Kunimitsu Takahashi

Kunimitsu Takahashi (Shinjitai: 高橋 国光, Takahashi Kunimitsu, 29 January 1940 – 16 March 2022) was a Japanese professional motorcycle road racer, racing driver, and team manager. Nicknamed "Kuni-san", he is known as the "father of drifting".

Kunimitsu Takahashi
Takahashi in 1963
Nationality	Japanese
Born	(1940-01-29)29 January 1940 Tokyo, Japan
Died	16 March 2022(2022-03-16) (aged 82)
Motorcycle racing career statistics Grand Prix motorcycle racing Active years 1960–1964 First race 1960 250cc German Grand Prix Last race 1964 125cc French Grand Prix First win 1961 250cc German Grand Prix Last win 1962 125cc Spanish Grand Prix Team(s) Honda Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 129 4 15 N/A 3 107
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	1977
Teams	non-works Tyrrell
Entries	1
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1977 Japanese Grand Prix
Last entry	1977 Japanese Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	1986–1990, 1994–1996
Teams	Team Kunimitsu Honda, Kremer Racing
Best finish	8th (1995)
Class wins	1 (1995)

His racing career lasted from 1958 to 1999. He competed on motorcycles between 1958 and 1963, during which he became the first Japanese rider to win a World Grand Prix, taking four world-level wins in total. Injuries sustained in a crash in 1962 led to him switching to four-wheels in 1965, after which he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in class, become a four-time All-Japan Sports Prototype Champion, and won in Japanese Top Formula, JTC, and JGTC. His final victory as a driver in 1999 came at the age of 59.

His racing team, Team Kunimitsu, has won multiple championships in Super GT. He was the chairman of the GT Association, the organizers of the Super GT series, from 1993 to 2007.

Motorcycle racing

In 1961, Takahashi became the first Japanese rider to win a motorcycle Grand Prix riding a 250cc Honda to victory at Hockenheim. His best World Championship finishes were a fourth place in the 1961 250 world championship and a fourth place in the 1962 125 world championship, both times on a Honda. He was seriously injured in the 1962 Isle of Man TT and switched to car racing in 1965. He won four Grand Prix races during his motorcycle racing career.

Car racing

Takahashi participated in one Formula One race, the 1977 Japanese Grand Prix on 23 October 1977, driving the non-works Tyrrell that Kazuyoshi Hoshino had used in the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix. Takahashi finished 9th in his single Grand Prix outing, thus he scored no championship points. From 1987 to 1992, he competed in the Japanese Formula 3000 championship. He also competed in eight 24 Hours of Le Mans races between 1986 and 1996. In the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans, his team competed with a Honda NSX, winning the GT2 Class and finishing eighth overall.

In 1994, he formed Team Kunimitsu to compete in the inaugural JGTC season, running a Porsche 911 RSR Turbo in the GT1 class alongside Keiichi Tsuchiya. In 1996, with the advent of the GT500 class, Team Kunimitsu switched manufacturers from Porsche to Honda. The next year, Team Kunimitsu cars wore the Raybrig colors for the first time. Takahashi drove for his own team until 1999. He retired at the end of the season to focus on team management. Team Kunimitsu won their first Drivers Championship in 2018 with Naoki Yamamoto and 2009 Formula One champion Jenson Button behind the wheel of the #100 Raybrig Honda.

Death

Takahashi died from lymphoma on 16 March 2022, at the age of 82.

