FIRST DEATH IN PROFESSIONAL DRIFTING HISTORY

Tragic news has broken that a woman has died in Japan following an incident at Nikko Circuit. Sachiko Suzuki sustained serious injuries after a loose wheel struck her head as she was spotting for her fiancée at the D1 Street Legal drifting event, on December 4.

The wheel belonged to Yuuki Takamiya’s Team Magician car. According to reports, the car had passed technical inspection that morning; however, a fatigued bolt sheared off, causing the brake and hub assembly to separate from the car. It travelled over a tyre barrier and concrete wall before striking Suzuki in the back of the head. She was rushed to hospital following the incident but, unfortunately, succumbed to her injuries. Her death is the firstknown fatality in major-series drifting. While this may have been a freak occurrence, we are likely to see a shift towards tougher regulations in the sport to ensure incidents like this don’t happen again. D1 Street Legal released the following statement shortly after the incident (as translated by Google):

“Although our company has operated the event with safety as a top priority, we are very sorry about the accident that occurred this time. Regarding future response, we will do it immediately as soon as we know the details of the accident.”