The D1 Grand Prix, abbreviated as D1GP and subtitled Professional Drift, is a production car drifting series from Japan. After several years of hosting amateur drifting contests, Daijiro Inada, founder of Option magazine and Tokyo Auto Salon, and drifting legend, Keiichi Tsuchiya hosted a professional level drifting contest in 1999 and 2000 to feed on the ever increasing skills of drifting drivers who were dominating drifting contests in various parts of Japan. In October 2000, they reformed the contest as a five-round series. In the following year for the following round, the introduction of the two car tsuiou battle, run in a single-elimination tournament format, a common tradition for tōge races which became popular with car enthusiasts.
Nobuteru Taniguchi is a Japanese racing driver and drifting driver who currently competes in Super GT and D1 Grand Prix. Taniguchi is commonly nicknamed "NOB" or "The Pimp" as a reference to his S15 Silvia which he is best known for.
In 2006 the D1 Grand Prix championship, a drifting motor racing competition, comprised eight rounds held in Japan and the United States. The overall winner was Nobushige Kumakubo. There was also a D1 Street Legal competition run over seven rounds in Japan, and national competitions in Malaysia and the United Kingdom.
2001 D1 Grand Prix Point Series
Yasuyuki Kazama is a drifting driver from Japan, formerly competing in D1 Grand Prix, well known for using the Nissan Silvia S15. He is also known as Waku Waku and Spin Benz Dokan.
The 2007 Autobacs D1 Grand Prix series was the seventh season for the D1 Grand Prix series and was the second season for its spinoff D1 Street Legal.
Nobushige Kumakubo is a drifting driver from Japan who competes in the D1 Grand Prix series and racetrack and land owner. Nicknamed Kuma, he is commonly referred to as one of the pioneers of drifting.
Ryuji Miki is a racing and drifting driver from Tottori Prefecture, Japan. Miki was the 2004 D1 Grand Prix champion driving the Top Secret Silvia S15. Miki also competed in the Net'z Cup, a one make series for the Toyota Altezza between 2005 and its final season in 2006 and is nicknamed Doki-Doki kun due to his drifting style.
Masao Suenaga is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for D-MAX. He is the younger brother of Naoto who both were taught by Nobushige Kumakubo.
Katsuhiro Ueo is a Japanese professional drifting driver, whose currently competing in D1 Grand Prix with a Nissan Silvia S15, well known for formerly using the Toyota AE86 in the series. He is also known as, Therefore, it is.
Ebisu Circuit (エビスサーキット) is a motorsport racing complex located in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.
Ernie Fixmer, born February 19, 1977 in Los Angeles, California is a drifting driver from the United States. Fixmer is one of the most recognizable figures in the early history of drifting in the United States, and became one of the first drivers with a manufacturer backing in the summer of 2003. Fixmer was the first American driver to compete in a sudden death match against Japan's points leader in the first D1 Grand Prix's professional series in the U.S., presented by Slipstream Global, currently known as Formula D.
Hideo Hiraoka is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for Team Orange and Yuke’s.
The 2009 Gran Turismo D1 Grand Prix series was the ninth season for the D1 Grand Prix series and the fourth for the D1 Street Legal spinoff series. This year saw the return of the US series after its cancellation last year, its second season. The series began on March 29, 2009 at Ebisu Circuit for the D1GP and April 11 for D1SL at Bihoku Highland Circuit. The USA series consisted of four rounds and the first round was on May 2, 2009. The series concluded on December 5 as a D1SL point scoring round. Youichi Imamura took advantage of a non-score by Tsuyoshi Tezuka at the final round to claim the D1GP title in his Nissan Silvia. Meanwhile, in D1SL, Naoki Nakamura claimed that championship, also in a Silvia.
Robbie Nishida is a professional drifter who currently competes in several different professional series' around the world, including Formula D USA series and Formula D World series. He has been competing in the Formula D USA series since 2005. He has been competing ever since both in Japan and the USA.
The 2016 D1 Grand Prix series is the sixteenth season for the D1 Grand Prix series and the eleventh for the D1 Street Legal spinoff series. The season began on March 26 at Odaiba Tokyo Street Course for the D1GP and ended on October 23 at the same course with Daigo Saito winning his second Championship and began on April 16 for D1SL at Bihoku Highland Circuit. and ended on November 20 at Nikko Circuit with Katsuhiro Ueo winning his first D1SL Championship by cancellation, due to a fatal incident that happened during morning practice.
Top Secret Co., Ltd. is a Japanese automobile tuner and parts manufacturer. The company was founded by Japanese automotive engineer and driver, Kazuhiko “Smokey” Nagata.