Career motorsports results

Motorcycle Grand Prix results

(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Points	Rank	Wins
1960	125cc	Honda	IOM	NED	BEL		ULS 6	NAT							1	10th	0
	250cc	Honda	IOM	NED	BEL	GER 6	ULS 5	NAT 4							6	7th	0
1961	125cc	Honda	ESP	GER 6	FRA 6	IOM	NED	BEL	DDR 3	ULS 1	NAT	SWE 2	ARG 3		24	5th	1
	250cc	Honda	ESP	GER 1	FRA 3	IOM 4	NED	BEL	DDR 3	ULS 6	NAT	SWE 3	ARG 2		29	4th	1
1962	50cc	Honda	ESP 6	FRA 2	IOM	NED	BEL	GER		DDR	NAT	FIN	ARG		7	9th	0
	125cc	Honda	ESP 1	FRA 1	IOM NC	NED	BEL	GER	ULS	DDR	NAT	FIN	ARG		16	4th	2
1963	50cc	Honda	ESP	GER	FRA	IOM	NED	BEL			FIN		ARG	JPN 11	0	-	0
	125cc	Honda	ESP 3	GER 5	FRA 3	IOM 8	NED 5	BEL	ULS 5	DDR	FIN	NAT 3	ARG	JPN	14	7th	0
	250cc	Honda	ESP 4	GER NC		IOM NC	NED	BEL 6	ULS 4	DDR		NAT	ARG	JPN	7	9th	0
1964	50cc	Honda	USA	ESP NC	FRA	IOM	NED	BEL	GER			FIN		JPN	0	-	0
	125cc	Honda	USA	ESP	FRA 4	IOM	NED		GER	DDR	ULS	FIN	NAT	JPN	3	14th	0

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Points
1977	Meiritsu Racing Team	Tyrrell 007	Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN	JPN 9	NC	0
Source:

Super Formula Championship results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1975	Sakai Racing Shop	FUJ DNS											NC	0
	Racing Shop Yatsuka		SUZ Ret	FUJ	SUZ	SUZ
1976	Sakai Racing Shop	FUJ Ret	SUZ	FUJ 4	SUZ 3	SUZ Ret							6th	22
1977	Speed Star Racing	SUZ 1	SUZ 4	MIN 1	SUZ 3	FUJ 2	FUJ 3	SUZ 1	SUZ 3				2nd	87 (117)
1978	Speed Star Wheel Racing	SUZ Ret	FUJ 5	SUZ Ret	SUZ Ret	SUZ 5	MIN	SUZ 1					6th	40
1979	Speed Star Wheel Racing	SUZ 8	MIN 2	SUZ 9	FUJ 2	SUZ 4	SUZ 5	SUZ 6					4th	57 (64)
1980	Royce Racing Team Suzuki Racing	SUZ	MIN	SUZ Ret	SUZ Ret	SUZ	SUZ 7						15th	4
1981	Suzuki Racing	SUZ 5	SUZ 4	SUZ 10	SUZ 10	SUZ 8							8th	23
1982	Shift	SUZ Ret	FUJ Ret	SUZ 5	SUZ 12	SUZ 10	SUZ 13						15th	9
1983	Nova Engineering	SUZ 7	FUJ 2	MIN 2	SUZ 8	SUZ Ret	FUJ 9	SUZ 4	SUZ Ret				6th	46
1984	Advan Sports Nova	SUZ 13	FUJ Ret	MIN 6	SUZ 10	SUZ 11	FUJ Ret	SUZ 7	SUZ 11				13th	11
1985	Advan Sports Nova	SUZ 9	FUJ 11	MIN	SUZ 8	SUZ Ret	FUJ 7	SUZ 12	SUZ 5				13th	17
1986	Team JPS Advan	SUZ 6	FUJ Ret	MIN 8	SUZ 8	SUZ 9	FUJ 11	SUZ 5	SUZ Ret				10th	22
1987	Advan Sports Nova	SUZ 6	FUJ 7	MIN 8	SUZ 6	SUZ 9	SUG 6	FUJ 8	SUZ 8	SUZ Ret			9th	33
1988	Advan Sports Nova	SUZ 3	FUJ Ret	MIN 7	SUZ 5	SUG 6	FUJ 3	SUZ 10	SUZ 6				7th	12
1989	Advan Sports Nova	SUZ 12	FUJ 15	MIN 8	SUZ 12	SUG 4	FUJ 11	SUZ 14	SUZ 8				15th	3
1990	Advan Sports Nova	SUZ 12	FUJ 14	MIN 7	SUZ 4	SUG 20	FUJ 10	FUJ 3	SUZ 12	FUJ 8	SUZ Ret		9th	7
1991	Advan Sports Nova	SUZ DNQ	AUT 20	FUJ 22	MIN 14	SUZ DNQ	SUG 16	FUJ 21	SUZ 20	FUJ C	SUZ 11	FUJ Ret	32nd	0
1992	Advan Sport Pal	SUZ 15	FUJ Ret	MIN Ret	SUZ Ret	AUT 15	SUG Ret	FUJ 12	FUJ 11	SUZ Ret	FUJ 22	SUZ 7	22nd	0
1993	Advan Sport Pal	SUZ Ret	FUJ 11	MIN 9	SUZ 12	AUT C	SUG 10	FUJ C	FUJ 9	SUZ 9	FUJ 18	SUZ Ret	20th	0
1994	Advan Sport Pal	SUZ 12	FUJ Ret	MIN	SUZ 8	SUG	FUJ 8	SUZ 11	FUJ 3	FUJ 10	SUZ 14		10th	4

