It was hard to pick a second D1 driver to do a small retrospective on, following the post on Ueo's career as a professional drifter. There are just so many great drivers in Japan to choose from, but after much deliberation it just had to be Nobuteru Taniguchi. Taniguchi is one driver I have great respect for, having managed to build a racing career with his own two hands, starting off in small one make racing sereis making it all the way to Super GT. In fact as I write this he is preparing to...

After checking out Paddy McGrath's coverage of the AE86 track day in Ireland, I came away very impressed with the quality of the cars that were on the track. These days, "JDM" is the most overused automotive term around, but lot of those Irish-built carsgenuinely looked like they came straight off a Japanese racing circuit. After getting those heart-warming feelings from Paddy's post, I thought I'd answer back with some photos of rear-wheel-drive Toyotas I've captured at various events at Tsukuba Circuit. This includes not just AE86's, but MR2's and other RWD Toyotas....

I don't really consider myself to be a "purist" when it comes to cars, but I can see how hardcore Mazda enthusiasts would have a tough time with all the people swapping V8's and other piston engines into RX7's these days. Occasionally though, you'll find someone going against the current and dropping a rotary into a "traditional" platform. This SXE10 Toyota Altezza is one of them. It's being built by Martin Ffrench for use in the UK-based JDM All Stars drift series, and from what we hear, it's shaping up to be one of the coolest drift cars in Europe. Besides the RE powerplant, a full carbon kevlar aero kit is in the works for the exterior. Martin obviously isn't a purist because he also has a sister-car to this that's powered by a Nissan SR20DET. We'll be sure to update once the car is finished. Thanks to Paddy McGrath for the tip and for the photo....

I have been following the D1GP for a very long time, and I really miss the old days. Sometimes I even put one of the old JDM Option DVD's in my DVD player just to watch Kazama, Miki, Ueo and Nomura battle it out with each other. Besides these four names there is one other that springs to mind and that is Nobuteru Taniguchi (NOB). I always loved his Nissan S15 with the Super Advan Racing wheels in yellow and red. After his switch to this Lexus IS220 he never got back to his old level. Could be...