Atsushi Kuroi (黒井敦史, Kuroi Atsushi, 30 March 1969 – 2 February 2010, Osaka) was a Japanese professional drifting driver who competed in the D1 Grand Prix series for Team Toyo with River Side. He died on 2 February 2010 during the evening due to a motorcycle accident.[1]
| Atsushi Kuroi | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  Japan |
| Born | 30 March 1969 |
| Died | 1 February 2010 (aged 40) |
| Related to | (list of notable relatives with line breaks) |
| D1 Grand Prix career | |
| Debut season | 2001 |
| Current team | River Side |
| Wins | 1 |
| Best finish | 13th in 2006 |
| Previous series | |
| (previous series with line breaks) | |
| Championship titles | |
| (championship titles) | |
He loved cars from an early age and dreamed of getting his license, when he did the first car he got was a four-wheel drive as he was into WRC at the time. He enjoyed dirt driving but ran out of money for repairs to his car so he bought a Nissan Silvia (S13) and turned to drifting. He practiced a lot but as he mainly did it alone he couldn't tell whether he was any good, so he studied the drift bible and some other books on drifting to try to improve. Though he never knew whether he was any good until he began competing against other people. He was the manager of the River Side Tuning Garage in the Osaka prefecture, so he sponsored himself.
He competed in the D1 Grand Prix series since it began in 2001, until his death before the 2010 season. He always used a Nissan Silvia (S13) as he loved the way they drift. The Silvias he used in the D1GP are not usual, his old one had an RB26 from a Nissan Skyline GT-R and his current car has a 1.5JZ from a Toyota Chaser, as he liked the bigger displacement engines. Kuroi won his first and only D1GP victory in 2007 at Fuji Speedway.
Death edit
On the evening of 1 February 2010 Kuroi was hit by another vehicle while travelling home from work on his motorcycle. Kuroi later died in the hospital after bleeding to death from injuries to his thigh.[2]
A memorial for Kuroi was featured at the Osaka Auto Messe.[3]
Complete drifting results edit
| Colour | Result |
|---|---|
| Gold | Winner |
| Silver | 2nd place |
| Bronze | 3rd place |
| Green | Last 4 [Semi-final] |
| Blue | Last 8 [Quarter-final] |
| Purple | Last 16 (16) [1st Tsuiou Round OR Tandem Battle] (Numbers are given to indicate Top 10 finish) |
| Black | Disqualified (DSQ) (Given to indicate that the driver has been stripped of their position through disqualification) |
| White | First Round (TAN) [Tansou OR Qualifying Single Runs] |
| Red | Did not qualify (DNQ) |
- When driver's position are highlighted in blue, this indicates either the driver earned 100pt or 100pt tansou (solo run) bonus has been awarded, with the latter being in use for Pre-2005.
D1 Grand Prix edit
| Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Nissan Silvia PS13 | EBS |
NIK DNQ |
BHH DNQ |
EBS DNQ |
NIK |
0 | |||||
| 2002 | Nissan Silvia PS13 | BHH TAN |
EBS DNQ |
EBS DNQ |
SGO TAN |
0 | ||||||
| Nissan 180SX RPS13 | TKB DNQ |
SEK |
NIK |
|||||||||
| 2003 | River Side / Toyo Tires | Nissan Silvia PS13 | TKB TAN |
BHH DNQ |
SGO DNQ |
FUJ TAN |
EBS DNQ |
SEK |
TKB DNQ |
0 | ||
| 2004 | River Side | Nissan 180SX RPS13 | IRW 7 |
EBS 9 |
16 | 14 | ||||||
| River Side / Toyo Tires | Nissan Silvia PS13 | SGO TAN |
APS 16 |
ODB TAN |
EBS DNQ |
TKB 10 |
||||||
| 2005 | River Side / Toyo Tires | Nissan Silvia PS13 | IRW |
ODB DNQ |
SGO DNQ |
APS DNQ |
EBS DNQ |
FUJ DNQ |
TKB 16 |
32 | 1 | |
| 2006 | River Side / Toyo Tires | Nissan Silvia PS13 | IRW 16 |
SGO 2 |
FUJ TAN |
APS 16 |
EBS TAN |
SUZ 16 |
FUJ 10 |
IRW 16 |
13 | 26 |
| 2007 | River Side / Toyo Tires | Nissan Silvia PS13 | EBS TAN |
FUJ 1 |
SUZ 14 |
SGO TAN |
EBS 12 |
APS 12 |
FUJ 13 |
13 | 26 | |
| 2008 | River Side / Toyo Tires | Nissan Silvia PS13 | EBS TAN |
FUJ 6 |
SUZ 2 |
OKY TAN |
APS 9 |
EBS |
FUJ |
8 | 44 |
References edit
- ^ Jesus Rodriguez (2 February 2010). "D1GP Driver Atsushi Kuroi Dead at Age 40". Zimbio. Archived from the original on 30 August 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
- ^ "Farewell, Atsushi Kuroi". Archived from the original on 29 August 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
- ^ "2010 OSAKA AUTO MESSE: Atsushi Kuroi memorial display : NORIYARO".