It could be contended throughout the day that the genius float autos of today are superior to those that overwhelmed the motorsport in its initial proficient years, or the other way around, yet one thing that is not begging to be proven wrong is exactly how cool D1 Grand Prix autos were in the initial couple of years of the 2000s.
If you’ve been following drifting since the early years of the Japanese D1GP, you’ll know doubt have your favourites. Ueo’s Yuke’s AE86 Toyota Trueno perhaps, Maybe Youichi Imamura’s A’PEX D1 Project FD3S Mazda RX-7 Or how about Ken Nomura’s Blitz ER34 Skyline and how could I not mention Yoshinori Koguchi’s Koguchi Power RPS13 Nissan 180SX? They’re all iconic drift cars in their own right, and I’m sure you guys can add many more to the list.
But one of the cars that always stood out to me was the HKS Hiper Silvia RS2, as driven by the one and only Nobuteru Taniguchi. All the photos in this post are from the 2004 D1 Grand Prix round in Tokyo.
Essentially, the RS2 (here numbered #1, but elsewhere in this post running a plain white #2 race number) was an evolution of the RS-1 (left), which I believe was developed from the car that Taniguchi won the first D1GP championship with back in 2001. The RS2 carried HKS through its D1 program until mid-2004 when the Japanese tuning powerhouse turned its attention to a wide-body SXE10 Toyota Altezza.
Built in 2003, the Hiper Silvia RS-2 took many of the lessons learnt in the original car and mixed them up with some fresh thinking. The front wheel tubs were a new addition, but there was no tube framing ahead of the suspension as is commonplace now.
As it did with RS1, HKS stayed true to the S15 by running a SR20DET in the RS-2, but in this guise the four-cylinder was putting down 480PS thanks to an HKS 2.2 stroker kit, HKS Step III cams, an HKS GT2835 turbo and HKS F-Con V PRO engine management.
Given the Silvia weighed in at just 1100kg (2425lb) it wasn’t short on performance, something helped along by an HKS sequential 5 speed gearbox, a cutting-edge drift car upgrade 13 years ago. There was no quick-change diff though, just a Nismo GT-LSD running a 4.1 final drive.
Handling came courtesy of HKS Hipermax D coilover suspension and a full course of Ikeya Formula arms, bars and rods while Endless supplied the 6-pot front brakes.
In typical HKS fashion, the RS-2’s interior was immaculately finished, featuring a full weld-in rollcage and the latest HKS electronics. Note the Japanese drift car staples – Bride seats and a Nardi steering, but also note the lack of a hydraulic hand brake.
With the combination of a Vertex Ridge body kit, Esprit GT-type wing and 18×10-inch Advan Super Racing Ver.2 wheels front and rear, the HKS Hiper Silvia RS-2 represented the height of Japanese pro drift car cool back in 2003/2004, and the look is timeless more than a decade on.
Original published at "speedhunters" website By Brad Lord.
2003 D1GP Taniguchi HKS Silvia S15 D1-Project RS1 vs RS2!
