Keiichi Tsuchiya

Keiichi Tsuchiya

In 2008, as Executive Advisor of ARTA
Born January 30, 1956 (1956-01-30) (age 60)
Tōmi, Nagano, Japan
Nationality Japan Japanese
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years 1994–2000
Teams Team Kunimitsu Honda, Team Lark McLaren, Toyota Team Europe, TV Asahi Team Dragon
Best finish 2nd (1999)
Class wins 2 (1995, 1999)

Keiichi Tsuchiya (土屋 圭市 Tsuchiya Keiichi, born January 30, 1956) is a professional race car driver. He is also known as the Drift King (ドリキン Dorikin) for his nontraditional use of drifting in non-drifting racing events and his role in popularizing drifting as a motorsport. He is also known for touge (mountain pass) driving.

The car he drives, a Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno, has become one of the most popular sports cars; the car is also known as "Hachi-Roku" in Japan (hachi-roku meaning "eight six"); his car is also called "The Little Hachi that could." A video known as Pluspy documents Tsuchiya's touge driving with his AE86. He also is a consultant for one of the popular comic books and manga, Initial D, of which the main character Takumi Fujiwara is a character which describes him.

Biography

Tsuchiya started his career through the Fuji Freshman series in 1977. Unlike many drivers who came from wealthy families or motorsport backgrounds, he honed his skills from street racing and became an underground legend.

Racing career

National championships

He would continue to take part in the Japanese Formula Three Championship, Japanese Touring Car Championship (JTCC), the latter while driving a Nissan Skyline GT-R (previously in the Cosmo Oil Sierra Cosworth) in the Group A championships and later a Honda Civic in the Supertouring car championships.[1]

Le Mans

He went on to score a class win and an 8th place overall at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Honda NSX. In 1999 of the same race, this time in a Toyota GT-One, during the last hour while co-driver Ukyo Katayama was building up pace to the leading BMW V12 LMR he was forced into the grass by a backmarker privateer's BMW LMP, blowing the tire out. They survived the ordeal and went on to score the fastest lap but were forced to settle for second.

NASCAR

He has raced in NASCAR-sanctioned exhibition races at Suzuka Circuit (Suzuka Thunder 100) and at Twin Ring Motegi Superspeedway for the 1998 NASCAR-sanctioned exhibition and 1999 NASCAR Grand National Division, AutoZone West Series races at the circuit, both named the Coca-Cola 500K.

Drifting career

When Tsuchiya was a freshman in circuit racing, he got his racing license suspended because of the illegal racing he was still doing (cause of the Drift Pluspy video). In the movie series Shuto Kousoku Trial, he advised street racers to leave the illegal racing scene if they want to become involved with professional racing.

After his retirement

After his retirement, he remained in racing and is now an official Drift Muscle judge after quitting D1 in January 2011 and was Team Director for both GT500 for one year and GT300 Class of ARTA JGTC Team until the team disbanded their GT300 operation at the end of the 2005 season. He owned the aftermarket company Kei Office until he sold the business in the end of 2005 to form DG-5. His trademark color is jade green which appears on his overalls and helmet and is the adopted color of the former company. It was also the colour of the D1 Grand Prix Kei Office and DG-5 S15 Silvia of driver and employee Yasuyuki Kazama who also wears a suit similar in pattern.

He also hosts the video magazine "Best Motoring" which features road tests of new Japanese cars including a special section called "Hot Version" which focuses on performance-modified cars. He is a guest presenter in Video Option, a monthly video magazine, similar to Hot Version except regularly covers the D1GP and its sister video magazine Drift Tengoku which deals purely with drifting.

He has been an editorial supervisor on the televised anime Initial D and Wangan Midnight. He also appeared in the semi biographical film Shuto Kousoku Trial 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 was also featured in the Super GT magazine show in Japan. His life in driving is parallel to that of the Initial D main character, Takumi, as both of them started exploring their local touge while doing regular deliveries for their family businesses. He makes a number of cameos in the series: in the First Stage, he briefly converses with Takumi's father; in the Third Stage, a motorcycle rider wearing a similar racing suit overtake Takumi as he was en route to an initiation battle with Ryosuke Takahashi; and in the Final Stage, he meets Takumi in person while the latter spectates a circuit race in the end credits. The color of Tomo's racing suit from the Initial D 4th Stage is jade green and has a similar pattern to Tsuchiya's suit. He also made an appearance opposite Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson in a Motorworld in Japan special showing drifting competition in the late 1980s in Japan.

After 1995, he sometimes appeared as a Formula One guest commentator in Japanese Fuji TV.

