After witnessing the race between Takumi Fujiwara's Toyota AE86 and Keisuke Takahashi's Mazda RX7, Takeshi Nakazato from the Myougi Night Kids sends out a challenge to defeat the AE86 in a downhill battle. Despite his Nissan Skyline GT-R completely outclassing the AE86, Nakazato is told that he will never beat Takumi—a statement that enrages him. Believing that grip racing is far superior to flashy drift racing, Nakazato is dead set on defeating the AE86 to prove that he is the better racer.

Thanks to Itsuki Takeuchi's hasty acceptance of the match on his behalf, Takumi is reluctant to get involved with the challenge and chooses not to race, stating that he is not a racer by any means. Overseeing the dilemma, Takumi's employer goads him into accepting. However, when Takumi returns home to get the AE86, he finds that his father has taken the car out for himself. As he waits for his father's return, Takumi begins to feel his itch to race grow ever more.