Kumakubo's C33 Laurel

[Bebop]

This is Kumakubo's 2011 D1 C33 as seen on speedhunters. I'm trying to find more pics of it but that's all I can find for right now. This car is rumored to be at about 1000PS.

[Piner]

yeah I saw the car in person last November, it is a beast.

[Bebop]

D1 needs factory support, I don't see why the top overall team in the series needs to be driving these old relic chassis.

[Linguo415]

Maybe they want to show off and show they have skills no matter what they drive. i wouldnt argue with them one bit.

[Bebop]

Ehhh its a Laurel.... everyone already knows it has the goods to be a good drift car, but is marketable? Probably more then a converted evo to be honest but still, I wouldn't sponsor that thing.

[discretemethlab]

the reason anyone modifies cars like this isnt because they are the optimum chassis.
i mean, if thats what counted in drifting then why are there any AE86's?.. if drifting was like any other form of mortorsports it would would be completely comprised of bmw's, porscha's,ferrari's and mercedes... if not simply tube-chassied big bore v8's..

cars like ae's and laurels werent built to be competitive racers, more like point A to point B cars... and thats what makes them so interesting to build and win with..

[Bebop]

if drifting was like any other form of mortorsports it would would be completely comprised of bmw's, porscha's,ferrari's and mercedes...

Do you realize drifting is a new sport and not everyone has bought in yet. The companies you have mentioned have been involved with road racing and F1 since those sanctioning bodies existed.

They race on sunday and sell on monday, they have a passion for racing but also need to make a profit. Here in America Dodge, Ford, Scion, Hyundai,Mazda (sort of) and at one time Pontiac have bought into the sport as well. So in a sense drifting is like "any other form of mortorsports".

Too bad there is not a single factory backed team in D1. But hey, I feel you though! I still feel that to a certain extent drifting is a art form and this shows true relevance of that and that's one of the reasons I love and still stand by D1GP so much.

[Piner]

From what I understand, this car is sorta like Kuma's middle finger to D1. Because of the huge power that is needed to be competitive in D1 right now.

[discretemethlab]

i agree with you to an extent. and when companies such as scion got involved they ran that ridiculous v8 rwd tc, and pontiac had that unimaginably high dollar solstice... neither of which gained any privateer fan-base... (when was the last time you saw a privately owned rwd v8 tc?.. or a 200,000$+ solstice?)

i guess what i mean to say is that this car (though bordering on the absurdity of the ones listed above) still contributes more artistically to all of the stupid ideas drifters and weekend racers get in our heads after a night of drinking and "what-ifs"

it inspires innovation regardless of marketability.
i give it a thumbs up, and look at my quad-carb'd nissan KA powered AE86 and imagine all of the other ways it can become more like this car.

[discretemethlab]

also, Dr. Frankenstein had no marketing plans for reanimated compositions of corpses, and that didnt make it any less badass.

[Bebop]

neither of which gained any privateer fan-base... (when was the last time you saw a privately owned rwd v8 tc?.. or a 200,000$+ solstice?)

Gardella and ASD run the kappa chassis and neither are factory backed and Gardella is barely getting major corporate support.

[INFO]

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Kumakubo's RB26 Laurel Testing at Ebisu Circuit

[Bebop]

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[my 1 88 u]

That thing doesn't look agile at all.

[valve timing]

god that thing sounds so nasty