow-off valves, NGK 11.5 heat range plugs; Wiggins clamps (every connection), 1/2-inch aluminum hard fuel lines from trunk to engine bay, 1/2-inch aluminum hard lines in trunk, XRP HS79 fuel hoses on the motor; Aeromotive dual A1000 main pumps, Tsunami feed pump, Aeromotive dual a1000 -10an regulators; Safecraft three-nozzle halon fire suppression, fuel safe 12-gallon fuel cell, all aluminum is polished in the engine area; RC Engineering 550cc and 1000cc injectors, heatshield products turbo blankets, downpipe wrap, hose wrap, firewall
Brains Haltech E11v2 ECU, Haltech Wideband O2 kit, AIM Sports digital dash, Turbosmart E-Boost2, Tein Dual EDFC
Drivetrain FD RX-7 tranny with OS Giken gear set, twin disk clutch, 2-way diff
Stiff Stuff Tein MonoFlex coilovers, Fully adjustable rear arm setup, steering rack modified and spaced; Modified Mazdaspeed Power Plant Frame
Stoppers Project 4-pot 4-pad front brake setup, Dual handbrakes (right side is for slow speed or while shifting, and left, side is for high speed since the driver is used to RHD cars); Wilwood dual master cylinder pedal assembly
Rollers SSR MS1 18X10 (+6 fronts) and 18X10.5 (+5 rears); 235/40R18 (front) Falken Azenis RT615, 265/35R18 (rear)
Outside Mazdaspeed body kit; GT300 wing with extension; Percy's Speedglass side and rear windows; IPF 4300K HID kit (low beam and high beam); Sparco latches; Fiberglass doors and hood, vinyl wrap at modern image; vinyl graphics done at Graphics by Jarvis
Inside Speed Machine six-point rollcage tig welded
Ice um, how about the sound of a twin turbo 13B
Props Matt Moreland, John Russakoff (Whiteboy John), Josh Stockinger at Speed Machine Performance, National Tire and Battery, Mazda North America, Matt Wright at Haltech, Nic Cooper and David Marriott at Turbosmart, Steve Heye and Bruce Heye at Heatshield Products, Tein, SSR, Sparco, Nick at BDL Industries, NRS, SpeedGlass, Edo Ichikawa (awwa, awwa, awwa) Mickey Andrade, Nick Fousekis at Falken Tire Corp.; graphics by Jarvis
Connect falkentire.com; mackinindustries.com (Project ); mazdaspeed.com; morejapan.com (SSR); sparco.com; speedmachineperformance.com; tein.com; turbosmart.com; wilwood.com