Takumi Fujiwara vs Shingo Shoji

The gum tape deathmatch between Takumi Fujiwara and Shingo Shoji is the eighth battle of Initial D.

Prior to the Battle
Koichiro Iketani was driving in Akina in his recently repaired S13 when a red Honda Civic approached and bumped him, causing him to get ticked off and attempt outrun, only to get overtaken. Few nights later, after he took Iketani on a ride, the driver arrives to challenge Takumi Fujiwara.

Exclusively to the anime, Itsuki encounters the same red Honda civic, only to be wrecked during his date with Saori. In the hospital, Takumi vowed to accept the challenge to avenge him despite Iketani's dissuasion. In Legend 2, Takumi witnesses as Shingo bumps into Iketani. Shingo agrees to apologize if Takumi wins a gum tape deathmatch against him. Iketani and Kenji tries to stop Takumi, but Takumi was reluctant to hear their advice and agreed to enter the deathmatch as his hand got taped to the steering using gum tape by one of the NightKids member.

During the Battle
The battle starts with Shingo intentionally giving out Takumi the lead, hoping to see him crash in the first corner as he watches behind. As Takumi approaches the first corner, he doesn't properly account for his handicap and tries to drift as normal, only to realize mid-turn that he can't steer sharply enough to do so. On the verge of spinning out, he grabs his right hand with his left to force it further, barely missing the guardrail. Shingo is surprised that he was able to correct his mistake, but is still sure that Takumi won't hold out for much longer. Back at the start line, Iketani and Kenji get worried about Takumi crashing, and they decide to take the S13 to follow them, knowing well that while they can't keep up with them, they will be able to offer help sooner if Takumi crashes. Takumi, now more cautious, takes corners at a safer pace, prompting Shingo to pull up next to him in a straightaway, showing him that he can overtake whenever he wants, then falling behind and flashing his headlights at Takumi, trying to pressure him into speeding up and potentially crashing. However, as Takumi drives on, he realises that he can corner at higher speeds by steering less, and instead shifting the weight of the car to start the drift. Shingo gets more frustrated, seeing that Takumi is getting faster despite only racing under the ruleset for the first time, while he had trained for months. As they approach a hairpin turn, they notice the light cast by an oncoming car's headlights. Takumi performs a flawless four-wheel drift while staying in-lane. Starting to get even more frustrated at seeing Takumi's skill in the gum tape deathmatch, Shingo intentionally bumps into Takumi's Eight-Six while approaching a corner, causing him to spin out while Shingo passes him. However, Takumi quickly reacts and regains control of the Eight-Six after spinning a full 360 degrees. Enraged by knowing very well that Shingo did it on purpose, Takumi decides to go all out to catch up with Shingo.

In one of the following corners, Takumi bumps the guardrails on purpose so that he can fishtail on the exiting direction faster. He even goes as far as to drive onto an embankment area after exiting a corner at full speed, slowly catching up to his opponent. Shingo, realizing this, goes on the defense, desperately trying to keep his lead. By this time, Iketani realizes that Takumi is capable of winning, as he made it through this many corners without crashing. Meanwhile, as Takumi and Shingo approach a corner, Takumi speeds up to the inside of the corner, making Shingo nervous he is going to take revenge for being bumped. As the two cars approach each other, Shingo brakes hard out of fear, causing him to understeer a bit, giving Takumi space to overtake him in the corner by using the gutter technique. Shingo gets caught off guard and is confused, wondering how he got passed. When realizing that he won't get another chance to pass the Eight-Six, Shingo comes side by side with Takumi in a straightaway before one of the final corners, as he says to himself that even if he can't win, he will not lose, wanting to create a tie by sharply turning into the Eight-Six, crashing both of them. However, as he is unleashing this attack, Takumi starts a drift and dodges out of the way, causing Shingo to crash into the guardrail, spinning out and putting his car out of the race.

After the Battle
Takumi drives off as usual, this time exiting the entrance corners even more recklessly as he was still angry. Meanwhile, Shingo gets out of his car and inspects the damage that occurred when he crashed and starts to sob when he realizes that a car was heading for him. Iketani and Kenji (and Itsuki in the manga and Legend 2) gets out of their to take Shingo to a hospital, which he declines but still insisted in taking him after learning his lesson.

The next day at early morning, Bunta calls Takumi angrily downstairs. Takumi with no memory of the battle, comes downstairs to hear Bunta yell angrily at him for scratching the Eight-Six. Takumi after looking at the car was surprised and asks who did this damage, only to be hit in the head by Bunta to remind him that Takumi himself did it. After suddenly getting memory, he explains to his father about the battle, to which he responds that if he still hits guardrails, he is still a beginner. After understanding that he won the battle, Bunta realized that Takumi was indeed growing, as Takumi kept looking at his Eight-Six.

First Stage

 * Don't Stand So Close - Dr. Love
 * Dancing Queen (S.K. Factory Remix) - King & Queen
 * I Need Your Love - Dave Simon
 * World Of Move - m.o.v.e
 * Rage your dream - m.o.v.e

Battle Stage

 * You're Gonna Be - Starlett

Ryosuke Takahashi's Fastest Typing-theory

 * I Need Your Love - Dave Simon

Special Stage

 * Don't Stand So Close - Dr. Love

New Initial D the Movie

 * Strobe - Clutcho

New Initial D the Movie Battle Digest

 * You Take Me To The Top - Jee Bee
 * Night of the Tiger - Mr. Music

Trivia

 * In the Manga and Legend 2, because the battle happened almost immediately after Shingo confronts the Akina SpeedStars and Takumi, there was no spectators around the course to witness the battle. In First Stage however, Shingo and his NightKids team made a huge announcement which got a huge amount of Spectators such as Yuichi, Keisuke, Ryosuke, and Nakazato themselves discussing about the battle.
 * In both First Stage and the manga, after Shingo crashes, only Kenji and Iketani (plus Itsuki in the manga) comes for help. In Legend 2, other members of the Akina SpeedStars also comes along with them.


 * Eight-Six Guardrail clip.png First Stage there was an animation error on a scene during the battle which accidentally shows Takumi's hand not being attached to the steering via duct tape. Not to mention another error in First Stage itself when during the scene when a traffic car comes in a corner, the Eight-Six slides in such a manner that the rear part of the car goes through the guardrail for a split moment.
 * In Legend 2, the scene where Takumi drives on the bank of a corner after aggressively exiting a corner was not shown.