D1GP + Supercars = Automotive Nirvana

With so many events happening close to end of year it's hard to single out just one.  Unfortunately this year we are limited to coverage of events within Tokyo, but trust me, this is more than enough.
Tokyo Motor Show alone was a great success, and what is happening around is definitely worth mentioning.

One such occasion is the annual D1GP grand finale, held at a giant Odaiba parking lot accessible to 1000s of fans to whom traveling to remote race tracks is not an option.

Each year the competition and the event itself draws something new.

Last year CarGuy and his crew crashed the party by drifting some of their supercars and parading them in front of the public.

Mr. Kimura used the opportunity presented to him this year to unveil his new acquisition

Japan's first Lamborghini Aventador LP750-4 SuperVeloce

After seeing one in London, I knew what to expect, but no matter where you see it or how you look at it, the car absolutely menacing.

This year CarGuy was jointed by Kato-san and his Liberty Walk crew, and even though neither of the group were allowed to take their pride possessions sideways,

D1 has definitely taken something out both of their books.  Meet the Liberty Walk RWD Lamborghini Murcielago Drift Car driven by non other than Daigo Saito

and perhaps the biggest jaw dropper of them all - the Drift Spec Lexus LFA powered by a thin turbo Nascar V8 engine.

The story behind this build is that the LFA suffered an unfortunate water damage during a natural disaster and was a complete write off.

Team OTG Motor Sports gave it a second life and handed it to Yoichi Imamura to make the most of it.

Will either of these cars take the victory from the hands of mighty Masato Kawabata and his RWD 1300HP R35?


Or will the two time  Formula Drift Pro Series Champion Vaughn Gittin Jr. in his 2015 Ford Mustang RTR take the podium?

Do any of the JDM classics stand a chance?

Also worth mentioning were the Russian driver Arkadiy Tsaregradtsev who took the unexpected Russian spotlight after the crowd favorite Georgy Chivchyan' S15 suffered a transmission failure.

As well as series of battles between Suenaga brothers....

It was interesting to see how light and agile the RE Amemiya Gruppe M FD RX-7 was allowing Masao Suenaga to pull off an upset against his elder brother piloting the Team Orange S15.

 
 Naoto went on to qualify in the consolation round and progressed to best 16 alongside Masao

Vaghn Griffin Junior was struggling at this narrow track as speed and smoke were not everything that it takes to get high score in these conditions.

He was eliminated as he collided with Naoto Suenaga's S15 in Best of 16 round , allowing Team Orange pilot to proceed to best of 8 to face off against his brother again.

The sibling rivalry escalated to a full scale conflict of interests as Masao side swiped his eldrer brother's S15 and was eliminated.

We then saw the million dollar battle as the LFA went head to head against the Murcielago.

If you tell any fan of the sport back in 2013 that in 2 years we will see super-cars battle it out a fully sanctioned Japanese drift competition, they would laugh in your face.

But as with anything car related in this country:

Never say Never

Imamura 's LFA then took on the Arkadiy Tsaregradtsev in round of best of 8 and won.

Arkasha - as they call him here put in an epic performance and gave the LFA the run for its money, but his S15 was simply overpowered, yet it was enough for the crowd to cheer and for announcers to yell Borsh and Vodka on top of their lungs.

Kawabada was meanwhile knocking out competition by simply overpowering them on every corner.

It came to the point when announcers were yelling "Tsumaranai" - "Boring" at Kawabata's antics,

but it didn't stop him from taking out Imamura in the ultimate battle of JDM super-machines

and progressing to final round, where he faced Tetsuya Hibino behind the wheel of his YMS JZA80 Toyota Supra.

Hibino managed to put a tremendously solid performance throughout the event,

with his 700 HP monster capable of delivering winning runs one after another.

He however was no match to to Kawabata's R35 who took yet another first place finish in D1GP competition.

What an event it was, ladies and gentlemen.  I was absolutely ecstatic and I after coming back from the ultimate petrol-head Nirvana I am grateful that diversity of the Japanese car culture allows such events to be held.  We will come back with more interesting events from the same giant Odaiba parking lot, but until then don't forget to check out bonus gallery below, share, follow, and comment.

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