 |
|
D1 Grand Prix - USA vs Japan ALL STARS 2005
Dates: December 16, 2005 - December 17, 2005
Location: Irwindale, CA
Article:
Mike Bender
Photos:
Mike Bender |
 |
It was USA vs. Japan and, for the first time in D1 history, an American took top honors in a D1 Grand Prix event. Vaughn Gittin, Jr. of Team Falken is not only the first American to win a D1 event, but he did it in the first American-made car to win as well. His 650+hp Ford Mustang was unbeatable with him at the wheel, taking out drivers one after the other in the final eliminations. Second place went to Tatsuya Sakuma from Japan who put up a very good fight until the end.
There were quite a few very nice cars at this D1 Grand Prix. The cars pictured above, including Vaugh Gitten's winning Mustang, are all in the 2006 Car And Model Calendar which is now available. In addition there were well over 100 other top JDM cars on display in the vendor area and the Tokyo Auto Salon Pre Show had many hard to find JDM products as well as one of-a-kind cars. The main USA vs. Japan event alone had 32 qualifying cars competing for the top spot.
Of course the event didn't just have a bunch of fast cars; there was a respectable assortment of models and umbrella girls in case anyone got bored with the drifting. Courtney Day and Coleen were representing Falken tires, KT So was in the Pro Car Parts booth, and D1 had at least 10 models (including Luana Lani, Leah Dizon, and Paginia Lo) in official garb wandering around both days of the event. There was also a band I really liked in the vendor area, called "The Big Pill" that was amazingly good. I was really surprised by their talent and to see them playing at the D1GP.
Overall it was a very good event. D1 never disappoints and this was certainly no exception. They have even more events planned for 2006, and we are expecting big things from them in the coming months. If you haven't been to a D1GP yet, you are missing out on one of the most entertaining forms of motorsports around. Check it out!
Results:
1st: Vaughn Gittin, Jr.
2nd: Tatsuya Sakuma
3rd: Toshiki Yoshioka
4th: Masato Kawabata
5th: Youichi Imamura
6th: Nobushige Kumakubo
7th: Masao Suenaga
8th: Michihiro Takatori
9th: Hiroshi Fukuda
10th: Samuel Hubinette
|
