is a drifting driver from Japan who competes in the D1 Grand Prix series and racetrack and land owner. Nicknamed Kuma or Shihainin, he is commonly referred to as one of the pioneers of drifting.
Biography Born to a wealthy family who owned a large portion of land in the Fukushima countryside, with the easy accessibility of the family plot, Kumakubo was able to use some of it to build and develop the Ebisu Circuit.Nobushige Kumakubo » Driver Profile » Drift Japan
Kumakubo also used the circuit to host numerous drifting events as well as various motorsport events. As the lead driver of Team Orange, as his car has always been orange, he started at the D1GP series in a Nissan Silvia, in , whilst stumbling through the numerous rallying magazines in his office and considering that the Subaru Impreza was the car to have as many rear wheel drive cars were considered not suitable for drifting or in need of development to be considered suitable, also in a way to bring Impreza owners to his track, Kumakubo commissioned tuning company JUN Auto to build an Impreza WRX STI Impreza, significantly with a radiator on the rear passenger side.
The car debuted at the Odaiba round, unlike others who switched to newer models, his performance would pay off when he was runner up at the Silverstone exhibition round and for the season, he had beaten Ken Nomura by just 1 point. Midway through the D1 series Kumakubo switched from the Impreza to an Evo 9 (built also by JUN Auto) during round 5 at Ebisu.
Kumakubo has also built a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X in the Team Orange livery which was shown at the Tokyo Auto Salon.
Kumakubo also runs the Big X the invitation only outdoor show that combines drifting, FMX, supermoto, car stunts and other extreme sports featuring the experts from each field.
Big X's drifting squad is called DriftXtreme, which the well known drivers of the D1GP are invited to join including team mate Kazuhiro Tanaka and Naoto Suenaga.
Kumakubo competed in the European Drift Championship during the 2008 season alongside his Team Orange teammate Kazuhiro Tanaka in his Subaru Impreza WRX STI.Japanese Drifter Kumakubo to enter EDC2008!
Complete Drifting Results
D1 Grand Prix Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Position Points Nissan Skyline HCR32 EBSDNQ NIKDNQ BHH NC 0 Toyota Chaser JZX100 EBSTAN NIK Team Orange Nissan Silvia S15 BHH4 EBSTAN EBS5 SGO9 TKB6 SEK4 NIK10 4th 56 Team Orange Nissan Silvia S15 TKB1 BHHTAN SGO1 FUJTAN EBS5 SEK5 TKB4 2nd 78 Team Orange / Ebisu Circuit Nissan Silvia S15 IRW4 SGO5 EBS5 APS16 ODB16 EBS9 TKB2 6th 60 Team Orange / Yuke's Nissan Silvia S15 IRW4 4th 55 Subaru Impreza GDB ODBTAN SGO10 APS6 EBS11 FUJ5 TKB3 Team Orange / Yuke's Subaru Impreza GDB IRW2 SGO8 FUJ3 APS2 EBS1 SUZTAN FUJ4 IRW4 1st 110 Team Orange / Yuke's Subaru Impreza GDB EBS1 FUJ3 SUZ4 SGO2 2nd 99 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX CT9A EBS8 APS8 FUJ3 Team Orange / Yuke's Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX CT9A EBS12 FUJTAN SUZ8 OKY16 APS8 EBS FUJ 13th 28 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X
References
External links Yuke's D1 Project Blog (Nobushige Kumakubo) D1 Supporter profile