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

a brand new insight to the brand – the latest videos to SHIRTSTUCKEDIN. big, new refreshing plans with all the current S13 fleet. 3037 (main) and 2530 (practice) cars. 3 episodes live from the last few weeks building new machines.

the old practice car will now become the new 3037 (main) car, alongside a 60,000km un-crashed and un-drifted chassis. below are 3 vlog style videos documenting what has gone into these cars thus far, excited to continue documenting, shooting and enjoying having the camera by my side again daily. it would mean the world to have your feedback & following on the videos, plenty more to come with exciting plans in the works. big love alwaysss. caseyy x

a few years ago i purchased an iconic PS13 from the late 90s into the early 2000s. built by CARBOY x TOMEI that specific car boasted quite a wild and rare driveline setup – a full TOMEI 2.2L stroked NA SR20. ‘retired’ quite a few decades ago perhaps the entire setup hadn’t driven or even started in a very long time. the 2.2L SR20DE & driveline was eventually swapped into another 2 tone S13 i’ve had in storage for quite a few years and after many months of it being worked on here and there between other cars, projects and general work it was time to change some dinosaur technology and get it on the dyno.

with so much on the go this little car has taken quite a long time however good things do and cars are only becoming more expensive and wasteful to rush in my personal opinion. i reached out to Satoshi-san from PRO SHOP DIVERSION south in hyogo prefecture to see how his schedule was looking to try fit in the PS13 to change the TOMEI REYTEC computer out to a V3.4 HKS FCON and re-mapping.

a basic rundown on the engine is as follows:

SR20DE 2.2L TOMEI stroker kit
TOMEI 87mm stroked pistons
TOMEI conrods
TOMEI crank
compression ratio 12:6
TOMEI 272mm camms 12.5 lift
re-enforced valve springs
TOMEI 4 throttle intake setup
TOMEI metal headgasket
TOMEI one off exhaust manifold designed and made specifically for this engine setup

safe to say the day went excellent with 0 dramas whatsoever. after a few decades this very special setup is idling, running and revving to the moon once again. making 214.35HP at the wheels quite safely (as it’s a street driven car) handled by the master at PRO SHOP DIVERSION – Satoshi-san. enjoy the little gallery below + a little ASMR youtube vide from the day with plenty of NA SR20 noises. love alwaysss. caseyyy x

the newest upgrades for the SHIRTSTUCKEDIN 3037 S13: one-off manifold by ben at thirdstrike fabrications in Australia. once again beyond blessed to continue working with the most talented people in the car industry. have been running this turbo setup on this car for 6+ years now removing & installing 3-4 old HKS manifolds dude to cracking multiple times. being stoked with the current turbo setup it was only right to make and create an unbreakable version for longevity. made out of 347 stainless built to last forever.

these will newly be available through SHIRTSTUCKEDIN as a collaboration project between the two companies in which will be custom to T2, T3, v-band & 3 bolt (TRUST) style & any custom wastegate flanges. more information after initial dyno and running testing however please feel free to contact us if you’re wanting to express your interest x

D1 divisional bihoku highland circuit round 3. qualifying 2nd place in tanso (qualifying) and 1st place overall in tsuiso (battles). the last round will be held at bihoku highland circuit once again on the 19th november to conclude the series. new youtube RAW below + a few images from the day x

the custom car world of Kansai, Japan – Osaka Auto Messe 2023 – similar to Tokyo’s Auto Salon – Osaka has its own kind with a little twist of style and presentation. the last time this event was held was early 2020 right before the peak of COVID and the world closing. back again after 3 years it was very warming to see how many people were out and about attending the event. i made sure i was there at a decent time on saturday morning with my camera loaded to make effort to go through most of the halls and shoot.

this event is held at the port of Osaka near Nanko – Intex Osaka. This event has been running annually since 1997 so has plenty of returning and renowned car shops and business’ showcasing their cars and art every year. It’s estimated that well over 200,000+ people spectate this car show event over the course of the 3 days. If you’re into cars new and old just like the Tokyo Auto Salon i highly recommend visiting this show at least once in your lifetime.

below is my selection of photos from what i captured over the course of the weekend, enjoyyy x

late 2022 nishi nihon (all west japan shootout) down south at the very infamous and weathered setonaikai circuit located in ehime prefecture on the island of tokushima.

this competition in short ranges from mie prefecture all the way down south to kagoshima including the entire island of tokushima where the top 16 drivers of each prefecture go into battle with one another spread across the whole west of japan annually. the competition is spread across 3 titles, tanso (single runs), twin (twin drift paired with a partner of your choice, not a battle but to put on the most aggressive and closest performance possible) and finally an overall, regional winner from a prefecture.

below are some videos from the day, spread across 2 separate ones dividing saturday’s practice and sunday’s competition day. plenty of onboard and outside RAW footage for you to enjoy

final results
tanso (single) overall 6th place
twin dori (twin) overall 3rd place
regional winner (nara) overall 1st place

a very large thank you to drift tengoku for the amazing action photos, also featured in this month’s 2023 february issue. love alwayssss x

2022年10月のドリフト天国表紙やりましたー
2022 october issue of DRIFT TENGOKU featuring my SHIRTSTUCKEDIN 3037 S13 on the front cover x

beyond words. drift tengoku september 2022 full feature on my 1号機 3037 S13 silvia.

a giant thank you to:
– N-STYLE
– STACKED RACING
– KOYORAD
– STANCEUSA
– SKY MOTORS
– PRO SHOP DIVERSION
– REMS
– D-MAX JAPAN
– JESSE STREETER
– GCG JAPAN
– GP SPORTS
– D-MAGIC
– SUPERWOW FACTORY
– PARTS SHOP TAKA
– LACK OF COLOR
– I DREAM FOR YOU
and of course SHIRTSTUCKEDIN (each and every single one of you!) x

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