Product Spotlight - D Max Floor Mats

After many months of designing, the highly anticipated D Max floor mats are finally here! Available specifically for S13 and S14 in 4 different checkered colors: Red, Blue, Light Grey, and Dark Grey. Unlike other checkered-style floor mats, D Max floor mats are specifically designed for left-hand drive vehicles - the first time ever in North America. Also, we are the first to offer a full-size front floor mat for S13's, and a one-piece rear mat for S14's.

Please contact any authorized dealer for pricing.

Video Friday - The Good Ol' Days of Ikaten Drifting

A couple people that I've been driving with for years asked me a question out of the blue one day - "What was the first video you saw that made you want to drift?" Immediately, I remembered about a Drift Club VHS video that was given to me by a friend in Japan covering the Team Drift Ikaten back around 2000. I've seen other videos of drifting before, but this particular video left such an impression on my life. At that time, I had no idea that Marionette, Night Zone, Otakushi Family, Flower, etc were going to be the leaders that would shape this sport and continue to inspire up and coming drivers. Its so great to see that some of those guys competing in this event are still competing to this day!!!

Please enjoy these videos, and I hope it inspires the next generation of drivers.

Have a safe and happy Labor Day Weekend!!!

Product Spotlight: D1 Spec Bonnet

The D-Max D1 Spec Bonnet is one of our signature items, and due to its unique design, it has been proven to perform better than almost any other hood on the market. From street-level drifters to veteran Time-Attack racers, drivers worldwide have chosen this hood due to its superior cooling capabilites. Back in 2006, Option magazine performed their own cooling test on our hood, and the results can be found here:

JDM Option - D Max Bonnet

Remember to always buy D Max products from an authorized dealer.

Video Friday - Mastery of the Single Lane Drift (again...)

Before the previous blog "disappeared", I had just put up these 2 videos. Since then, I've been getting lots of request to post them again.

For starters, the Japanese government have been increasing their efforts to stop drifting in the canyon. Just recently, they have started to install "bumps" right before corners to stop cars from drifting. It may be effective in stopping drifting, but I bet it ruins a lot of peoples sunday-drives. Traditionally, such things as "cats eyes" and poles were installed to increase safety for all drivers and also as a deterrent for drifting. However, there are some exceptional drivers that are able to drift freely in a single lane.

It is of no surprise to me that veteran D1GP driver Katsuhiro Ueo is this good of a driver. But there is just something amazing about seeing his iconic AE86 attacking his home course.




Then I came across this video of this unknown driver in Ibaraki. I just cannot get over how aggressive his driving is. Simply astonishing!



The icing on the cake is the awesome caption: "Very danger drifting image in Japan."

Have a safe and happy weekend everyone!!!

D Max Drift Spec Coilover System - Overview

We get plenty of questions regarding our D1 Spec Coilovers simply because people are not aware of the small details that make our suspension unique. The primary goal was to design a coilover system to meet the demanding needs of professional drivers, but yet still suitable for street drifters in Japan. With this in mind, many different drivers provided input on what they desired…

Features at a glance:
32 way adjustable dampers
Inverted monotube for front, standard monotube for rear
Camber adjustable pillowball top mount in the front
Camber adjustment on front lower bracket
Easy-to-read, built-in height gauge for the rear.

Let’s look at individual details in depth….

Above, you will see a close up of the front lower bracket. The top picture shows the bracket without any of the supplied hardware. Notice how the upper spindle bolt opening is notched out. This is to allow for camber adjustment from the lower bracket. Camber is adjusted by positioning the silver square adjustment washer on the second picture (in the large red circle). If you look closely, the opening for the bolt is slightly off center. So to adjust camber, you just have to either place the washer in the neutral position, or the “in” position to get more negative camber and to also get a little bit extra clearance for high offset and/or wide wheels.
We also provide spindle bolt washers (in the smaller red circle on the second picture). For 4-lug 240sx’s, the OEM spindle bolt is 12mm, where as the OEM spindle bolt for 5-lug 240sx’s are 14mm. When 240sx owners perform a 5-lug swap, they will encounter this small but critical problem of not being able to re-use their spindle bolts. We have solved this problem by providing 12mm-14mm adapters, so that you can get your car back on the road without sourcing extra parts or modifying your lower coilover bracket.

A camber adjustable pillowball upper mount is almost a standard for a coilover designed for drifting. As most of you know, this upper mount reduces the slop found in the OEM rubber upper mount, and also provides the extra benefit of being able to adjust camber easily. Combined with the extra camber adjustment of our lower bracket, you could possibly join the “oni-kyan” club (demon camber)

Here, we can see the entire front assembly. From rigorous testing from D1 drivers, we have opted to use the more versatile monotube damper. Monotube dampers offer superior handling characteristics for a wider range of stroke versus the more common twin-tube structures. The difference of dampening is night and day, and can only really be experienced in person. Coupled with 32-way adjustments, the dampening can be set softer to almost stock levels, or all the way to hardcore track level stiffness.

On the lower bracket for the rear coilover, we have a special cut-out so that you can visually see your height adjustments, making track-side adjustments soooo much easier and quicker.
Furthermore, the rear assembly is made of aluminum to reduce overall weight.

We also provide a spindle spacer adapter for the rear coilover also. Due to varying clearance issues on the backside of the rear spindle, we included a spacer to provide extra clearance. On the second picture, notice that this unknown coilover’s lower bracket is almost resting on the spindle. This issue is resolved by installing our provided spacer between the coilover and the spindle.

Finally, we finish up with a feature article from DoriTen. Our driver Nakamura Naoki uses the D Max coilover without any modifications. No swapping of spring rates or anything. You will also notice the shock dynos and what settings Nakamura-san uses during the D1 competition at Sekia Hills.