Shinji Minowa

Shinji Minowa is a Japanese drifter based in Tokyo. He has been active for over 20 years participating in D1GP and Formula D. He is part of team "HEYMAN" and is a Formula Drift Japan driver.

## Cars

### **JZX90 MarkII**

Minowa's pro-car was a JZX90 MarkII as early as 2010. In 2015 the JZX90 was used for the King of Asia event and D1GP until its engine blew during qualifying at the Ebisu Round. A new engine was sourced from Kuniaki Takahashi at KunnyZ. The engine was machined and ported by NAPREC and outfitted with bigger valves. It was bored out to 3.4 liters and fitted with Brian Crower internals and a Trust T88 Turbo. A G-Force transmission was used to put power to the ground. Daigo Saito's shop, PhatFive Racing, was tasked with making a new roll cage for the car. Toward the beginning of the 2016, Fat Five Racing was almost finished with the roll cage for Minowa's MarkII. HEYMAN products 1200SP Knuckles and Angle Kit were used for angle, the car had BNSports Aero, Bridgestone Potenza tires, DG5 coilovers and Prodrive wheels. It was built with the intention of continuing to compete in both D1GP and FormulaD.

### **JZX100 Missile**

Minowa spent time drifting at Ebisu in a Power Vehicles JZX100 "missle" with other D1GP pro-drivers including Kuniaki Takahashi, Daigo Saito, Andy Grey and Robbie Nishida. He drove a Z34 370Z and a 2JZ powered JZX90 in D1GP in the King of Asia series.

### **Z34 370Z**

The Z34 was used in 2015 for the initial round of D1GP at Suzuka and then put out of use in order to conduct more suspension R&D for the chassis. It was later outfitted with a new angle kit produced by HEYMAN and used to compete in the D1GP round in Odaiba.

### **AE86**

As early as 2002 Minowa drove an Hachiroku AE86 Levin powered by a 4A-G. The camshafts were replaced with TODA 288 degree cams, and the car was equipped with an FCR carburetor. It was also outfitted with a lightweight reinforced pulley, oil cooler and radiator to dissipate heat. The motor made 205hp and was able to rev up to 10,000rpm. The carburetor was later swapped to a Solex unit, and the car was outfitted with more TRD and Tec Arts parts. In 2016 Minowa briefly entertained selling his AE86, but ultimately kept it for sentimental reasons.

### Kuroi Onevia

After his death in 2010, HEYMAN was entrusted with caring for Mr. Atsushi Kuroi's Riverside S13 2JZ Onevia. The car was kept in Shinji Minowa's shop.

## Events

### 2016

Minowa continued to work at the HEYMAN shop, fixing customer cars, and upgrading a fellow D1GP drifters Nissan Silvia s13 with a Garrett 3037 turbo. The car was powered by a HKS and Brian Crower SR20 and equipped with BN Sports and a NISMO LSD. The car was also sitting on DG5 coilovers and Bridgestone Potenza tires He was also in attendance at Tokyo Auto Salon. He was planning on participating in a snow drifting event, but it was cancelled due to too much snow. In February AE86 Legends Running Free visited his shop to show off Nishikawa's newly finished AE86.

#### HEYMAN Practice Day

In early January HEYMAN held a practice day at Fuji Speedway. Legend Hiroshi Takahashi of RunningFree was in attendance with his 4AG powered AE86. His wife Masayo was there with her T78 2JZ JZX100 and his friend Robbie Nishida attended with his Silvia practice car. A funny memory from this event was when Robbie's Silvia caught on fire and they extinguished it with Mount Fuji mineral water. Ken Gushi was also in attendance. Robbie would later compete at Formula Drift long beach that year and used this as a practice opportunity.

#### D1GP

Minowa participated in D1GP driving his JZX90.

* **Odaiba:** In March, he drove at Odaiba with his freshly fixed JZX90 competition car. Unfortunately he was knocked out in the preliminaries. His friend Daigo Saito was the winner of this round.
* **Fuji Speedway:** In April, he drove at Fuji Speedway in his JXZ90. He was able to get 3rd place at this event behind his friend Daigo Saito who got 1st place. Shingo Hatanaka and Tomohaku Hirota were both using HEYMAN knuckles at this event. He also enjoyed doing a triple drift with Masashi Yokoi and Kunihiko Teramachi.

#### Drift Muscle

In April Minowa competed in the Drift Muscle Super Class in his JZX90 and came away with a win. His wife was also in attendance competing in her JZX100.

#### Ebisu Test Day

In April Minowa went to Ebisu Circuit with Hiroshi Takahashi and drifted a different JZX90 missile car. Unfortunately he wrecked on the last lap.

### 2015

Minowa was a D1GP driver on Team Boss, with Youichi Imamura and Yoshinori Koguchi. He was sponsored by Auto Produce Boss, Bridgestone Potenza, Power Vehicles, Prodrive, DG5 suspension, HEYMAN and NISMO. Toward the end of the year he received some additional support from Speedhunters.

