Perfect PS13 sitting at Minami course, Ebisu Circuit x

きっずはあとスカイラインでエビスサーキット祭り。This was definitely an afternoon to remember on my last trip to Japan. Spending the Saturday of the Spring Matsuri sitting at the South 南 Course watching girl drifter Rei Shinmi-San all the way from Nagoya, Kansai making the most of the open track as the sun was setting behind the mountains of Ebisu. 6 weeks x

The second weekend of our trip we decided to make our way out of Tokyo and head up north into the Fukushima prefecture. Saturday and Sunday were spent at the Spring Ebisu Matsuri and the Drift Muscle in Sendai. After spending the night in a little cottage on a mountain thanks to Emily and Andy we made our way down to Ebisu Circuit to check out the craze. The weather was ultimately perfect on the Saturday for the madness. Here is a photo taken from the very top circuit, Kita x

I will never forget the day I photographed this red Type X sitting on a staggered set of 17/18″ TE37’s, one of the cleanest, legit cars I’ve seen and shot to date.

Man, I can’t wait to get back to Japan x

Christopher S Cain, standing on the ever so famous wall of Minami Circuit, Ebisu. You might’n recognise the name, but I’m sure your familiar with his blog, Beeoneoneoh. He put a photo up of Dino Dalle Carbonare and myself a few days ago, so I thought I’d return the favour. Chris mentioned photographers by nature generally don’t have many images of themselves, well whilst doing what they love doing, taking photos. I have to agree and I’m thrilled I have a shot of Chris at Ebisu otherwise I’d feel a little guilty.

As I continue to dig up photos from the Autumn Matsuri, I came across this set of images of the Kansai boys when they entered Ebisu. Yes, more photos of John’s PS13, but I can’t get enough. This is one of my favourite photos of the car. Just chilling in the touge car park, overlooking the East Course surrounded by a dozen missiles.

Here, Shane’s quad-bike which he uses to scoot around the mountain to not only save petrol in the car but to have some fun! Oh and John’s car sneaking in the background. Damn Hoshino’s rock!

Erin from JDM Garage arrived in this C33 Laurel. Within an hour of there arrival I was in the car having a blast on the Driftland course, only to find a boost leak, which was an easy fix! The car has had an engine swap from an RB20 to an SR.

Drift Kansai, gathered.

Be sure to check out; K-Tours Osaka, Drift Kansai & Auszoku. There are limited spots left for Spring Matsuri with K-Tours Osaka, ran by Erin from JDM Garage.

Crossing paths with the ever so famous Wonder was completely unexpected.  Our last day in Shinjuku motivated us even more to explore around the city area before we headed to Daikoku PA later that evening.

The previous night, well I should say morning was a late one. After Daikoku PA we managed to get invited to a drifting meet at the docks of Yokohama Bay. As a result of this we were back in Shinjuku asleep at about 4:00AM. We had all agreed to get some rest that morning as it was our last day in Tokyo before beginning the journey up north to Tsukuba and Nihonmatsu for the D1-SL series and Matsuri. Waking up just after lunch time we lazed around the hotel for a couple of hours gathering our belongings and packing the tiny hire-cars to the absolute brim, by this time our stomachs were calling!

Driving straight into the city on the search for a noodle bar Nigel managed to spot Manabu Mitsumori-sans JXZ100 parked out the front of Wonder. At the time Nigel mumbled a few words unbelievably fast and twitched… Somehow I understood what came out of his mouth so I immediately went crazy in the back seat and we pulled into the next street.

Jumping out of the car, grabbing my camera I sprinted a couple of hundred metres back up the main road and saw this… A kouki S14 slammed on Origin DNA-02 wheels and a pair of R33 GT-R’s on the rear. The parks out the front of the workshop were filled with customers cars…

…Another customers car being this white C33 Nissan Laurel. In all honesty I can’t explain how much I fell in love with this car in person, this styling just screams out 80’s/90’s, I’ve always LOVED 15’s on larger cars. The C33 is powered by a RB25DE which is described as a Kaido Racer by Manabu-san.

I love it how the rear of the bonnet has been raised. Check out the 15″ SSR mesh.

I didn’t manage to get a photo of the back of the Laurel, but I noticed I had a video of the car and grabbed this screen shot. Take note of the exhaust. I wish I got to hear this thing.

And finally the Team Spirant AE86 driven by Manabu Misumori-san.

I am really looking forward to Spring Matsuri this year. I’ve been speaking with Manabu-san and by the sounds of things he will be driving the hachi-roku at this years Spring Matsuri in April along with a small group of drivers!

Casey.