Video: Ken Gushi Drifts and Reviews the Scion FR-S !
 

Not sure if this has been posted, but figured I'd post the raw footage! Enjoy

In Ken Gushi's words:

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god bless this car.

Didn't see it. Thanks for posting.

He pretty much uploaded it today. The high revving sound is actually really nice, and from his comments it seems that the car is a blast to drive!

I love this car. I love the shift light in the tach, reminds me of the NSX-R

Impressvie skills, although the track was mostly wet, making drifting a lot easier - wonder what the car can do in dry conditions... the car's understeer (if there is any) will have more impact then.

I'm glad this was posted up. Thanks.

Did someone in another thread said Ken Gushi can't drive and he misses an apex by 3 feet and not worthy to be the spokesman of this car? Unbelievable. That same person would probably pee in his little under pants if he went along for this ride.

OMG. This is awesome!!

Pretty cool.
I want hardcore grip driving on dry now!

hmm, neat

Wow great find thanks

Incredible to see how easy it is to control and change the oversteer. At about 4:40 the ass end comes around fast enough I thought he was going to spin, and with just a quick steering input he's driving sideways and the car is cool and composed. Very impressive.

Thank you So much for posting, this is very awesome, AS much complaints we get about the interior of this car I've quite happy with what I see. Wonder what the other people in the 86 was thinking when they saw Ken took it all out like this :D probably had smiles on their faces XD

Gushi is pretty good at what he does - I do like right before the 4:30 mark he flashes his brights to the guy in front of him so he can pass him.
You can tell others are rather enjoying watching him taking it around the track

Best video I've seen yet.

I'm pretty much sold.

he make it look so easy to drift..with slight flip of the wrist the rear kick out.... o.o

I think the best reviews that this car could get were the smile and the laughs that he was letting out as he was driving it.

I particularly like this quote shortly after the 1-minute mark in the video:

"It's not about the horsepower. It's not about the electronics. It's just you and the car."

Everyone's who's so interested in keyless entry, HIDs, LEDs, and other nonsense is totally missing the point and whining about things that are largely meaningless. :)

Isn't it a testament of how clear the goal of the project was? After a single drive you "get" it.

The cheapest of the "FT-86" concept models, on the lowest grip tires, with a suspension deliberately set up to make it easier to drift, sold with a dealer badge that markets to new drivers...

Does anyone else see this turning out well for FR-S insurance rates?

Don't get me wrong, I love what they've done with the car as a whole, but the FR-s just has a lot of stuff being tweaked in favor of quite a few young driver accidents. And you can't rely on the stability control, since those young drivers are the ones most likely to disable it.


Edit:
I should note for those that might not see my sig, I've got an RX-8 and a Miata, and either the BRZ will replace my Miata or I will just add it as a 3rd car while my Miata goes under the knife for an engine swap. I TOTALLY "get it". It's one of the tag lines for the RX-8 community, generated from this review http://www.speedsportlife.com/2008/0...ght-is-enough/

Take a peek at the last few words of that review :)

Sums it up!


"I think anybody can have fun with this car...it's not about horsepower and electronics... its just you and the car"

looks like its lots of fun to drive

LOL, Try doing that on a hot dry summer day and not a cold wet day. The car will not drift like that. Though I like the vid because it shows the balance of it in general. Also if the car had about 30hp more in stock form it could do that in any weather or conditions.

I agree with you whole heatedly on what you posted,

I was looking forward on being 25 and seeing my insurance rate go down, It's such a dramatic change to when I was 18 ! When I was 18 it cost me close to 170$ to Insure my RX7, and $440 to Insure a Porsche Boxster.

Now it's 177$ to Insure a Boxster and about 70$ to Insure an RX7. Someone earlier said it cost them 25$ more to Insure a TC then a Corvette. I sure hope myself and a bunch of others don't have to pay so much for the FRS.


and I'm sorry but I don't understand what the link and the last few words mean.....

Excellent skills, but for dry track you need a lot more power to spin the tiers to get that effect. I saw a TT 350Z once that was drifting as if he was on ice. The whole time the rear tire was spinning like 6000 RPM.

yeah, i remember when i started to toss around my s14 for the first time in the summer of '03. I could not for the life of me break traction, granted the car only had like 140whp. It was dry and the tires were just gripping the road to much at low speeds even when i was at powerband lock to lock. In the rain though, that car wanted to slide everywhere, and it didnt take much to toss it.

So this video is kinda cheating being driven by a seasoned drifter in the rain.

But even so...that car control is reallly nice...Subaru and Toyota did a great job on that chassy.

I was adding that on in response to this from Blur:


The last paragraph of that RX-8 review is:


:)

I'm just constantly smiling at how similar the BRZ/FR-S/GT86 reviews are to the RX-8's. Same comments in pretty much the same tone. I'm glad another manufacturer rejected the power game to produce a car that is so fun to drive. ACTUALLY fun, not just "hey! you get mp3 and bluetooth! That's FUN!" :thumbdown:

Hmm too bad it wasn't Sunny in Japan Tokyo area where they tested, it was because it was rainy the entire week near TMS. Otherwise we'll have all the reviews in Sunny Dry conditions. Now to wait for the on the city roads review.


oh and Sorry about that XD

:thumbsup: Me too. If it can make me laugh, it's the right car for me.

Does anyone know what the yellow light flashing in the dash is? It can be seen at 1:45 and many other ocassions.

I would say it is the ESP, but the car is drifting so it is supposed to be disconnected, isn't it?

Could it be the ESP in its intermediate stage? The ABS? :iono:

Fantastic car
I dont need a test drive for what I've read and seen on this great forum
Bring it in

This car will drift stock under normal, dry conditions. 200hp on a 2700lb vehicle is ample to break loose. You just have to know what youre doing. Drifting itself is easy. its when you start adding in other factors....ie tandem runs along side another vehicle, changing and extending your line etc. where you have to be on top of things and know what the hell youre doing.

Lets get this straight. Gushi is a damn good driver and drifter but is not the best America has to offer. My point is there are other drivers that don't have a ride for the 2012 season that have more accomplishments than Gushi.

So quiet in the cabin.

^this. Cant tell you how many times ive seen him put a mustang or scion tc into a wall or something during formula d.

Hes not bad but when it comes to professional driving, not much accomplished. They need to put immamura or kazama behind the wheel and let them go at it. They put every fd driver to shame!!!

Very cool video. Now im sold on this car XD

your post reminded me of this video

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Most original owners of this car won't be first time drivers. They can't afford it. But your point brings up what I see as the big picture...

In the 70's/80's, Japanese drivers messed with their little cars, crashed, improved, and developed a culture. In Europe, it was the roadster. These cultures were subtly implanted into US soil in the form of the AE86 and Miata but never gained momentum over automatic, obese, straight line speed cars.

European and Japanese markets have more entry level enthusiast cars to choose from. I know from always having to d/l or stream their better TV programs about cars. We lack that purist appreciation.

Toyota/Subaru aren't subtly planting a seed this time around; they're blatantly shoving it in our faces putting in a lot of upfront cost to get a revolution going. Insurance premiums are a cost/growing pain we might have to bear as we adapt to be better drivers and, hopefully, a country of enthusiasts with more sports cars to choose from.

Not to mention Ken Gushi is a known brake checker.

If we want a top ae86 driver I'll Take Yoshioka or Ueo any day. Yoshioka is actually the only AE86 to take a Formula D win and he speaks good english. I'd rather him with Scion than in a Enjuku v8 240sx.