My Favorite Foreign AE86 Drifters, pt 2

5) Kensaku Komoro

One of the things that most of these drivers have in common (other than their vehicles) is the fact that at some point, they have "wow'ed" me in person. Kensaku Komoro did just that. As a follower of Tec-Art's AE86 N2 challenge car, I already had quite the admiration for their style and car building ability. I didn't know however that they were also campaigning an AE86 in D1. That is until the first D1 Las Vegas. That was when I saw the car below smoke the crap out of Vaughn Gitten Jr. and force him into a spin. According to Vaughn, he thought he'd have to give the AE86 some room as he normally does (against US AE86's) so that later he can pull on them. However, after he allowed Kensaku's 86 to pull away from him, he couldn't catch up. He pushed too hard and initiated too late, and spun. I must say that as much as I admire JR's driving, it was quite shocking to see the Kensaku defeat the 600hp Falken Mustang, and in dramatic fashion. Kensaku went on that day to make it to the final 4, where Yoshioka eventually won. Komoro however made much more of an impression on me since I (or apparely nobody else for that matter) had ever seen this guy drive before. Absolutely amazing. Most of you know him driving the car pictured above, but for the Vegas round he drove one of Tec-Art's customer's cars below (which is now turbo, but during that round was ITB'ed and N02'ed.)

4) Ryota Yuasa

Most of you guys out there won't remember this guy, because he competed in D1 in an AE86 only during its first few years. He later on moved to a Cefiro or Laurel, but to me, he's one of the craziest and ballsiest (is that a word?) AE86 drivers from Japan. Yuasa was promenant early on, competing against the likes of Ueo, Taniguchi, and Kumakubo in the early years driving the beauty you see above. He was the driver of the Bride/BN sports AE86 Levin, powered by one of the first D1 spec SR20det swaps into the AE86 chassis. The car was special for several reasons: A) the shift pattern on the transmission was flipped so that normally first gear was occupied by 5th, second was occupied by third, third by fourth, and so on and B) the car was equipped with my favorite aggressive body kit company, BN sports. The car was aggressive as hell, and it had the pilot to match. I'm told Yuasa had a nickname in Japanese that was the equivalent of "destroyer" or "crasher" or something like that, because he regularly broke, tore apart, and destroyed those BN sports kits. Just like his FC counterpart Haruguchi, at every D1 event that car seemed to go through about 3-4 front bumpers and about 2-3 other misc aero pieces.

Yuasa's style is what I appreciate most about him. While he didn't place too well all the time, he drove the shit out of the car. He went so big, that he either won or failed miserably, often times while destroying the aero, wheels, or wing on the car. When he did suceed however, it was one of the most glorious things I've ever seen in my life. Huge angle, big smoke and full throttle application. This man exemplifies the "go big or go home" attitude that so many pro drivers seem to lack these days, with sponsorships and vehicle preservation being high on their priorities. This is why I love Yuasa so much, because I'm sure if you asked him if he wanted to "save the car", he'd give you the middle finger.

3) Ken Maeda

Ken Maeda is perhaps spiritually Ueo's brother. Both drivers are small in stature, but humungous in ability. He's one of the drivers I had the privledge of viewing live several times, and absolutely made my jaw drop to the floor.

Maeda also was another old school guy who had been driving the AE86 for quite some time, but when I found out about him he was already turbo powered, which made him unique in a field of N/A screamers. It was only after the yellow paint job and complete Up-Garage help did he start really putting foot to ass.

Two of his performances stand out in particular to me. The first was a Bihoku Highland (or was it Sugo?) round where he met Ueo in the finals. It almost appeared as a dream sequence to me as two of my favorite AE86 drivers met each other in the finals, driving vehicles that were very different from each other. In the end, Maeda won, displaying an amount of skill that was wickedly insane (think about how much it takes to beat Ueo, and in another AE86 nevertheless). The second was during the first D1 USA vs Japan match at California Speedway. I'd like to remind many of you that I've seen lots of drifting, all the way from the Ikaten match in the parking lot all the way through the last FD round, and in all those years I have NEVER seen anybody achieve as much angle and high speed velocity entering into a a turn (which happened to be a 90 degree bend BTW) as Ken Maeda did that day. It was the absolute most insane thing I have ever seen in drifting. I even discussed this with Taka Aono, who was there as a course marshall, and Taka remembered the day just as vividly as I did. He said that he was sitting in the pace car on-track with Moto, and after they saw his initiation they simply looked at each other with wide-eyes, and didn't say a word. They both knew what they saw, and simply were speechless.

