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

2023 D1GP series at the infamous tsukuba circuit. through my eyes. enjoy x

a lot of driving lately means a lot of new RAW video’s on the SHIRTSTUCKEDIN youtube. below are the 3 most recent driving events & videos i have attended, competed and put a video together:

– D1 divisional series – mobara twin circuit making it to the top 16
– Meihan Sportsland K.STRUE competition day – winning #1st place
– Gunma Sports Cycle Center – GUNSAI HARDCORE TOKYO event

plenty more videos up and coming from so be sure to subscribe to the SHIRTSTUCKEDIN youtube
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meihan sportsland c course – seimi school drift & mini-competition day. placing 2nd in expert class. enjoy a 20+ minute onboard youtube video below 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

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

trying to put a lot more effort into onboard filming for my training and memories for sure however also each and all of you’s viewing pleasure. there are lots of RAW onboard and outside videos on the SHIRTSTUCKEDIN youtube including this first day back at meihan sportsland c course in the 3037 S13 in 10 months. another complete RAW edit with some outside footage to match some onboard runs. summer is definitely here in japan, drove the entire day slowly trying to ease back into the groove of how responsive and quick the car only running the car on low low boost for the entire day. as always, enjoyyyy! thanks @macey14 for the outside videos you legend! x

if you follow SHIRTSTUCKEDIN across our social media platforms you would have seen myself, naoki & takeda made the giant treck to hokkaido last weekend, more specifically tokachi speedway. i have only ever been up to hokkaido once which was back in mid 2019 for a very small event next to chisato airport to take photos.

fast forwarding two and a bit years it was time to go back again however this time with a truck and 2 cars. on the sunday there was an event held and organized by takeda-san (YURA MODE) – it has been a while since he has put on an event up there due to the pandemic. ever since i saw naoki drive here for the first time a few years ago from videos kicking around on youtube i have always been beyond interested to at least go and see the course in person let alone drive it. being extremely far away from nara, kansai means multiple days off work and a bit of budget needed to make it a possibility.

to put it briefly how far away this course is from kansai the trip began in nara to fukui in the truck which was a 3 hour drive to the port terminal. from there a 22-23 hours boat ride to tomakomai terminal in the south of hokkaido. unloading the truck off the boat to then another 3 hour drive direct east just past a little city called obihiro to then, tokachi speedway totalling transit time to around 54 hours.

this is the first proper shakedown i’ve done in the practice car which i purchased at the start of this year, putting most of the time and efforts into the main 3037 meihan car but with that currently having it’s engine rebuilt the practice car was the pick to take up north. it is a very simple setup car. SR20DET, step 1 cams, HKS 2530 with a 12CM rear housing, 4.3 2 way, b-knuckle, stance suspension, radiator, intercooler and R33 mission. naoki took his main S13 up in which has had some recent work and loads of maintenance done to it along with getting re-tuned last week and making just under 580HP out of a 2.1L step 3 SR20DET.

usually when i go away driving i leave the camera at home however i’ve been more motivated to take it lately even if it means getting it out and taking photos for 10-15 minutes, memories will be forever and need to continue to remember this. below are a few photos i took over the period of the trip along with a 10+ RAW youtube video i have put together which includes the trip to and from, in-car footage and some outside footage of naoki absolutely ripping apart tokachi. towards the end of the day i managed to put the camera inside naokis car however the battery died instantly. if you have the time i highly recommend watching it below.

once again thank you to each and every single one of you for your following and love through contact and purchasing goods via the SHIRTSTUCKEDIN online store, it makes doing trips and driving like this a possibility and hope to do more as soon as possible. loveee always, caseyy x

hello! it has definitely been a minute since i’ve picked up the camera and taken photos – this event last year to be precise. this past weekend was the initial round of D1GP 2021 rounds 1 & 2 held at okubuki ski resort in shiga prefecture, kansai. below are a selected amount of photos captured through my lens over the course of 3 days. D1GP cars and styling of course isn’t too precise within my category of cool looking cars however the more i witness this event and these cars driving i can’t help but to appreciate it more and more. the level of this event, dedication and focus is truly wild in person and super blessed to be apart of it.

the next round is held in tsukuba 2000 course (high speed main) mid to late June so hopefully be able to make it up there and continue shooting as many rounds as possible.

we are working on a small mini-release plus re-stock for SHIRTSTUCKEDIN available this coming Monday 2PM AEST Sunday 9PM PST. following this we are looking to have a much larger re-stock of goods and new items May onwards – thank you each and every single one of you for your support as always x