Drift King Keiichi Tsuchiya to hold drift demo at 2014 Vios Cup

Japanese racing driver and drifting expert Keiichi Tsuchiya will hold a series of drifting exhibitions on Race 1 of the 2014 Toyota Vios Cup.

Toyota Motors Philippines said in a press release that Tsuchiya, also known as the ‘Drift King,’ will appear on May 24, 2014 at the Clark International Speedway in Pampanga to show off his world-famous moves.

Tsuchiya first started as a street racer in ‘touge’ or mountain-pass racing before becoming a professional racing driver in the late 1980s, where he became known for sliding his race cars around corners.

Throughout the 1990s, he competed in several championships, including Formula 3, the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (or JGTC, now Super GT) and Le Mans.

After retiring from racing in 2003, Tsuchiya focused on drifting and has been called as a judge for numerous drifting competitions.

He is also a Japanese motoring media celebrity and has served as a consultant for television shows and movies that involve Japanese racing, like Initial D, Wangan Midnight and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

Much like Takumi Fujiwara in Initial D, Tsuchiya is renowned for driving a white, AE86 Toyota Sprinter Trueno.

See him in action with his AE86 in the video below. (Note: The clip is in Japanese.)