His personal travels included a trip to Australia, where he spent time with Luke Fink at Byron Bay and DCA. In September some Irish AE86 guys from AE86IRL came to visit Minowa and Hiroshi Takahashi from Running Free. He also spent time supporting D1SL drivers at Nikko Circuit, helping field a T78 turbo 2JZ JZX90 MarkII with a G-Force gearbox, and a T04Z turbo 1JZ GZ20 Soarer, both running HEYMAN 1200SPLock Angle Kits. He continued work on other cars, tuning a RB25 Skyline R32 with a Trust TD06-25G.

#### **D1GP**

Minowa participated in the D1GP circuit in 2015, driving a 370Z and a JZX90.

* **Suzuka:** In May, he drove at Suzuka with a newly designed helmet and with his Z34 using RE-71R Bridgestone tires. Shinji had a tandem battle with Daigo Saito who was using HEYMAN special JZX knuckles in order to achieve "mad angle". Minowa also battled with Kawabata in his R35 GTR. After this round he worked with Daigo Saito to get a new carbon fiber driveshaft from The Driveshaft Shop, which he would use in subsequent rounds.
* **Fuji Speedway:** In early July, he drove at Fuji Speedway in his JZX90, without the support of Auto Produce Boss. In practice he was able to tandem with Fredric Aasbo and Daigo Saito. During this round he qualified 3rd. In top 32 Minowa battled his friend Robbie Nishida in his GT-R. He won this round and advanced to top 16. Next, he battled Aurimas "Odi" Bakchis who was driving a Hyundai Genesis Coupe in the top 8. Odi won this time and Minowa was knocked out.
* **Ebisu Minami:** In late July, he drove at Ebisu, on the popular "jump" track Minami, in his JZ90. Unfortunately his motor blew on his second qualifying run and he was unable to compete. His friend Andy Grey was, however, still able to get a good result during this round.
* **Osaka:** Minowa did not participate but still attended to support his friend Daigo Saito who won 1st place.
* **Nikko:** He continued to watch the rest of the season from home, cheering for his friends Robbie Nishida, Daigo Saito, Andy Grey, Ng Sheng Nian and Kazuya Taguchi. In early October Minowa's wife competed in the Nikko round and rolled her car. Minowa attended this round in person and was able to see Vaughn Gittin Jr who was in attendance with his Mustang representing Monster Energy along with Daigo Saito of PhatFive Racing.
* **Odaiba:** In late October, he drove at Odaiba in his Z34 with a new angle kit where he was able to tandem with his hero Koguchi in top 32 who was driving a GT86. After beating Koguchi he was able to move on to the top 8 where he was knocked out during a tandem battle with a 350z. His friend Daigo Saito won this round.

#### **King of Asia**

Minowa also drove in King of Asia at Nikko Circuit in his JZX90. He also brought his Z34 370Z demo car for the event. His friend and HEYMAN teammate, Robbie Nishida attended his R35 GTR pro car. Also in attendance was his friend Maurice Benas, visiting from Okinawa.

#### **Potenza Circuit Meeting**

Bridgestone held a series of Potenza Circuit Meeting's. Minowa was in attendance with his 370Z in June at the Tsukuba 1000, in July at Mihama Circuit and in October at Takata circuit.

#### **Ebisu Test Day**

In July, Minowa attended a drift day at Ebisu Minami with Andy Grey of Power Vehicles and FormulaD USA driver Fredric Aasbo, who is his son Hiroya's favorite driver.

#### **Ebisu Drift Matsuri**

In early August, Minowa participated in Drift Matsuri at Ebisu with his buddies Robbie Nishida and Andrew Grey of Power Vehicles in a JZX100 "missle" car. A funny memory from this event was during a jump at Minami, Robbie's front strut came off during a tandem with Minowa, Andy Grey and Daigo Saito. Luckily they avoided a big crash! Minowa enjoyed getting to drift with Nishida and Saito in a more fun setting. He also spent some time driving with Christian of Corporal Industries (aka Origin Labo Australia) and Nic Wilson, and met AE86 legend Kassou Subashiri.

#### **All Japan Rally Montre**

In late August, Minowa participated in the All Japan Rally Montre in Tsumagoi, which included drifting and autocross. He attended with his 370Z Z34 representing Auto Produce Boss and Bridgestone Potenza.

### 2010

#### D1GP

* **Fuji Speedway:** He drove at D1GP Fuji Speedway in his JZX90.

## Family

### Hiroya Minowa (son)

Shinji Minowa's son is Hiroya Minowa, who is currently 14 years old and is also a Formula D driver with CUSCO Racing and YOKOHAMA TIRE. He is the 2021 MSC champion and got second place in FormulaD Japan in 2023.

### Masayo Minowa (wife)

Shinji Minowa's wife Masayo is also a drifter supported by DG-5 Suspension and HEYMAN products. She competed in the 2015 D1 Ladies League and is currently a competitor in FormulaD Japan.