These days, you can't make it big in the car business without adding at least a bit of drifting to the mix. And in an age when even the new Toyota Prius includes sliding in one of its commercials, we feel the need to get back to the feeling of the good old days, when only proper drifting took place.
Thankfully, we can rely on noriyaro, our Japan-addicted friend, to provide an experience that takes us straight into the tire-melting action taking place in the Land of the Rising Sun.
We're talking about a sideways session on a touge-style course (friends know it as Gunsai), which easily reminds us of the narrow Japanese mountain roads where the drifting phenomenon started.
As for the four-wheeled machine being used here, things are only getting better. That's because we're dealing with a replica of the Initial D Fujiwara Tofu AE86.
You know, the Toyota driven by the poker-faced Takumi Fujiwara, whose father, Bunta Fujiwara, owned a tofu shop in Akina, the boy's hometown. And while the contraption seen here isn't 100 percent similar to the Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX used in the Manga series, the vehicle is sharp enough to allow for scary tire-melting moments on the road.
While most aficionados instantly associate the tuned AE86 Toyotas with drifting, you should know this isn't the only way. For instance, we're recently shown you a US example that went for the opposite of the usual handling-matters-more-than-power approach. And when such a Toyota is gifted with a Honda S2000 engine massaged to deliver 880 WHP, you can't think of anything less than sweet madness. Nevertheless, you shouldn't expect too many drifting assets, at least not in the setup present here.
But while the JDM spirit has been maintained thanks to the Honda origins of the engine swap, we prefer a more balanced approach when it comes to these Toyotas. And we'll return to Japan to remind you of another Hatchi-Roku we brought to you earlier this month, one powered by a Toyota 4.0-liter V8. However, if you're still working on choosing sides, we suggest using the clip below to help with that.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
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