On my most recent Japan trip, I decided to meet up with my close friend-D1 Grand Prix Series Champion Nobushige Kumakubo-at his home track, the world renowned Ebisu Circuit in ***ushima, Japan.

After some arm twisting, I actually got Kuma to leak some information about the new competition drift car he was building: a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. For the actual one-off fabrication and engineering of the new Lancer, Kumakubo enlisted the expertise of the legendary car builder Susumu Koyama, the mastermind behind JUN Auto Mechanic in Saitama, Japan. I knew I just had to get over there and check it out!



In between about a million cigarettes, Koyama-san managed to tell me that he was converting the car from the original all wheel-drive platform to FR (front engine, rear wheel drive) by actually remounting the engine to longitudinal, or "North-South" configuration! Since Kumakubo prefers the Hollinger six-speed sequential transmission for D1 competition use, Koyama-san made sure to custom mount it to the new Lancer, along with a limited slip differential from a Nissan Skyline GT-R.



When I visited JUN with Kumakubo, Koyama was in the midst of re-engineering the Lancer's front suspension, including using a steering rack and coilover front suspension from a Nissan! Koyama wouldn't exactly tell us all his secrets though-when I suggested that maybe the front suspension and steering rack looked as if it were from an S15 Silvia, Koyama just exhaled his tobacco smoke and nodded his head, saying "So! So! Zettai dayo... tabun." (Yeah, yeah for sure... maybe.)-Antonio Alvendia