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

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

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
click here to subscribe x

the 2022 season of D1GP has officially ended with the final round of the year being held at the newly constructed bank circuit over the back of ebisu’s infamous nishi course.

just over 12 months ago there was yet another horrific earthquake that struck the northern part of honshu (japan’s main island) up in fukushima prefecture – close to ebisu circuit causing an extremely dramatic landside from school course all the way down to the west course. converting a natural disaster into something quite beautiful within ebisu circuit the bank course was created from the landslide area. a very surreal experience to be one of the first to stand and shoot at this place especially for the concluding rounds of the 2022 D1GP season. yet another amazing year capturing thousands of photos, building more relationships and sponging up even more image training for future driving and practice.

2022 D1GP series
1st: Masashi Yokoi
2nd: Masato Kawabata
3rd: Naoki Nakamura

looking forward to the 2023 season. love alwaysss. caseyy x

my perspective from this years 2022 tokyo auto salon held in makuhari messe in tokyo, japan. enjoy 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

since kansai all stars it has been reasonably quiet on the driving front over here in japan. as usual the lead up to kansai all stars every year is very full-on for all participants and garages involved so it is very common to have some down time post the event.

fast forwarding a month last event nakamura naoki, his son nakamura ryuu, aki fujio & friends had a very small, intimate and rainy day at meihan d course. a little day to give the next generation some time to practice and get some seat time and drive with some of the best.

below are a few photos i took over a 20 or so minute period, rain was pretty full on. i have also put together an 8 minute RAW POV onboard video from my little action cam on youtube in which i will embed into this post also. be sure to check it out – naoki and his son properly driving together for the first time which was amazing to watch and capture. PS if you want to see any photos larger just right click and open in new tab – have laid them out this way as there are a few in this post.

big love, always. caseyyy x

october/november two-thousand-eighteen – now available online – CLICK to shop now x

You might remember a few weeks ago some videos going viral from Nakamura Naoki’s newest S15 being tested for the first time. Being there and driving with Keisuke, Jamie and Nishio I decided to have a small break when Naoki and Miki showed up just to get some shots of the car prior being loaded to Australia for this years WTAC drift challenge next week in Sydney Australia in which he will be competing in. The initial plan was to head down to Okayama Prefecture to Bihoku Highland Circuit so the car could get up to speed and under some pressure properly however due to the multiple typhoons that hit Honshu over the last few months it was Motorland Suzuka that managed to stay mostly dry.

The newly painted S15 chassis – a 3 color fade painted by Naoki himself welcoming red up front for his newest and largest sponsor VALINO tires fading into pink and purple for the true N-Style feel. This is the same body that he has previously been driving in such as Kansai All Stars in 2017 etc. A few months prior to this day the SR20DET was removed and a 1000HP T88 2JZ that was purchased straight out of a Toyota Aristo, backed up with a holinger gearbox all tuned and set by Garage REMS.

Enjoy the images

This was the first time Nishio from Otokichi Family in Mie had seen the car also.

Shane Bingham from Stacked Inc always by Naoki’s side helping wherever and whenever he can maintain and prep cars.

A strong combination of grippy Valino tires, soft and forgiving Stance coilovers and Naoki’s insanely aggressive, snappy driving this car  lifting wheels off the ground everywhere.

Apart from a water hose popping off after 3-4 sessions and whatever tires were bought there car was somewhat faultless. I have been shooting and spectating Naoki drive for around 8-9 years now and this was one of the fastest and grippiest cars I have probably seen run, period. I wish him all the best at WTAC! If you didn’t get a glimpse of the videos check them out on the SHIRTSTUCKEDIN instagram x