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WATCH: Meet a 7-year-old drift star in the making

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Image: Instagram / Shinji Minowa
Image: Instagram / Shinji Minowa

Japan - He can barely see over the steering wheel but this 7-year-old petrolhead could be the next drift-racing sensation. A few more years and he'll perfect the art of slideways actions.

When your dad is a D1GP racer and builds drift cars, naturally you might find yourself behind the wheel of a racer car... especially when your mom races too!

Shinji Minowa drives for Team Potenza behind the wheel of a Nissan 370Z while Masayo Minowa drives a JZ100 competing in Formula Drift.

Their son Hiroya is only seven years old but he is already following in his parents' footsteps, or more apt, racing shoes. 

He practices his skills in a Toyota Chaser JZX100 and albeit the car has an automatic gearbox, it doesn't matter. Hiroya is learning the craft that will help him become a professional driver way before the legal driving age.



Do you have a young child who is good at some kind of motorsport?  Email us and we'll publish your story.


The level of focus seen on his face shows just how passionate he and his family are about drifting.

Watch him drift around the tough course at Ebisu Circuit in Japan for the first time. The complex features seven individual tracks and two skid pan type circuits.

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