Red Bull brings 500 Cars to the Birthplace of Drift Culture
Some 500 cars, nearly 5,000 F1 fans and drivers, the World Rally Championship (WRC) and drifting sharing the same neon-lit warehouse for a single night. Red Bull Tokyo Drift is one of the world’s largest celebrations of Japanese car culture — the scene that invented drifting, pioneered tuning and exported an aesthetic now embedded in motorsport worldwide. This year, it also became the stage for an F1 first.
Ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix last weekend, Visa Cash App Racing Bulls chose Red Bull Tokyo Drift to unveil its special livery (above) in a way no team has done before.
On a purpose-built course threading through the venue, just meters from the crowd, four-time world drift champion Mad Mike (Michael Whiddett) powered the world-first drift spec Red Bull Drift Mini through a run as a veiled car waited at the edge of the track. As the Mini tore past, the cover came off the VCARB 03, exposing a one-off white-and-red livery inspired by Red Bull Spring Edition.
F1 drivers weigh in
Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad (above), the drivers who will race the cars at Suzuka on March 28-30, watched from the crowd before greeting fans. For Lawson, it was familiar territory: the 24-year-old New Zealander faced off against Whiddett in an off-road, rural drift challenge earlier this month on home soil.
“Japanese car culture is something I grew up with in New Zealand. To be here at an event like this, it feels like I’m actually in the movie Tokyo Drift. It’s very, very cool to be a part of,” Lawson said. “I’m a big fan of the red chrome-looking car. It looks like it’s been painted and almost not dried yet. I’m looking forward to getting to drive such a cool-looking car in Suzuka.”
For Lindblad, the 18-year-old British rookie making only his third F1 start next weekend, the night was a first glimpse of the support he’ll experience at Suzuka. “We’re going to be coming quick now with these new cars — that’s the most exciting and the most challenging part,” he said. “Suzuka is a race I’ve been looking forward to my whole life. To get to drive the circuit is going to be amazing — it’s super iconic, it’s so fast, it’s really flowing. You need to be brave there.”
The VCARB livery won’t stay under-the-radar until Suzuka. On March 22, the car drove through the streets of Tokyo, then went on display at Shibuya 109 on March 23 — a rare chance for fans to see it up close before race weekend.
The one-off design is a collaboration with Bisen Aoyagi, one of Japan’s most celebrated calligraphers, whose large-scale live performances include the opening of the Japan National Stadium in 2020. Inspired by the Red Bull Spring Edition can, her design translates “shodo” brushwork into a racing aesthetic. “Calligraphy captures motion in a single stroke,” Aoyagi said. “I was inspired by cherry blossoms and the culture of Japan to create a design that feels powerful, elegant and alive on the car.”
Photo: Joerg Mitter / Red Bull Content Pool
Pioneers and legends dream of drift
The night’s drift program brought together three generations of the sport. Whiddett led the action alongside rising Japanese driver Hiroya Minowa, with three figures who shaped drifting from the beginning: Keiichi Tsuchiya — the Drift King whose 1980s mountain runs inspired Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift — plus Manabu Orido, who is a pioneer of Japan’s 1990s drift scene. Japan’s leading WRC driver Takamoto Katsuta also took to the course, drifting the same GR Yaris Rally1 he races on the world rally stage — a crossover that drew one of the night’s biggest crowd reactions.
“There are a lot of drifting cars here — all of them are rear-wheel drive, but my rally car is four-wheel drive,” Katsuta said. “It’s a very different way of drifting. It’s a bit faster, and the front pulls you. You can see how the fans are enjoying seeing the different types of drifting.”
The warehouse setting (above) put fans closer to the action than any circuit would allow. “What’s so cool is for the fans to actually be able to feel it, smell it — the flames, the backfires, the sound,” Whiddett said. “Every car has got its own personality. The way the driver drives the car, the way it looks, the way it sounds. That’s why I’m so addicted to drifting.”
Watch the video here: https://www.redbullcontentpool.com/international/CP-V-48985?parentCollectionId=CP-S-20661
Red Bull Drift Mini turns heads on tight track
The Red Bull Drift Mini made its own impression. First seen at last year’s event as a static showpiece, the car has since been completely rebuilt: gull-wing doors, an aggressive lowered stance, a swapped-in sports car engine and full drift capability. Yuki Tsunoda, the Japanese F1 star now serving as reserve driver for both Red Bull teams, was in attendance — a homecoming of sorts for a driver who grew up an hour from Yokohama and spent five seasons racing in front of Japanese fans.
Tsunoda experienced the car from the passenger seat, riding alongside Minowa on a hot lap. “Everything moved so fast — I didn’t expect it to be so reactive,” he said. “That was special, honestly. From the inside, every technique they’re doing is similar to the things I know, but the precision is phenomenal.”
Minowa relished the tight confines of the warehouse course. “This is a special track only for this event,” he said. “Usually I drive on quite a wide track, so it is very difficult and the surface is actually very different. It was pretty difficult to adjust how to drive, but it was very fun.”
The first of its kind, Tsunoda was impressed by the Drift Mini’s transformation: “They took out everything from the inside and rebuilt it from scratch. I wish some of the parts in there were in the original car! Putting that huge [handbrake] stick in the middle of the seat in this tiny car is something else.”
Beyond the action, 500 cars filled the venue — a dramatic increase from the approximately 100 vehicles displayed at last year’s event. Custom builds, drift machines and rare tuner cars sat alongside show-stopping pieces, a viral sensation from this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon that delivered a surprise drift run of its own.
Photo: Red Bull via the PR Times
The atmosphere leaned into Tokyo’s street culture roots: neon, DJs and a live set from One or Eight (whose Tokyo Drift has clocked over 190 million plays on TikTok), alongside performers from Red Bull Rasen and limited-edition apparel produced with Tokyo Drive Car Club.
Standing trackside, Tsunoda reflected on what the event meant: “I think drifting is one of the coolest cultures from Japan. It’s started to get very strict now in Japan, so it’s becoming less and less. I hope we can keep this culture going for a long time, and I think this event will boost that. I’ve got to say, as a Japanese person, thanks to Red Bull for bringing this drifting culture back here.”
Red Bull Spring Edition is coming to select markets across the world, and this weekend Visa Cash App Racing Bulls take their matching livery to Suzuka. The car arrives race-ready, unveiled by legends behind the wheel with 4,900 fans, 500 cars and a warehouse thick with tire smoke.
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