is a former racing driver, journalist, sport announcer and radio and TV presenter for the automotive industry. He is a Japanese citizen and is nicknamed Mana-P (マナP in

katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...

). Suzuki competed in the Formula Toyota and Saurus Cup until the mid nineties. When he left circuit racing behind, he became well known for working with '' Option'' as a writer and presenter for the magazine's offshoot

video magazine Video magazines are a series of online videos that follow the print magazine format in which the reader/viewer consumes an issue on a periodic basis. Video magazines differ from traditional online magazine or ezine because they are delivered in a ...

, ''

Video Option is a monthly direct-to-video magazine version of the long-running '' Option magazine'' introduced in March 1988 by Sunpro. Programme format The video has always been presented by Daijiro Inada, who did many of the tuner car road tests, either ...

'' and '' Drift Tengoku''. Suzuki was best known as one of the three original key judges (the other being

Keiichi Tsuchiya is a Japanese professional race car driver. He is known as the for his nontraditional use of drifting in non-drifting racing events and his role in popularizing drifting as a motorsport. In professional racing, he is a two-time 24 Hours of Le ...

and Manabu Orido, which Orido left at the end of the season to compete for 2005, while Tsuchiya left D1 with Daijro Inada due to irresponsible management) in the

D1 Grand Prix The , abbreviated as D1GP and subtitled ''Professional Drift'', is a production car drifting series from Japan. After several years of hosting amateur drifting contests, Daijiro Inada, founder of '' Option'' magazine and Tokyo Auto Salon, and ...

series. He adds many comic expressions during commentary to keep the crowds entertained during the races. He also hosts various issues of the ''Option'' DVD where he is discussing cars. He often exclaims "''giri giri''", which means "little little" in Japanese. This phrase is used to express an instance where the "drift" is extremely close or a driver is almost in a position where he/she is going to crash. One of the funniest moments of Suzuki's career was hosting and judging a 'Remote Control Drift Race' in Japan. He was judging it with fellow D1GP drifter/host Manabu Orido and turned it into one of the most exciting remote control car races in history. Suzuki is also involved in car designs, appearing on a segment in Drift Tengoku on DIY graphics and even working on the paint scheme and decals for Orido's 2005 RS*R Toyota Supra JZA80 and Yasuyuki Kazama's 2006 DG-5 Nissan Silvia S15.

References

External links

TRD interview with Manabu Suzuki (archived)
1963 births Living people D1 Grand Prix Japanese racing drivers Motorsport announcers Japanese radio personalities {{Japan-autoracing-bio-stub Racing drivers from Tokyo