Tokyo Underground

What do you like the most about your car?

Noting really

But the speed cameras kept going off when I was driving over here.

I probably won't get busted because I hid my license plate.

And the horsepower?

Well, it's about 700.

Do you come here a lot?

Once in a while.

I sometimes race on my way here, or when I go back home.

I' m here with my son tonight because he wouldn't go to sleep.

Hi, I'm Satoshi.

My car is Nissan Skyline R32.

I like to stick to 4-doors.

I've owned 3 Skylines, and this is my second 4-door.

It's easier to carry tires in and out of the car.

As for the specifications, I've swapped the engine to an S14 SR20DET,

And I'm also using S14 parts for the suspension footwork

It has around 300 horsepower.

How come can you speak Eng lish so well?

That's because I'm a foreigner

I couldn' tell at all, you're Japanese is so good!

What is the most important thing when we customize the car for drifting?

umm... It's all about heart.

Not about engines, tires and all?

Losers tend to stick to those details. what a loser.

So it's your heart

Yeah, if you have a good heart, it's all good!

They say this car's really fast.

Yeah, I think I did about 260 km/hr (161mph)

It's a matter of strong will.

It takes a while for a Hachiroku to reach its peak speed,

unlike a Skyline GT-R that can gain its peak speed instantly.

The thing is how much you can be consistent in accelerating the car.

It's about the heart, again.

I drive Nissan Skyline GTR.

This is the engine, air cleaner, and the turbine is under here

and I did some minor changes inside the engine.

The horsepower?

A little over 500.

well, it makes little difference for the speed by just boosting up the horsepower.

why is that?

The horsepower and the speed are different.

Boosting up the horsepower doesn't necessarily speed up the car.

It's how well the power of the car can be transmitted on to the road.

Do you ever compete against Hachirokus on the road?

well, not really.

He seems pretty confident...

This is stock, huh?

He's looking down on my Hachiroku, huh?

we mainly make the aero-parts

for GTs, sports cars,

and station wagons.

We also make car parts for these cars and sell them nationwide.

So,this is your's.

Yes, this is the tuning facility

Could you show me around, please?

This is Taniguchi's car.

We took the muffler off,

and we're remodeling this car for Tokyo Auto Salon.

You'll make these door gull-wings?

Yes, we will.

We took out the inside and we're going to redo everything.

And this is my car that I use for the D-1 Grand Prix

It's being in for service for the next competition

Please look inside...

This is our mechanic.

Wow, look at that engine room!!!

I have an HKS GT3037S turbine kit on there,

and the car has a bout 480 horsepower.

Well, I own seven Soarers right now.

Why does this car attract you so much?

I like the fact that the stock Soarer is kind of ugly.

And, this car is huge in spite of a two-door.

It looks great when you modify it, but it's still a luxury car.

So, when I'm in the united States,

people tell me that I'm crazy because drift in a Lexus.

when I was 16-years-old, I got a driver's license for motorcycle.

I was riding motorcycles for a while.

I was really interested in things that have an engine.

when I got the driver's license for car, I was 18

and I already new that that's what I wanted to do with my life

I didn't start drifting because I wanted to do just that

I just wanted to enjoy the world of cars

and in it, there is drifting as well as other sports

Of course, I tried gripping, high way racing, downhill racing, just everything

I just devoted myself to enjoying cars.

Among all of these sports, I just happened to be good at drifting the most.

At that time, I had a SOARER and wanted to make it look good.

I asked my friend to make aero-parts for my SOARER.

The aero- parts were introduced in a magazine

and people started to ask if they can buy those parts.

That's how I started.

I just wanted to make something for my car.

I didn't even think about doing business off it.

All I wanted to do is make good-looking cars.

I'm just doing things that I love.

I'm not really doing this just to win.

If I wanted to win every time, I could just drive a different car,

something easier to handle.

But then I don't think lAfll be able to enjoy what l do.

People sometimes tell me that I should change my car,

But the whole point is to drive the car that I like,

and to be able to win in that car.

I think drifting will become really big in the u.S. too.

If we don't watch out, the u.S. drivers will catch up to us really fast.

Still, the drivers over there are still a little rough with their driving.

They need to learn how to control their cars more in detail.

Like steering techniques

how to use their gears.

There are a lot of good people out there,

so if they practice more in those areas,

they'll catch up to the Japanese drivers in no time.

I really look forward to driving with the u.S. drivers again.

How did it feel out there today?

Tsukuba Circuit is a great course!

Well, we have great weather today, so...

It was pretty slippery for this condition, though.

It's better than rain

Are you not good in the rain?

No, that's no problem for me at all.

You're in good shape?

Yup!

How about you, Mr. ueno?

No. Not very good at all.

You know what? Most D1 racers say they're no good.

We can't say we're doing great at a practice session.

They all say they are in bad shape just because of some trivial problems.

when really they're doing fine

If they're doing great, theyAfll say they're doing horrible

Yeah, everyone says their not doing good

Is that because people might think you're arrogant?

Not so much that, but I guess we don't feel that weAfre doing 100%

We're doing almost perfect, like 90 to 95 percent of what we can,

but that's not enough for them.

Yeah, we have to constantly push ourselves to do better.

Do you guys get psyched when you race each other?

Well, we do, like the last race in the united States.

Yeah, I was so sure I was going to win, but...

That was a really great event.

We're really looking forward to this yearAfs too.

You are SO going down next time!

This guy goes to lrwindale for a secret training, you know.

Oh yeah, that guy, too!

Yeah, I'm not the only one.

He rents out the speedway all to himself to practice!

what did you think about the event in the u.S.?

Well, it was really fun and exciting.

I think the drivers had a blast too. A@A@

What did you think about the u.S. drivers?

Well, I think the u.S. drivers have a really great sense of speed,