Usually I write my event reports once I’ve had time to reflect on what I’ve witnessed and experienced. This event, however, was totally different. I write this as I sit on a Shinkansen bullet train travelling from Nagoya to Kyoto at 170mph, reflecting on the A-Bo-Moon-organised R32 Skyline-only drift day that I attended at Motorland Mikawa yesterday.
As we rolled up to the spectator car park in our Mazda Demio hire car, the sheer quality of the cars surrounding me and the distant sound of RB20s and RB25s amplified through shotgun exhausts was already overwhelming.
I’ll cover my favourite cars from the day in more detail in future posts but for now, I merely want to try and explain what made this particular event such a far-cry from what I’ve become accustomed to back home in the UK.
A-Bo-Moon (led by A-Bo Satsukawa) have been running this annual event at Motorland Mikawa on the 2nd of March for many years now, so it’s fair to assume they know how to organise a fun event for their loyal following of R32 drivers and fans.
The drivers were split into a number of classes, not by the spec of their cars but more-so on their ability levels and, critically, who they felt confident driving in proximity with.
This is something that has come to light as an issue personally with the rule changes at some UK drift days. Just because my car was eligible for the roll cage class on one particular drift day did not mean I wanted certain people in the same class trying to “rub my door”, so to speak. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love drifting as close as possible to my mates (as we did frequently on this particular day) but it’s not a competition, it’s supposed to be a fun day. It’s only natural to enjoy yourself more when you’re driving with people who you know and trust both on and off the track, regardless of whether their car has a roll cage or not.
It was cool to watch some of the beginners improve massively throughout the day. Motorland Mikawa seemed to be a perfect track at which to hone your skills, with a handful of relatively slow speed corners in quick succession allowing you to work on your transition skills, with the large final corner encouraging you to test your perception skills by accelerating towards the pit wall as closely as you dare. With the sessions being run with an open pit lane format, the drivers could continually lap the track, learning something new each time without having to stop after each lap as is often the norm here in the UK.
As a spectator though, it was the expert and A-Bo-Moon sessions that I naturally wanted to watch. It’s worth noting that, while all of these R32s look absolutely fantastic for various reasons, under the skin they were all wonderfully simple.
There wasn’t a tubed front or rear end, rear-mounted radiator or Wisefab setup in sight. None of these cars were built to drift as fast as possible at wildly unnatural angles. They were built to drift in close proximity with similarly specced cars while looking and sounding incredible in the process.
It baffles me how people still manage to get it so wrong when it comes to styling a drift car. They can spend a fortune on wheels, body panels and suspension and yet the end result is still just…meh. A good ride height, some decent fitting wheels and cohesive body panels are all that’s required to set you off in the right direction. The rest is up to you!
The pride that all of the drivers took in their drifting was evident for all to see, whether it was the small creature comforts they’d added to their respective interiors or how neat and tidy their pit areas were. However, it was the lunchtime parade that truly made me realise how much these drivers respected one another’s hard work.
Every single R32 that was taking part in the day followed in procession behind A-Bo as he proudly waved the A-Bo-Moon flag from his window while navigating the circuit, before everyone lined up behind him on the home straight.
A truck was parked in front of the cars so that the photographer from Drift Tengoku could setup his camera and take a group photo of everyone in front of the Skylines. I’m not going to lie and say I’m not excited about the possibility of my face appearing in an upcoming issue of the magazine, having been invited to join the official group photo along with fellow westerner Geoff, taking a day off from his job at Streeter Corporation in Osaka in order to attend.
More to the point though, I’ve never witnessed a driver’s parade with so many smiles, so much pride and so much genuine enjoyment. It felt natural and light-hearted, as opposed to the almost forced parades you see at major competitions and events. These guys were absolutely chuffed to be able to drive at this event and show off their creations to fellow R32 owners.
With the parade over it was onto the afternoon’s drifting antics. First up: individual runs. Each driver put in a couple of laps by themselves under the watchful eye of a handful of judges.
I say “judges”, although there were no determinable clipping points as far as I could see. It seemed that all judging was based on style and aggression, which was absolutely perfect for an event like this (in my eyes, anyway).
After the solo runs, teams of around six cars came together and proceeded to put in group laps. Again, none of this was taken particularly seriously which made it great fun to watch and even more of a laugh for those driving.
All of the teams did great but it was of course the A-Bo-Moon guys who stole the show. Not ones to rest on their laurels however, leader of the pack A-Bo soon turned the train around and proceeded to run the Mikawa course in reverse. I’ve never seen this done before but, having watched the procession of blue R32s use the full width of the circuit (including the pit lane exit) to flick into what was now the first corner, it’s something I’d love to see more often. When the chequered flag was flown, A-Bo wound down his window and waved to the crowd while continuing to rev the nuts off his RB20 with his A-Bo-Moon brothers behind him as they returned to the pits.
The very end of the day was reserved for a free-for-all; with pretty much every car on track at once it made for a hectic yet enjoyable spectacle, watching experts and beginners alike pushing one another around the track.
There was a presentation ceremony at the end of the event and, while I’m not entirely sure what contributing factors were considered when choosing the top three drivers, they picked between them which prizes they had won by playing the internationally recognised method of deciding a contest: rock, paper, scissors of course!
As I stated earlier, I’ve still got a heap of photos to release from A-Bo-Moon’s R32-only day at Motorland Mikawa and I can’t wait to share them with you. This truly is one drift event that I hope never fades into obscurity and, while drivers with the attitude and mindset that these guys posses are fast becoming a minority in places outside of Japan, this is and always will be what drifting means to me.
Low, loud and stupid cars, a bunch of mates drifting together and everyone down for a good time – long may it continue.
Check out my video below to experience the sights and sounds of the A-Bo-Moon R32-only Drift Day: