FORUM> Happy Hachiroku Day! 8/6/2010
The very first time I heard the term "Hachiroku Day" coined was when my good friend, HerbrockOne from Cipher Garage called me up one morning and greeted me, "Hey man. Happy 8/6!" I just had to bust out laughing. I think this happened sometime in the late 1990s (damn, we're old)... but we are really crazy about our AE86s, and for some reason the number 86 just seems to jump out at us wherever we're at.
When we're ordering food or something, Herb and I always seem to get receipts that say "Order # 86" and once when I was at the airport, I've even had to board an airplane at Gate 86... hahahaha!!! I'm also pretty sure I'm not the only one who's stolen the number 86 "plastic table number" from Carl's Jr restaurants (at least, if you live in the United States).
I just wanted to alert everyone else that we've been starting up a thread in our MotorMavens Forum that includes pictures of everyone's favorite AE86s! Please add your own favorites to the thread, if you haven't done so already! Read more...
WEBMINING> Keiichi Tsuchiya at Ebisu Circuit East
Okay… this is a super old video, but since I just posted my story about how I felt the first time I ever saw the legendary Best Motoring Volume 41, I figured I should post the video up on the site. To me, this video is totally the shit… it’s a classic that I must have watched about a thousand times, but I still remember how this video made me feel the first time I ever saw it. It was inspiring, to say the very least. And the very first time I ever drove Ebisu Circuit‘s East Course, it immediately brought me back to the first time I watched this video, and the sound that the naturally aspirated blacktop 20 valve AE111 4AG engine made at full throttle as Keiichi drove his white TRD AE86 at Ebisu.
I’m sure that everyone must have a favorite movie or CD that they’ve listened to countless times… Inputs like this become engrained into your head; they eventually become a part of your permanent memory, and a part of who you are as a person. For me, these types of inputs include things like the Illmatic album from Nas, the Low End Theory album from A Tribe Called Quest, the Do You Want More album from The Roots, the Legend album from Bob Marley, and the Best Motoring Video, Volume 41. If you have a favorite book, video, movie, or CD, please share it…
Enjoy the video!
:: Antonio Alvendia
WEBMINING> Ebisu Summer Drift Matsuri 2009
This video of the 2009 Summer Drift Matsuri at the famed Ebisu Circuit is just plain awesome. It’s got tons of variety in cars and courses and lots of high speed fly-bys. I haven’t been to Ebisu yet personally, but by the looks of this video, it’s no wonder everyone is so crazy about Ebisu. I can’t wait to go!
Check it out!
::Justin Shreeve
GEAR DRIVEN> Ebisu Circuit X MotorMavens!!!
This just in! We just wanted to post up a little sneak preview of our newest Motor Mavens shirt! This is actually the SECOND shirt that we’ve produced for Motor Mavens. We produced a small run of shirts for members of the Motor Mavens crew to wear when shooting events, but we received so many comments from people at events saying they wanted to rock a Motor Mavens shirt too that we actually decided to sell some shirts at this weekend’s Formula D grand finale at Irwindale.
Even though we are all going to be at Irwindale this weekend, we still have the Holy Land of Drifting, Ebisu Circuit, in our hearts… so we had our boy Antonio call up Ebisu’s owner, Nobushige Kumakubo and ask him if he would be interested in doing a collabo Ebisu Circuit X Motor Mavens shirt. Guess what… after approximately .0032 seconds of careful deliberation, Kumakubo made up his mind and responded with a YES!
So there you have it… from the Home of Drifting in Japan to the House That Drifting Built, Irwindale Speedway… stop by the Eat Sleep Race booth on Saturday to buy one of these super legit Ebisu Circuit shirts! And FYI, they’re made for American sizes, so you don’t need to worry about the “One Size Fits Small” Japanese shirts…
BRING CASH MONEY TO IRWINDALE, and make sure to buy a shirt before you do anything else, because they WILL be completely sold out by the end of the day!
See you there!!!
:: Motor Mavens
WEBMINING> Club Outrun in Japan
For Club Outrun from MeZ Productions on Vimeo.
While I was checking out some videos on Vimeo earlier today, I ran across this Mez Productions video from Club Outrun‘s Japan trip. Very cool! They show footage of some cool looking AE86s at Nihonkai Maze Circuit, some more 86 action at Nikko Circuit, and then some really cool footage from Ebisu Circuit‘s South Course, School Course, and the very famous Touge course!
Let’s all go to Japan already!!!
