D1 LIGHTS 2024 rounds 6 & 7 meihan sportsland c course

what a wild few weeks or even months leading up to this event and competition. D1 LIGHTS is a series formerly known as D1 Street Legal one rank down from D1 Grand Prix (D1GP). last year i did 3 out of 4 rounds of the D1 Divisional series (one step down from LIGHTS) placing 3rd in the series. the previous year i also drove at a senkoukai (license day) at Autopolis Lakeside circuit coming 1st obtaining my D1 LIGHTS license. a few years later and here we are with the V2 reformed and properly built 3037 D1 spec S13 silvia.

rounds 6 & 7 (dual) for this year were held at home course meihan sportsland c course in which myself, jake from Australia, fujio-san & nakamura ryuu debuted in. the lead up to the event was multiple all-nighters and an insane amount of work not only in our shed but other friends such as Takuzo (SKY MOTORS), Naoki (N-STYLE) & Satoshi (PRO SHOP DIVERSION) for D1 regulations, painting & tuning before coming back to Nara to test & finish the car just in the nick of time to be ready and presentable for D1.

results for saturday weren’t anything to write about – not passing qualifying definitely hurt however the car was having very small issues with boosting where it should be which didn’t help from the morning. best run in round 6 was a 95.8 which put me around 25-30th qualifying position.

sunday was a much better and brighter day after changing front suspension setups back to what i was used to in the V1 3037 S13 and diff final change from 4.6 to 4.3 to help get extra legs after the flick for the longer extended meihan course. i ended up qualifying 6th with a 98.25 on my 2nd run putting me into the top 16 battles which felt amazing especially after saturday’s results. pushing through my top 16 battle with more surfacing car issues into the top 8 being knocked out by koga-san in his RPS13 180SX from kyushu. i was chasing initially and upon flicking behind him the car did a giant missfire and cut out causing the car to not flick at all anywhere near 100% making it seem like a very ‘weak chase’. next was my lead and i knew the position i was in so tried to lay down one of the best runs i’d done all weekend which felt amazing however obviously wasn’t enough to get through to the top 4. final results overall on sunday round 7 was 5th overall. a lot learnt, for sure.

i want to say a giant thank you to:

N-STYLE
STANCE USA
KOYORAD
DMAX
PRO SHOP DIVERSION
SKY MOTORS
STACKED RACING
GCG JAPAN
PARTS SHOP TAKA
SUPERWOW FACTORY
GKTECH
REMS
I DREAM FOR YOU
GP SPORTS
JADE
JAKE
JORDAN
KEISUKE
MACEY
JOEL
SHANE

and each and every single one of you, especially those who purchased one of our D1 LIGHTS support packs, it helps tremendously. very excited to get straight back into practicing in the newly built S13 and get on the rails to go as hard as possible this year at Kansai All Stars in a little over a month. what a wild experience and to say i’ve got the bug for D1 would be an understatement. a little more testing and confidence in the car i will be looking forward to competing in more rounds in 2025.

enjoy a gallery & full video of the lead up to the event itself and everything in-between. love always. caseyy x