Atsushi Kuroi

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	(1969-03-30)30 March 1969
Died	1 February 2010(2010-02-01) (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	9th in 2009
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

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

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.

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D1 Grand Prix

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

1. 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.
2. "Farewell, Atsushi Kuroi". Archived from the original on 29 August 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
3. "2010 OSAKA AUTO MESSE: Atsushi Kuroi memorial display : NORIYARO".

External links

• JDM Option
• D1 Grand Prix
• D1 Supporter profile^{[permanent dead link]}
• TougeNW Tribute