When I was younger, I used to frequent clubs-not for the girls (you know you really don't have high standards if you're successful at picking them up), but rather for the music, the ambiance and really just to be amongst friends. Long story short, we saw a crowd gathered around a stretched Hummer limousine one night after clubbing. Curious, we joined to find inside that the lights were on, and some young, stripper-esque girl and her guy were getting it on for all to see! Not that I didn't enjoy the peek (she was definitely hawt), but the whole scene was really out of its element. Call me conservative, but sex behind closed doors between a loving couple just seems right to me.
Which sort of parallels my thought behind the drifting phenomenon. Yeah, on occasion I enjoy going to a D1 or a Formula D event, but something was lost in the over-commercialization of the sport that I could never seem to put my finger on. Fast-forward to present day Japan. We're on a mountain pass, instructing D2 Motorworks mechanic, Fumiaki Komatsu, to drive back and forth on a section of the pass, busting U-turns at each end, so we could get a motion shot for our fine 2NR readers. Not only does Komatsu do that, he blows by us with glorious power-slides each time. Did I forget to mention that Komatsu is also D2's pro driver? It's at that moment it clicks for me: Drifting is best in its element, when done not for a trophy or heavy purse, but in its roots, through back mountain passes, by die-hards who couldn't care less if anyone's watching them do it. In my heart, what was lost was regained. My love for drifting had been restored.
The S13 before you is owned by the aforementioned Fumiaki Komatsu of D2 Motorworks of Takatsuki, Osaka, Japan, and started life in their stable as a street-class drift and time-attack vehicle. This is Fumiaki's tenth S13, and it shows in his driving. That's not to say he sucks, rather the opposite: mastering the skill he has takes practice, and if you're not wrecking cars along the way, you're never going to get there. When we asked Fumiaki his goals for this car, he replied very matter-of-factly, "To build a better car. To develop new parts." As if to say this is what he does with his life; just another day; no big deal. Some people spend their whole lives obsessing over one car. Komatsu crashes one, and then ponders what he can do better with the next. He doesn't get heart broken.
In its current state, this jolly green midget has outgrown the street class in time-attack and drift competition, and is currently undergoing further tuning and chassis reinforcement suitable for both. The SR20DET's muy gigante HKS GT3037 Pro S turbo should be the final modification before the S13 would compete as an all-out track slut. For engine build-up expertise, Fumiaki didn't have to look far. As is often done in Japanese hierarchical culture, the elder assists the protégé. Under Takeshi Minoyama's guidance (Komatsu's zen master and employer), he bored the SR block out to 87 mm, to ready it for HKS Stage 3 pistons and rings, the associated connecting rods, crank, and other miscellaneous rotating goods, and topped the bottom end off with a D2 original extra-capacity oil pan.
Our young "Grasshopper" and Master also collaborated on the upper architecture, using Naprec (Nagoya Precision) valves and HKS valve springs and retainers to let in the powerful high-octane air/fuel cocktail. An Ikeya Formula intake manifold and throttle were port matched to the head. Intake, intercooler and exhaust piping are all in-house, TIG-welded titanium. Even more impressive is the custom titanium D2 intake manifold that, taking a hint from RB26DETT power supremacy, houses Ikeya Formula individual throttle bodies.