Maeda didn't go on to win that day (I think he got super shafter by Keiichi) but he surely won the hearts of fans around the globe. The Option video that covers that even doesnt even come close to doing his driving justice.

2)Tetsuya Hibino

Hibino was around during the early years of D1 but he really didn't start to shine until the later Ebisu rounds. He competed early on using a Levin coupe, but on all the videos the power of this machine was rated at 150ps. I don't know how true that was, considering how much foot to ass he put in that car, but even if it was only 150hp he did quite an admirable job.

Like I mentioned before, he really shined at Ebisu and that's where I became a huge fan. He became known for his crazy, "jump" drift style which proved to be disasterous for Ryuji Miki later on. While I don't necessarily like to see people crash, its always exciting to see somebody get pushed so far to the limit by an AE86 that they end up making a mistake. Hibino was driving his privateer N/A AE86 while Ryuji Miki was driving the 700hp Top Secret S15, yet could still not match his full throttle speed. Such was a fine example of "AE86 magic".

You could argue that Hibino was perhaps one of the new rising stars that was being held back by his underpowered machine, but later dimissed that belief when he stepped into the real of the SR20 powered 86's. His first one was a hatchback which he did use in the USA once, and while he didn't have a super impressive showing during tandem, he did manage to scrape the big wing all along the top of the Irwindale bank, which I thought was one of the biggest showings of testicular fortutude ever. The only other person I've ever seen to take that crazy line was Orido in his Supra, which he eventually crashed taking that line. To this day, Hibino is still the only one to ride that lightening. Hibino eventually did destroy that vehicle, but now is using a Levin coupe which has proven to be quite the machine. Tanner Foust was once asked to comment about Yoshioka's nitrous powered AE86 , and he replied "...its super lightweight, and has tons of power. Its pretty much the ultimate weapon". The same could be said for Hibino's new missle, as combining the lightweight AE86 chassis with 350 turbocharged horsepower makes Hibino a force to be reconed with, and currently is the only truly competative AE86 driver competing in D1 next to Kensaku Komoro.

1)Katsuhiro Ueo

Really though, you knew this was coming. He is, in most people's eyes, simply the most talented AE86 drifter in the world. The giant killer, rider of the killer bee, and overall badass assasin. Katsuhiro Ueo is perhaps the most influential AE86 drifter in the world, and his victory in the innagural D1 exhibition in the USA was the best introduction for the AE86 and drifting to the United States.

Ueo embodies quite an obscure and dazzling style. From his introduction in early Drift Tengoku videos, it was easy to see that he was quite the madman while driving. After seeing his feature in DoriTen, I remember thinking that while driving, he looked like he was having a seizure. His double, tripple clutch kics and insane steering wheel tossing style won myself and thousands of fans instantly, and remains to be one of the most posted videos of AE86 driving talent. Later, after he began competing in D1, he became the giant killer. Ueo would regulary hack down vehicles with double and tripple the horsepower of his vehicle, and would normally do so in spectacular fashion. He particularly had a good rivalry going on with Nob Taniguchi, as the HKS driver seemed to have only one Kryptonite, which was a certain off white N/A AE86. On multiple occasions, Taniguchi was defeated by the 180hp machine (while Taniguchi's machine which was a factory backed S15 with somewhere around 450hp) and on more than one occasion crashed as a result of pushing too hard to catch him. This perhaps was the biggest showing of that magic we all know and love.

Ueo's influence goes so far that the majority of AE86 around the world take some sort of styling cues from his machines as well. The white and off-white livery with black bumpers can be seen on AE86's in every country, while the Jblood widebody flare kit remains a popular upgrade to those wanting the look of his 2003 championship vehicle. In addition, the TE37 wheel also became equivalent to pornography for most AE86 drift fans, as well as those who just want a wheel that is timeless.

Ueo did have several bad seasons following his championship in 2003 and seemed never to recover. He did eventually come back in an AE86 and win the Odaiba Tokyo round later, and shockingly enough it was over Nob Taniguchi in a new HKS backed Altezza. He did eventually put down the AE86 (at least for now) while he drives Kazama's old S15, which now is sponsored by "Move" Japan. While he has enjoyed some moderate sucess recently with the newer, more technologically advanced and more powerful vehicle, we all yearn for the day when he returns in a strung out, angry 4AG powered AE86 and lays the smackdown on all of those factory run high-powered machines.