Drift Meeting Special Round 2016 Event Report

December 11, 2016

On December 10th and 11th, the 10th annual Yokomo Drift Meeting Special Round was held at Yatabe Arena. With over 120 participants, the number of entries surpassed previous years, and with 15 international competitors, the event featured a lineup worthy of a world championship. Once again, our guest D1 drivers, MC Mana-P (Manabu Suzuki), and Chief Judge Hisashi Kamimoto added tremendous excitement to this year's Yokomo Drift Meeting Special Round.
This year’s guest driver list was even more impressive than ever. First, we had this year’s D1 GRAND PRIX Series Champion, Daigo Saito. Joining him was the 2015 Series Champion, Masato Kawabata. Furthermore, we were joined by Hideyuki Fujino, who has been competing full-time in the D1 GRAND PRIX series since last year and finished 3rd in the series. Yoichi Imamura, who visits this special round every year, was also in attendance. Additionally, we welcomed D1 drivers Takahiro Ueno and "Drift Samurai," both of whom are also elite-level RC drivers and served as judges for the D1 and World classes in this special round. These six D1 drivers gathered here at Yatabe Arena.

Also, at the entrance, three cars were on display: Daigo Saito’s Mark II, Masato Kawabata’s 35 GT-R, and Hideyuki Fujino’s 180SX. Being able to see these D1 machines up close, which you rarely get to see in person, is surely one of the highlights of the Special Round.

The massive jump crash between Masato Kawabata and Daigo Saito at Odaiba was also reenacted. While these two are often called bitter rivals, it was clear that they are actually very close friends once they stepped out of their cars.

The judges were, of course, the trio of Takahiro Ueno, Chief Judge Hisashi Kamimoto, and Drift Samurai. Everyone agreed that their judging, which blends real-world expertise with their own RC drift experience, was spot on. Once again, their precise judging and commentary brought great energy to the tournament.

The layout for this event utilized the full length of the Drift Grand Prix course, making it the highest-speed layout of any Yokomo Drift Meeting held this year. In particular, because the special round course layout is created just one day before the event, participants have very limited practice time to master it. Perhaps because of this, many drivers struggled and found it difficult to boost their scores.

Performing a demo run on such a difficult layout was last year's World Champion, Kin. Despite having trouble finding his rhythm during morning practice, the fact that he was still able to deliver such an incredible demo run proves he is truly a master of the craft.

During the event, the Yokomo staff held a "Yokomo Clinic," providing setup lectures and driving advice to the participating competitors.

Day 1 featured four classes: Entry, Sports, Twin Drift, and RWD. The RWD class in particular saw eight international entries, making it essentially an RWD World Championship. In recent years, RWD has become the main focus of international competitions, and the skill level of these drivers has improved dramatically. Furthermore, although it was the first time for all of them at Yatabe Arena, six international drivers advanced to the tandem drift finals and engaged in fierce battles.

The highlight of Day 2 was, as expected, the World Class. Both participants and spectators were glued to this class, which would decide the World Champion. Throughout the two-day qualifiers, top drivers were posting high scores one after another. Perhaps feeling the pressure of being the number one seed, last year’s champion, Kin, made a series of mistakes and was eliminated in the solo qualifying round. Amidst this, Hayato from Team Yokomo hit a score of over 100 in the solo run. With overwhelming speed and consistency, he was the only one to break the 100-point barrier. Second place went to Sugawara, and third to Hoshi in the qualifying results. Six international drivers—Julien Noth, Timmy Woo, Andranik Dolukhanian, Aleksandr Sezemov, Jean-Philippe Junod, and Muhammad Thalha—advanced to the Top 16, setting the stage. Once the tandem runs began, the Japanese drivers' advanced skills really shone through; as the international drivers were gradually eliminated, Timmy Woo from Hong Kong made it all the way to the Best 4. There, he faced off against the top qualifier, Hayato. It was a high-level, no-holds-barred battle, but Hayato won by a narrow margin, preventing Timmy from reaching the final. However, in the third-place match, Timmy defeated Hosoo to secure an impressive third-place finish. The final was a matchup between the rapidly improving Hoshi and Hayato. Given how easily both had advanced to this point, a series of sudden-death rounds was expected. In the first run, Hoshi boldly dove into Hayato’s space—who hadn't been giving up any advantages until then—to score a slight lead. However, Hayato retaliated with a move that was nearly one rank closer, securing the win easily. Hayato became our second-time World Champion.

Concours d'Elegance

We displayed the highly acclaimed YD-2 series. This time, we also featured the YD-2 275 as a reference exhibit, which drew much attention from the participants.

These are the new drift wheels coming soon. There are two types of designs: a 6-spoke and a 5-spoke, both available in 6mm and 8mm offsets. They will be available in black and white.