The Japanese drifter Nobushige Kumakubo is praised for his efforts behind the wheel as well as his contributions to the sport and is considered a pioneer of drifting. Kumakubu was fortunate enough to inherit a large parcel of land in the Fukushima countryside where he gave back to the drifting community by constructing the acclaimed Ebisu Circuit. Aside from being a track owner he is also the founder of Team Orange, one of the most successful drifting teams in D1 history. He also founded Big X, a motorsport spectable that combines drifting with freestyle motocross, supermoto and other extreme automotive activities.
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Team Orange got their name from the exterior finish common amongst all their cars. He began with an orange bodied Nissan S15 Silvia with mixed success until noticing the abilities of the all wheel drive Subaru WRX. Kumakubo commissioned the Japanese super tuners JUN to convert a GDB STi into rear wheel drive drift car for the 2005 D1GP season. With that same orange STi he won the D1GP Championship a year later.
Never one to rest on his laurels Kumakubo passed the reigns of the Subaru onto his fellow Team Orange teammates to take the wheel of another JUN built all wheel drive rally based machine. For the second half of the 2007 D1GP season Kumakubo competed in an orange EVO IX with the engine turned sideways to send power directly to the rear wheels. Always in line with the latest fashion, the Ebisu owner and founder of Team Orange is piloting an all new EVO X built by JUN in 2009.
| Nobushige Kumakubo |
| Born: February 10, 1970 Fukushima, Japan |
| Drifting since: 2001 |
| Highlights: 2006 D1GP Champion |
| Founder of Team Orange |
| Owner of the Ebisu Circuit |
| Drift Team: Yuke’s Team Orange |
| Drift Vehicle: Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution |
| Power: 540 PS |
| Weight: 1250 Kg |
Posted on
07.22.2009 @ 17:46