I got a call from the Nagayama-San from the CarGuy group on the Wednesday before the D1GP weekend telling me to go to their booth because they had some pretty special cars on display. I knew I had to go. I didn’t know what to expect but I knew it’d be something special.
I’ll be perfectly honest, I was never one who’s idea of a day out was drifting. But then again I’d never been to one of these events before. However, since I was there to look at the CarGuy booth and not the actual competition, I still haven’t had a proper D1GP experience.
The booths for the sponsors and other displays were in another car park adjacent to the drift circuit. As you walked through the gate the first thing you saw was the large CarGuy display. It was hard to miss as lined up there was a pink Ferrari Enzo, a Ferrari F50, F40, many Lamborghinis, and a special car covered up.
I got there at the right time too as Kimura-San was getting ready to start up and rev some of the cars. I met up with Ivan from Motorflair and Nagayama-San gave us access to where the cars were displayed so we could take photos and film without having to fight our way through the large crowd that gathered.
Hearing Aventadors and Ferraris with custom exhausts will be one of the things I’ll miss most about Japan. The majority of Avetnadors were fitted with either a Power Craft and Boom Craft’s Stardropper exhaust, which made them sound like demons from Roman mythology.
After the entrees of “standard” Aventadors, Kimura-San unveiled the covered car – his newly delivered Aventador SV. This was perhaps the first time the new SV was out on public “roads” since its launch in Japan. Unfortunately it didn’t perform quite as well as the others due to the fact it had been covered up and air hadn’t got to the engine. Still, the small performance it gave was more than enough to show that this was a sporting machine.
It was then time for the Ferraris. I don’t know of many F50 and F40 owners that would be willing to display their cars out in the public like this or indeed rev the crap out of them for everyone to enjoy. The F50 was the highlight for me because it was the first 1/18 model car I ever had and because, well it sounded like an old F1 car. The F40 wasn’t bad either though that did give me a face full of exhaust smoke (you’ll be able to see that in the video below).
After the noise demonstration it was back to some promotions and giving away free rides on the supercars. Kimura-San has stated before that he wants everyone to experience and enjoy supercars, not just the rich. These sorts of events are a great way of spreading the passion for cars around. Especially in Japan where the young are become less interested in cars. So it was great to see a lot of young kids enjoying and being amazed by the cars Kimura-San and his friends brought along.
Elsewhere there were many other cars on display, more than I could count. Ford Japan had an interesting stand with some Fiestas and Focuses on show. Not sure why they had those at a drift event but hey, it’s Japan. Other the CarGuy, the other most interesting one was the Liberty Walk display. There were many LB GT-Rs but the bright yellow LB 458 and the new LB Gallardo caught my eye. Of course the staple LB Aventadors and Murcielagos were also represented.
At around 3pm the CarGuy parade made their way from their display area to the D1GP track where they’d do a few laps with the winners of the competition. The smiles on the winners’ faces were almost as bright as the flashing LEDs from the chrome-mirror wrap Aventador 50.
All-in-all it was a pretty good petrol-fuelled day out. I did get to have a peak at some drifting through a dodgy side fence of the track. After those small glimpses of smoke, noise, and speed, I have to say I’m quite sold on the idea of watching these things burn rubber. Should you decide to visit Japan, going to one of these events is a great way of seeing some of Japan’s varied car culture as well as making some friends and contacts too.
Here’s the bonus video of the cars Kimura-San revved for our entertainment. Turn your volume up to loud.
