Recently, 24 year old Japanese drift champ Tezuka Tsuyoshi and his manager Yoshi Takayama paid a brief visit to Australia. Here's AutoSpeed's exclusive interview with the man who doesn't just talk about drifting - he's won the championship.
We don't know much about the sport of drifting in Australia - what is the name of the competition you've just won?
It's called the B.M. Cup, after Battle Magazine, who sponsor the competition.
I understand that this is the second year running that you've won the Cup. Is it true that no-one else has done this?
That's right. I drive for the Free Dom (sic) team.
How did the sport of drifting get started?
It started with guys sliding their cars around on the street, I don't know how long ago. It's been an organised competition-type sport for around ten years now, and I've been involved for about five.
And how did you get involved?
I went to a meeting at racetrack, and thought it looked like fun. I started playing around on the street to begin with. It was when I bought a car from Kid's Heart that I started getting into competition. Kid's Heart is a company that specialises in setting up drift cars. They are the company that built my car. Yoshi, as well as being my manager, manages Kid's Heart
I understand there're a few different types of drifting. What are they?
First, there's the solo drift. Each driver gets one lap of a circuit, and their lap is given a score out of 100 by a panel of four judges. This is a knockout style competition which starts with about 120 competitors and knocks them out over several rounds until there's 12 left for the final. Then there's the paired drift, where several teams of two cars all take to the track at once for fifteen minutes. There's also a variation of this event involving teams of five cars. Both the paired and team events are also scored by a panel of judges.
How are the scores for the different events determined?
It's all about style. Lap times are not taken into account. In the solo drift, for a high score, you need to have the car sliding for the whole lap, even on the straights. You lose points if you spin the car, so the idea is to look as out of control as possible without actually losing it. Smoke and noise are taken into account too. A technique that I use is to start really smoking the tyres mid-drift, half way through a corner.
And the team competitions?
Again, it's about style. The judges look for the cars to be as synchronised as possible, to start drifting at the same time, and at the same angle. It's common for the cars to bump each other, but if you spin you lose points. And obviously, if you crash, you can't win.
Is there any one event that you prefer?
I like the paired drift, it's more exciting than solo, but not as crowded as the 5-car.
Tell me about your car.
It's a Toyota Chaser with a 1JZ-GTE. The engine's been modified a bit; it makes about 450ps.
The Chaser doesn't look particularly sporty. In fact, it looks quite a bit like the Cressida that we used to get in Australia. Why choose it over the more common drift cars like the AE86 Sprinter and S13 Silvias/180s?
In Japan, the Chaser is a popular family car. The crowds like to see something that they can relate to their own cars. I also like the look of them. The Chaser wasn't popular as a drift car at all when I started competing, but now that I've won two championships with it, they are becoming more popular. The engine's been converted to a single large turbo, different camshafts, larger injectors and free-flowing intake and exhaust. It runs a Kid's Heart computer. The team is building another engine for next season, hopefully with about 700ps.
700ps? Isn't 450 enough to drift properly?
(laughs) You can never have too much power, but as long as you have enough to break traction easily, you can drift. Some of the tricks that I do need a little more power than normal. You don't usually see the less powerful cars like the Sprinters smoking the tyres heavily mid-drift, which is something I like to be able to do.
Any mods to the rest of the car?
Kid's Heart has set up the suspension for drifting. Harder than normal, with lots of camber on the front to increase grip. A strut brace. Soft compound tyres on the front. The rear doesn't matter as much, but I like to use Dunlop at both ends. The wheels and tyres are 17 inch on the front and 18s on the rear. It also has a limited-slip diff, which is necessary for drifting. The safety equipment includes a Bride seat and harness and a roll cage. And I wear a helmet when I'm competing.
You've just won the drift championship in Japan, and you're in huge demand over there, so why are you in Australia at the moment?
There are two reasons. My manager Yoshi wants to start a drift club in Brisbane, and also to set up a dealership with AutoJMart to sell ready-made Kid's Heart drift cars. In a couple of months we're going to bring my car over here, and possibly the female drift champion and her car, and do a demonstration day, maybe at Lakeside.
Is there a separate women's championship?
No, everyone competes together, and the women's champ is the highest-ranking female.
Once you set up the club here, what will it offer to members?
Discounts on tyres, drift parts and service through AutoJMart, as well as the usual track days, shows, shirts, keyrings and stickers. We also hope to have drift tuition. I teach at a drift school in Japan, and we hope to train a few people over here as drift teachers.
Drifting is huge in Japan; do you see it catching on here?
Well, I know that Yoshi wouldn't be working to start up this club if he didn't believe it would work. Drifting has caught on in a fairly big way in the US; quite a few Japanese drift clubs and teams have sister clubs in America. I can't see why it shouldn't catch on here.
Why would someone want to get involved in drifting?
First of all, it's a huge rush, lots of fun. Of all the forms of motorsport, it's probably the most accessible for the average person. It's this accessibility that we want to promote with the club. If you have a rear-wheel drive car with enough power to break traction, then you have the foundation of a decent drift car. With a little money spent on suspension and an LSD, a little more for expendables like tyres and fuel, a little talent and a lot of practice, you can be very competitive.
Thanks to Toshi, Dom, Owen and the crew at AutoJMart for their help, and to Kazuhiro Ishrgakr, Jacqui Izutsu and Endriqe Pres for their interpretation skills.
Anyone interested in the drift club being set up in Brisbane should contact AutoJMart:
07 33911114
http://www.autojmart.com.au/
sales@ajmmotorsport.com.au