In 2006, he made a cameo as a fisherman in the movie The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift in which he served as a stunt coordinator and stunt man.[2][3]

In 2014, he announced a joint venture with King of Europe ProSeries in order to create King of Asia ProSeries[4]

AE86 Specs

Car Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-V AE86 Super Street Version
Year1986
Body ColorSuper White II (Body) and TRD 3000GT Supra Gray (Engine Bay)
Drivetrain and EngineTec-Art's Full Complete Engine Blacktop 20v 7A-GE (7A Bottom, 5-Valve 4AG Head), Tec-Art and Tomei Pon-Cam (264/264 IN/EX 9mm Lift), TEC ART Type R Dual-Type Radiator, TEC ART Oil Cooler with Fan, Impulse 5 Valve Sink Kit, Nismo and TRD Metal Con Rods, Carbon Fiber Clutch for TEC ART 7AG, K1 Planning and Fujitsubo Twin Tip Exhaust Type N1, AE111 Genuine Catalyser, TEC Art Modified 3.5th TRD Crossed 5 w/ 4.778 (5.125 for Touge), TRD Short-Shifter Kit, TRD 2-way LSD, Tec-Art Header, & MOTEC ECU (TEC-ART SETTING)
Custom PartsTRD FRP Hatch with integrated TRD N2 Spoiler (1-piece), GT-APEX Headlamp Adjuster, No Power Steering or Air Conditioning, GT-V/Power Steering knuckles, GT-APEX Tilt Steering column, GT-APEX Dash and Power Mirrors, GT-Apex Windshield Adjuster, TRD Leather-wrapped Shift Knob, Non-Amber Clear Front Signal Lights, Zenki Front Lip with Special Bumper Lip Bracket, TRD Reclining Sports Bucket Seats, Sabelt Harness, Defi Gauges, TRD Carbon Fiber Hood, Raybrig Multi Reflector Light Kit, Nardi TRD 3 Spoke Steering Wheel, Shitsua Gas Lid, Autobacs ARTA Karo Floor Mats, TEC-ART Suspension Kit, Revolver AE86 Traction Bracket, Front MZ20 Brakes, Tec-Arts Rear Brake Kit.
Tire and Rim SizeFront and Rear 195/50R15 GoodYear RS Sport with Modex Dori Dori Mesh wheels(7j/off-2/15inches)

Career results

Racing record

Complete JGTC/Super GT results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car Class Rd.1 Rd.2 Rd.3 Rd.4 Rd.5 Rd.6 Rd.7 Rd.8 Rd.9 DC Pts
1994 Team Kunimitsu Porsche 911 GT1 FUJ
 SEN
 FUJ
Ret		 SUG
1		 MIN
2		 7th 35
1995 Team Kunimitsu Porsche 911 GT1 SUZ
14		 FUJ
3		 SEN
4		 FUJ
8		 SUG
8		 MIN
Ret		 10th 28
1996 Team Kunimitsu Honda NSX GT500 SUZ
Ret		 FUJ
8		 SEN
12		 FUJ
7		 SUG
10		 MIN
11		 17th 8
1997 TEAM TAISAN with ADVAN Dodge Viper GT500 SUZ
 FUJ
 SEN
10		 FUJ
Ret		 MIN
14		 SUG
8		 23rd 6
1998 TOYOTA TEAM SARD Toyota Supra GT500 SUZ
3		 FUJ
C		 SEN
4		 FUJ
9		 MOT
Ret		 MIN
3		 SUG
Ret		 6th 36
1999 TOYOTA TEAM SARD Toyota Supra GT500 SUZ
16		 FUJ
15		 SUG
Ret		 MIN
7		 FUJ
10		 TAI
13		 MOT
Ret		 22nd 5
2000 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX GT500 MOT
7		 FUJ
Ret		 SUG
15		 FUJ
1		 TAI
Ret		 MIN
Ret		 SUZ
Ret		 13th 24
2001 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX GT500 TAI
2		 FUJ
6		 SUG
2		 FUJ
12		 MOT
11		 SUZ
1		 MIN
Ret		 2nd 56
2002 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX GT500 TAI
7		 FUJ
4		 SUG
13		 SEP
6		 FUJ
9		 MOT
8		 MIN
8		 SUZ
2		 10th 46
2003 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX GT500 TAI
11		 FUJ
Ret		 SUG
11		 FUJ
11		 FUJ
12		 MOT
8		 AUT
Ret		 SUZ
6		 19th 9

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1994 Germany Kremer Honda Racing
Japan Team Kunimitsu		 Japan Kunimitsu Takahashi
Japan Akira Iida		 Honda NSX GT2 GT2 222 18th 9th
1995 Germany Kremer Honda Racing
Japan Team Kunimitsu		 Japan Kunimitsu Takahashi
Japan Akira Iida		 Honda NSX GT2 GT2 275 8th 1st
1996 Japan Team Kunimitsu Honda Japan Kunimitsu Takahashi
Japan Akira Iida		 Honda NSX GT2 GT2 305 16th 3rd
1997 Japan Team Lark McLaren
United Kingdom Parabolica Motorsports		 Japan Akihiko Nakaya
United Kingdom Gary Ayles		 McLaren F1 GTR GT1 88 DNF DNF
1998 Japan Toyota Motorsports
Germany Toyota Team Europe		 Japan Ukyo Katayama
Japan Toshio Suzuki		 Toyota GT-One GT1 326 9th 8th
1999 Japan Toyota Motorsports
Germany Toyota Team Europe		 Japan Ukyo Katayama
Japan Toshio Suzuki		 Toyota GT-One LMGTP 326 2nd 1st
2000 Japan TV Asahi Team Dragon Japan Ukyo Katayama
Japan Toshio Suzuki		 Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S LMP900 340 6th 6th

References

  1. ↑ Keiichi Tsuchiya. driftjapan.com
  2. ↑ Fast & Furious 6. "10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About The Fast & Furious Films". BuzzFeed.
  3. ↑ The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (DVD).
  4. ↑ http://www.kingofasia.net
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