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 lot of updates as of late. since the last blog post there is another 5 videos (almost a weekly basis) from building the cars, driving and everything else in-between in which the response has been amazing. below is the latest video – building the D1 LIGHTS V2 3037 S13 plus a full drift day at meihan c course in the second half of the video. as always enjoy along with the small photo gallery of the car coming together. love 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

there hasn’t been much updates in the last little while due to things behind the scenes being extremely busy and freezing cold here in japan. good news is everything is progressing well and things are starting to warm up finally. below are 3 of the newest youtube RAW videos from driving so far this year. full preparations are underway for this week’s THRASH RACING event at bihoku circuit hyping up to be the largest event of the year. as always, enjoyy x

SHIRTSTUCKEDIN YOUTUBE

first run of 2024 – N-STYLE free practice day with everyone. 16 minute RAW. driving with a bunch of friends. sunny, cold, trouble-free days like this is everything. thank you always for watching x

welcome to the 2024 Osaka Auto Messe. Kansai’s smaller however more refined and intimate version of Tokyo Auto Salon in which we covered early last month.

this event has been running for 27 years, since 1997 to the west side of osaka at the intex location. attending most of the previous years since 2020 i can personally feel the event growing whether it’s the vendors, booths & companies inside or the extremely large number of japanese and foreign customers entering through the doors spectating some of japan’s finest brands & cars over the course of a 3 day period. an event i highly encourage all car enthusiasts to come to especially if you’re in japan visiting, you will not be disappointed.

below is through my eyes over the course of a day at the event. as always, enjoyy x

this year’s 2023 D1GP series has come to an end with the final 2 rounds – 9 & 10 held in odaiba bay, tokyo. it’s been roughly 5-6 years since a round of D1 has been held here so it was something extremely special to be apart of and once again shoot & document.

friday’s practice consisted of rainy and slippery conditions causing nakamura naoki in his GR86 right into the wall leading the team to be awake until 5AM saturday morning right before practice and initiating round 9. after an extremely windy rainy & windy start to the day the event was close to being cancelled due almost all tents & booths being blown around the paddock into parked cars from the wild weather. luckily it had eased throughout the mid morning allowing D1 to continue.

shooting a drift event such as D1GP in the heart of tokyo throughout the day into the night is truly something special, here is a small selection of favorites i’ve edited for your enjoyment. 2023 series ranking #1st fujino from team TOYO, hokuto from team TOYO & nakamura naoki from VALINO N-STYLE. as always enjoyy. caseyy 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

meihan sportsland c course – seimi school drift & mini-competition day. placing 2nd in expert class. enjoy a 20+ minute onboard youtube video below x