:: Yoshi Shindo
ARCHAEOLOGY> Ebisu Drifting Matsuri AE86s
This weekend, Ebisu Circuit is holding its Summer Drift Festival. In celebration of 8/6 Day, I just thought I'd post up some AE86 photos from my favorite place on Earth... Ebisu Circuit. Read more...
ARCHAEOLOGY> Red AE86 Twins at Ebisu Circuit
Standing trackside at Ebisu Circuit's South Course (the D1 course) that day, I felt completely happy. I know it may sound pretty weird; this isn't normally the type of thing one writes about on an automotive blog site. Nevertheless, my experiences that day were so incredible... I don't think I'll ever forget the sights and sounds of Ebisu Minami that day... with these two gorgeous red AE86s chasing each other down the track, bumper to bumper... initiating drift close to the intimidating South Course wall, and chasing each other door to door throughout the entire course. It was a hell of a show, but here's the thing. There were no spectators there that day, except for me.
It was as if for some reason, two of my favorite cars in the world (and in my favorite color too!) were chasing each other down at my favorite race track in the world, dogfighting just for my own viewing pleasure. It was amazing to say the least; my words here don't do the experience justice. It was exhilarating and exciting, yet relaxing at the same time. It was as if my whole world was at peace, for just that one moment. I f*cking love red AE86s and I f*cking love Ebisu Circuit!!! Read more...
VIDEO> Riding the Wall at Ebisu Circuit
So last night on Facebook, I was talking to Luke Huxham, an Aussie-living-in-Japan who is producing a documentary film about drifting in Japan called “We Are Drift.” Undaunted by hard work and a shoestring budget, Luke spends most of his waking hours either shooting drifting footage or urging others to support his new documentary film. In my experience, I’ve come to learn that relentless persistence like this can only mean one thing – EVERYONE is going to know about this film in the drifting scene.
As Luke showed me the newest teaser video clip he shot at “The Holy Land of Drifting,” Ebisu Circuit just this past weekend, I was pleasantly surprised to see some familiar faces in it! Namely, Formula D driver Calvin Wan (and his RHD zenki S14 Silvia) and Naoto Suenaga (and his white RPS13 180SX) from Team Orange. We even see a brief cameo from Team Orange’s hilarious crew chief, Igusa, driving his girl’s black R32 Skyline 4-door.
Look at how close Calvin gets to the WALL at Ebisu’s School Course! Awesome! And look how close these guys lead and follow! Since this is just a small sampling of the action we can expect in Luke’s video, I can’t wait to see the whole documentary film!
:: Antonio Alvendia
PS: Bonus Points>> Can anyone spot other D1 drivers in the video? And can anyone recognize the shirt Naoto is wearing?
We Are Drift Documentary Film Website
VIDEO> Honeymoon at Ebisu Circuit
Exactly one year ago, my good friends Jody and Chris Manacop (you might recognize the covers he’s shot for Performance Auto Sound Magazine, but you probably wouldn’t know his name cause PASmag effed up more than once and put someone else’s name under the photo credit! LOL) got married… on the day before Toshiki Yoshioka won first place at Formula D Las Vegas.
So today, on the 1-year anniversary of our good friends getting hitched, I decided to post up a video from their honeymoon. (No, no, you won’t see any night-vision camera stuff here… Google Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian for that.) I’m posting up a pretty cool video from their honeymoon in Japan; these two decided to go to the Summer Drift Festival at Ebisu Circuit for their honeymoon!
As luck would have it, I had just finished a photo mission in Germany, Belgium and the UK, so I met up with them in Japan during their “Honeymoon at Ebisu.” So there we were… Chris, Jody, Kumakubo, Naoto and the rest of our Ebisu Family in Fukushima Japan… just chillin out, looking for delicious Japanese drinks and snacks at the kombini (7-Eleven)… when Kumakubo asked Chris and Jody if they wanted to check out Ebisu’s Touge course.
In the words of Tokyo socialite Kenta Ogawara, Chris responded “well, OBVIOUSRYYYY!” and hopped into Kumakubo’s yellow Autech PS13 Silvia Convertible with his Canon SD 800IS point and shoot camera and an old school drifting helmet, which looked more like a baseball helmet.
So here’s the video that Chris shot with his SD 800IS, on his first ride up and down Ebisu’s touge with the King of the Hill himself, Kumakubo at the wheel… and the white RPS13 180SX in the background is being driven by Team Orange’s Naoto Suenaga with Chris’s wife Jody sitting shotgun.
So HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Chris and Jody! And thanks for the funny ass video! See you in Vegas tomorrow night! I’m gonna stop name dropping and get on the road now!
:: Antonio Alvendia
(PS: Excuse Chris’s high pitched laughter, LOL)
