As any redneck will tell you, it only takes one thing to make big smokies: Power. Alright, that and a little bleach.As any Japanese drifter will tell you, it takes a bit more to make tire smoke in a straight line, sideways, backwards, and continuously through a winding course.
Falken Tire was kind enough to ship over the two crowd pleasers you see here, a Nissan 180SX and a Toyota Chaser, for the first Drift Showoff event. Both cars are veterans of various drift series in Japan, including the vaunted D1 Grand Prix, as are the drivers, Seigou Yamamoto in his Toyota and Yoshinori Koguchi in his Nissan. Both these machines were shipped back to Japan the day after our photo shoot to compete in an upcoming D1 round.
Nissan 180SXIf you have watched any D1 events via DVD or the Internet, you might remember Koguchi's 180SX as painted dark green and white; the red paint scheme is brand new. Koguchi's Nissan is surprisingly stock-every modification on the car is a bolt-on. Testament to the SR20DET's solid design is the fact that the engine is internally stock, the only addition being a Nismo 1.2mm headgasket and HKS 264-degree cams. That's it.
Tire-shivering power comes from pressure delivered via an aftermarket forced-induction setup. Koguchi snagged an intercooler from a Mitsubishi Lancer and custom fabricated the piping at his shop, Koguchi Power. Koguchi installed his own tubular stainless-steel exhaust manifold, to which is bolted a Trust 517Z turbo, made for awesome power delivery rather than peak power-Koguchi estimates his engine makes 340 hp. A Koguchi stainless-steel downpipe feeds into a titanium exhaust system of the same manufacture. Koguchi produces his own chipped ECU, installed on this car, which provides proper fueling and spark for big boost, regulated via a Grid digital boost controller. Nismo 550cc injectors spray the good stuff into a stock combustion chambers, which are ensured adequate pressure with a Nismo adjustable fuel pressure regulator.
Not surprisingly, the most modified elements of the 180SX are in its suspension. Kei-Office XR coil-overs, with stiff 9kg/mm front, 7kg/mm springs rear are set up to provide the faster-than-immediate responses and transitions necessary for predictable behavior. Nearly every bushing is replaced by something tubular and with spherical rods ends, all of Koguchi Power manufacture. Adjustable tension rods and adjustable lower control arms tighten up the front, while adjustable toe control and camber arms reside in the rear suspension. A seven-point cage ties in the suspension mounting points, and a weld-in brace connects the front struts tower to the firewall.
Wheelspin is the name of this game, which Koguchi accomplishes with the help of an on-off switch ORC single-plate clutch and the essential Nismo limited-slip differential. A surprisingly heavy load is placed on the front and rear brakes during drifting, as the left foot is often on the stop pedal while the right foot is saying go, so these were upgraded as well. Koguchi dipped into the Nissan parts bin to bolt on a pair of R32 Skyline stoppers with four-pot calipers, but upgraded the rears only with pads.
Falken obviously supplies the Azenis ST-115s on the car, 215/40ZR-17s in the front, 235/40ZR-17s in the rear, mounted on 5Zigen Typhoons, available domestically. High-speed drifts require that the driver has confidence in the tires' performance under all circumstances, meaning high-grip and consistency is a must. Although the ST-115s are billed as a high-performance luxury tire, they obviously have the stick to work well. A rounded shoulder, helped by fitment on extra-wide wheels, helps make breakaway more gradual.