Drift Team Samurai Project Stepping Into 2007! Takahiro Imamura of Team Marionnette is one of the legendary D1 drivers known for the “Drift Samurai” persona in the D1 Grand Prix scene. Imamura-san would put on a cool and funny show while showing off his driving skills in competition. He has always been recognized for driving a yellow Mazda RX-7 FC3S and started competing in D1 since its early era. Today, we’re looking at one of his cars used in D1 competition when it transformed stepping into 2007 from the 2006 season. Imamura-san wasn’t driving under any big company instead, he ran in D1 under his own team called Team Samurai Project! Even while running his own team, he was sponsored by close friends such as BN Sports, RZ Image, T-Get and larger companies like Falken Tyre and Autobacs Hashiriya Tengoku Secohan Ichiba. This is also an appreciation post for RZ Image, the person behind the livery on Imamura-san’s car since 2005. JT-san of RZ Image told me he worked on this car many times in one season because the livery at auto show events and on track had to differ depending on sponsorship. That’s why I can’t decide which phase is my favorite, every version of this car looked amazing. Around the next year, Imamura-san retired his famous yellow color and switched to blue as he was sponsored and became one of the drivers for Toyo Tires, creating a new team called Samurai Kanto Toyo Tires! I’d love to post some images of the car in 2008, would you all like to see?

Grip Video Visits Rotary Specialist Pro Staff R Magic! This month, I’ve shared three posts featuring R Magic’s cars from the 2000s and just a week ago I posted pictures from Grip Video’s 2003 Japan trip covering shops, teams and cars featured in Grip Video Volume 4. Today we’re looking at photos from Grip Video’s 2004 Japan trip, specifically their visit to the legendary Kanagawa-based rotary specialist Pro Staff R Magic! Founded in 1993 by Yukihiro Ohara, the tuner behind R Magic, their formal company name is 有限会社 大原, or in English, Ohara Co., Ltd. R Magic offers a full lineup of dream products for rotary enthusiasts, with a catalog of high-quality parts covering suspension, exhaust systems, aerodynamic bodywork and cooling solutions, everything needed to customize a rotary-powered car! That day, they brought out two of their standout cars, the RX-7 FD and RX-8 to be featured in the show. R Magic even took Grip Video for some wangan runs on the freeways. Although their shop wasn’t shown in the actual DVD, Grip Video did visit R Magic’s shop at the time to check out the surroundings. Here are some pictures that were uploaded to the Grip Video website back then. Also check out the link in my bio, be part of Defense & Friends today!

Part Three of Rotary Specialist Pro Staff R Magic! In the last two parts I shared pictures of their demo cars from the early to late 2000s but today we’re looking at one of R Magic’s customer cars that fully embraced the R Magic signature style! By signature, most of us know R Magic’s color theme is pink. This car carries the same livery as their official demo lineup, complete with the skull holding a rotary rotor on the side. But unlike most R Magic cars which are white and pink, this customer went with black and paired it with black RAYS Volk Racing CE28N wheels. Man, check out the underglow! The owner is part of Night Wing, an RX-7 club that’s been around since 2000. Even though this build was mainly for the street, the owner still took it to the track on weekends to test the mildly tuned engine modifications! Here are some shots of it on track, on the street and at some cool locations from 2007!

Part Two of Rotary Specialist Pro Staff R Magic! Another rotary specialist shop featured in the daily archive, today we’re highlighting the Kanagawa Prefecture based tuner, the renowned R Magic! Founded in 1993 by Yukihiro Ohara, the tuner behind R Magic hence their formal company name is 有限会社 大原 or in English is Ohara Co., Ltd. R Magic offers a complete lineup of dream products for rotary enthusiasts. Their facility includes a large shop, showroom, mechanic workshop and pit area. They boast a comprehensive catalog of high-quality parts covering suspension, exhaust systems, aerodynamic bodywork and cooling solutions, everything needed to customize a rotary-powered car. In 2008, they competed in the D1 Grand Prix, the renowned professional drift series and built a Mazda RX-7 FD3S in collaboration with Shino Kouba and Kenji Takayama behind the wheel! Check out @machine.7.7.7 for more R Magic D1 archive. Here are their demo cars from the 2000s, their signature bright pink paint and bold aero designs became iconic from the very beginning!