the lead up to summer every single year in japan is by far without a doubt the busiest and craziest time of the year due to multiple events clashing together, one being kansai all stars in which for the most part everyone involved in this sport does what they can to prepare both the car and mentally for this event.

this year is my 4th year in a row driving this event, qualifying 1st for nara prefecture 2-3 weeks prior to kansai all stars at the end of july had put me in a good, somewhat confident mood for this years all stars!

i have stated this before on the blog but want to re-write it to give a little insight on how the event works and ran over the course of the day:

roughly 128 cars who attend the event.
– 5 minute practice sessions within your prefecture
– 1st session of qualifying which runs for 10 minutes (approximately 12-15 cars in each group and a total of 3-4 go through to the next round)
– 2nd session of qualifying pending you made it through the first round which once again goes for 10 minutes and 3-4 cars once again go through to the 3rd and final round of qualifying.
– lastly before the tournament (top 12) is the 3rd and final round of qualifying
– tournament (top 12) which is the battles but tanso (single runs only). this is the part that is usually shown on the kansai all stars videos on youtube released every year.
– prefecture dantai (5 cars together)
– super dantai where anyone is free to go out and take place in the extremely high number of cars running all together sun as the sun sets and the event is finished.

this year i managed to get through practice, 1st, 2nd and 3rd qualifying into the tournament (top 12) up against naoki nakamura then into top 6 against fukuyama and then into top 3 (finals) with nakagawa, hiro and myself finishing in 1st place.

below is the youtube video from the day – all outside footage from morning to PM – giant thank you to macey and keisuke for all the footage. photos are by keisuke, drift tengoku & cooper. i will do my best to be a little more mentally prepared next year to get some onboard footage.

a very large thank you to each and every single one of you lovely customers, fans, supporters globally who watched the kansai all stars live on youtube along with the insane amount of lovely messages showing love and support. this was a day i will never forget and i think will never feel real no matter how much time goes on. i will continue to keep pushing the limits with this brand and driving along with day to day life. level up forever, loveee always, caseyyy x