Ebisu Circuit.

I have been sliding around in my car for a while now and have been saying that this year would be the day I took it to the next level and get my track cherry popped. In July I did.
It was no competition or anything. Just a track day with some mates. For me however it was a rather big deal. I saw it as a watershed in my sports car life. If the track turned out to be as fun as people said, I would continue to upgrade my Silvia and track it as much as possible with the intention to eventually participate in a low level competition sometime in the next year or so. If the drift bug didn’t bite me any harder than it had up till now, I would move on from the Silvia and head into big power and speed territory with a Supra or GT-R….

So how did that work out ? Let’s just say that I still have a Silvia and just dropped a large chunk of cash on it in the last 2 months. I LOVE DRIFTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We set off from Shibukawa at about 3:30 and hit up the expressway to Fukushima prefecture. One of my friends rode along with me and did a chunk of driving on the way there so I could take a bit of a rest before the events of the day.

We got to the track at around 7 and the weather was nice and cool but damn misty. Paid my entrance, and we headed up to the North course which was where we paddocked for the day. Popped on my drift tires and headed down to the drift land course to get a proper feel for my car.

It was not long before my tires started blowing chunks. Sure I spun a lot and missed the corner entries and exits quite badly. But I could go and go and go and go over and over and over again. Slowly My confidence grew as the mist cleared.

We headed down to the world famous Drift Stadium (South Course) to swap tires and I got a good glimpse of some much more badass drivers than I. My semi pro buddy reckons they were crap. but then from his perspective the vast majority of drifters are.

regardless It gave me a reason to fill up my balls and pick up some speed. After riding with another friend a bit I got a feel for the sharper weight shifts and higher speeds and started holding on to the slide more and spinning less. I even managed to chain a few drifts and eventually, after lunch and a powernap, shredded the new set of tires I took with me.

With that we popped on my last set of tires and I did a few runs on the north course after another quick lesson from my buddies.

In the end I leveled up considerably, drank over 4 litres of fluids and shredded 6 tires, wrecked my rear sub frame bushings and threw out my alignment sideways. It was epic and I can’t wait to go again in October when the weather cools a little.