TORRANCE, CA (February 15, 2007) – D1 Grand Prix is proud to announce their recent move from Irvine to Torrance, California to a facility that will enhance the rapid development of their domestic D1 Grand Prix USA drifting. "We've been a bit quiet during the hectic moving process and we apologize to our fans for not being able to make more timely announcements. But we are confident that everyone will be extremely excited and pleased with our series plans as we announce the details over the next several weeks," stated D1GP Operations Coordinator, Chiaki Goto.

 

Many U.S. drifting fans will be pleasantly surprised by the announcement that one of the primary reasons for the move is to provide storage space for a number of JDM built and tuned drift cars that will be shipped here for exclusive use in the U.S. D1GP. With the expanding worldwide presence of the D1 Grand Prix, it became increasingly difficult to manage the logistics of shipping cars from Japan to events all over the world. So several of the top tuners in Japan committed to build top-level drift machines and ship them to the U.S. if they could obtain assistance with vehicle storage and domestic logistics.

 

With the D1 Grand Prix's commitment to providing the highest quality and most entertaining drifting competitions in the world, and knowing how critical the right cars are to the top drivers in the program (not to mention to the fans), the decision was solidified to provide limited domestic support to Japanese teams competing in the U.S. who otherwise have no U.S. presence. To add to the anticipation, it is expected that some of these all-new dream-machines destined for the U.S. will be built from platforms never before seen in the professional drifting world!

 

The D1 Grand Prix USA has been developed to showcase the best of the best from both sides of the Pacific. "We've had great success in the U.S. by blending the best drifters from both cultures into one exciting event. Bringing the most competitive drivers from Japan, the birthplace of drifting, is essential to elevating the sport here and to provide the top U.S. competitors a world-class national series to aspire to compete in," stated Kenji Okazaki, D1GP Chief Director of Operations.

 

Due to the ambitious but rather sudden plans of the Japanese teams to build cars dedicated to the U.S. series, the cars were still being built when it was determined that they wouldn't be ready for the season opener originally scheduled for March 10 and 11th at Irwindale Speedway. Unfortunately, this event became a casualty of shipping time constraints and had to be cancelled. But the balance of the 2007 schedule is moving forward as planned with the season opener moved to the May 4 and 5th event at Old Bridge Township Raceway in Englishtown, NJ. Additional details will be announced very shortly.