The History of Drifting and The Future of Formula Drift

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“Tsuiso, not Suicide”

Ikaten began to craft better drivers and cars and Inada decided that a new series, that catered to the more professional drivers and teams, needed to be formed.  In 2000, the All Japan Drifting Championship was sanctioned with Keiichi Tsuchiya and Manabu Orido as judges. The first ever round came at Ebisu Circuit in October, and would later be viewed as the haven for drifting fans the world over, and served as the first round of the 2001 season.

Manabu Orido

The series was renamed D1 Grand Prix and a new idea was also formed.  In previous drifting events, drivers were judged individually with run after run taking place.  At Round Two, however, a new, but traditional touge style was used for eliminations, the Tsuiso Runs.  Two drivers would compete on the same course, just as touge drifting and racing was done, and in the same way a winner was determined on the mountains, if the lead driver could create a gap against his following opponent, the leader was judged winner of that run.

Manabu Orido  drifting his first Supra

If the follower closed the gap, he was judged winner.  From the start, only ten drivers could enter the tandem runs. That was reduced to eight in 2002, then in Round Two, it was increased to twelve to allow for more tandem runs.  Then, the standard of sixteen drivers was added by Round Four and has stayed that way since.

An Example of a Tandem Run with Sam Hubinette – Photo from Speedhunters.com.