D1 Grand Prix - Road To D1

Road To D1

Usually, drivers in Japan have to make it to the top of the championship table in one of four major national drifting series':

• Advan Drift Meeting
• A'PEX Cup
• ORC Drift Championship
• BN Sports D1 Drift Championship

Outside of Japan, drivers have to enter a Driver Search. Once they have qualified, they receive a D1 License, which enables them to enter the qualifying rounds and the newly introduced national series, plus the exhibition events that they are invited to.

In a championship event, usually entries are restricted to one hundred cars. Each car gets an allocation of three individual tansou (solo run) qualifying runs: only the best one counts. At the end of the day, the top twenty qualifiers join the ten seeded cars who are determined by the top ten on the D1GP championship tables. The sexy drivers are usually a red background on their number to identify them.

On race day, after two sets of practice runs are done through, competitors will go through a starting ceremony which they will be introduced to the crowds and then a driver will be rounded up in group of fours and be given a set of three qualifying runs to make it into the best 16 tsuiso (twin run) round battles, which involves two cars drifting simultaneously. The Tansou groups would be given, Priority A, B and C. "A" indicates seeded drivers and "C" indicates as qualifiers. The Tansou rounds always starts with the series leader and then goes through to the last driver with the highest number, which usually indicates that he is a qualifier. At the end of the drivers three rounds, only the best run counts and on each run, they are judged with an assistance of a DriftBox, which determines angle, keeping to the correct racing line and speed. That will be given a score up to a maximum of 100.0, should a driver score that point, he will be given a bonus score of 1 point which will be added to his score they accumulates during the tsuiou round.

At the end when all drivers are judged, the judges picks the sixteen drivers for the tsuiou round, the highest scoring driver will be paired up against the sixteenth highest scorer, the second highest will be paired against the fifteenth highest and so on. Between this and the following tsuiou round, there is a pit walk session at the paddock area for spectators, usually off-limits to them, where they can get close to the D1 personnel, drivers and cars. This usually lasts up to an hour which the crowds disembark back to the crowd area ready for the tsuiou round.

During a tsuiso round battle, one car follows another through the course, attempting to keep up with or even pass the car in front. It does not matter if the drifting line is wrong: it matters who has the most exciting drift. Normally, the leading car usually produces a maximum angle drift, but still closes off the inside line to prevent passing. The chasing car usually drifts with less angle, but very close to the lead car. However, the chasing car does not even have to keep up. In fact, in some cases, if a car that was left behind on the straight manages produces a beautiful drift, it could win that round. A spin, under-steer, or collision, results in a disqualification and a zero score for the offending party in that battle.

At the final round, the two finalists will be gathered in front of the judging stand, which they park up together and stand by their car to be formally addressed by the judges, the driver would return to the starting line to continue with their last sets of tsuiou rounds. Until 2004, there was a third place playoff for the losing semi finalists, which has been dropped. Should there be no sudden death rounds being called up, the finalists would return in front of the judging area with the losing drivers, who would return from the starting line; where the winner's name will be called up be the lead judge, which a large trophy and bottle of champagne will be presented to them by the D1 Gals. A cheque would usually be presented to the top 3 drivers, the winner's cheque is usually worth ¥1million or $5000 in US events. After the name is announced, in some event, the driver would be given a toss-up by competitors, a common tradition in some sports and usually the spectators will be invited onto the track.

As a D1 Licence has a lifespan of twelve months, a driver must qualify into the best 16 spot for an automatic renewal for the next year. Failing to do so, they must re-enter the Driver Search.