In the “History of Drifting” section of my hardcover photographic documentary book, Drifting (Motorbooks, 2006), I mentioned Pluspy as the first video that brought Japanese mountain racing (also known as touge running) and drifting to light in Japan.
Some drifting fans may have heard of this video, but most have not. Even for drifting enthusiasts who have been following drifting since the 1990s, this video isn’t exactly well known, because it is so damn hard to get! I didn’t even know about it until the VHS copy of this tape was given to me as a gift back in 2000 or 2001 by a certain Mr. Ishida from Advan Japan.
Now, thanks to the wonders of the internet, the legendary Pluspy video that made Keiichi Tsuchiya famous in the underground Japanese street racing scene is on YouTube. It features a young Keiichi Tsuchiya running through the mountains in his AE86 Levin 3-door.
So here it is! Enjoy it… a fitting video for celebrating August 6th as Hachiroku Day, don’t you think?
:: Antonio Alvendia
I can’t believe it. Tsuchiya looks like some kid that has no idea what he’s doing. Such basic drifting, not connecting any turns or even extending the drift past corner exit.
Damn, going around some of those blind corners in the wrong lane must be scary! Hopefully he had some spotters higher up on the hill…
hell yeah! i’m doing some webmining myself today ^^ hachi overload!
I forgot about that video. thanks for posting.
Damn that video was crazy
It’s funny how things evolve over time when people just keep pushing the limits of the pioneers. The original explorers of an art form are rarely as good as those who follow because, while the pioneers were doing what had never been done before, those who follow are essentially standing on their shoulders and looking out with the spectacular 20-20 vision of hindsight. What would appear amateurish to us now in any well developed sport was once the cutting edge.
Great jump back into time!!! I still remember when I was so into drag racing in the early 90’s – I would look at all the old Options mags and watch their first vids, which every now-and-then contained a series on drifting. Back then it all was so new and even seemed a little bland due to the fact the cars were hardly moving at speeds we in the LA were used to hitting even on public roads. I wondered “why the heck would someone do that”; more so think, “what a waste of good tire”! Today I scour through Motormavens to find every drift video I can find and watch each intense clip nervously at the edge of my seat, to witness screaming monsters blowing smoke while ripping down the track! After my first couple of hours of this I sat and backed up my thoughts realizing: Dang – that’s why!!
Drifting has totally became my favorite racing sport and it’s awesome to see a vid that reflects where it all came from!! Thanks to the Motormavens crew for sharing it all and covering this dope sport how it should be!!!!
LOL Sorry if I rambled…this is goot sh*t guys!! Keep sharing the love!
I love this video!
I used to watch this and Pluspy 2 on my ipod all day in class.
Tsuchiya’s technique is amazing! But the same can not be said about his hairstyle 😛
ps. didn’t Keiichi lose his drivers licence as a result of this video? but he continued to race professionally 😉