All-Japan Sports Prototype Championship results

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Rank	Points
1984	Advan Nova	Porsche 956	C1	SUZ	TSU	SUZ 1	FUJ				9th	20
1985	Advan Nova	Porsche 962C	C1	SUZ 3	FUJ Ret	FUJ 1	SUZ 1	FUJ Ret	FUJ 1		1st	72
1986	Advan Nova	Porsche 962C	C1	SUZ 1	FUJ 1	FUJ 2	SUZ Ret	FUJ 8	FUJ 2		1st	70
1987	Advan Nova	Porsche 962C	C1	SUZ 2	FUJ 3	FUJ 1	SUZ 3	FUJ 11	FUJ 1		1st	59
1988	Advan Nova	Porsche 962C	C1	FUJ 3	SUZ Ret	FUJ 2	FUJ Ret	SUZ 2	FUJ 6		4th	48
1989	Advan Nova	Porsche 962C	C1	FUJ 6	FUJ 4	FUJ 4	SUZ 1	FUJ 4			1st	56
1990	Advan Nova	Porsche 962C	C1	FUJ 8	FUJ C	FUJ 5	SUZ Ret	SUG 6	FUJ Ret		22nd	9
1991	Team Taisan	Porsche 962C	C1	FUJ 5	FUJ Ret	FUJ	SUZ	SUG	FUJ	SUG	27th	8

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1986	Kremer Racing	Jo Gartner Sarel van der Merwe	Porsche 962C	C1	169	NC	NC
1987		Kris Nissen Volker Weidler		C1	6	DNF	DNF
1988		Hideki Okada Bruno Giacomelli		C1	370	9th	9th
1989		Bruno Giacomelli Giovanni Lavaggi		C1	303	DNF	DNF
1990		Sarel van der Merwe Hideki Okada		C1	279	24th	21st
1994	Kremer Honda Racing	Keiichi Tsuchiya Akira Iida	Honda NSX GT2	GT2	222	18th	9th
1995	Team Kunimitsu	Keiichi Tsuchiya Akira Iida		GT2	275	8th	1st
1996		Keiichi Tsuchiya Akira Iida		GT2	305	16th	3rd

Complete JGTC results

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

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Rank	Points
1994	Team Kunimitsu	Porsche 911 RSR-T	GT1	FUJ	SEN	FUJ Ret	SUG 1	MIN 2			7th	35
1995	Team Kunimitsu	Porsche 911 RSR-T	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 Kunimitsu	Honda NSX	GT500	SUZ	FUJ Ret	SEN 16	FUJ 11	MIN 2	SUG 2		9th	30
1998	Team Kunimitsu	Honda NSX	GT500	SUZ 10	FUJ C	SEN 12	FUJ Ret	MOT 7	MIN 1	SUG Ret	10th	25
1999	Team Kunimitsu	Honda NSX	GT500	SUZ Ret	FUJ 1	SUG 13	MIN 15	FUJ 7	TAI 5	MOT 9	11th	34

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

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

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	DC	Pts	Class
1985	Mitsubishi Colt Racing	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	A	SIL	OUL	THR	DON	THR	SIL	DON	SIL	SNE	BRH	BRH	SIL 9	NC	0	NC

Complete Japanese Touring Car Championship results

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Pts
1986	STP Ralliart	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	Div.3	NIS 4	SUG 2	TSU 1	SEN Ret	FUJ Ret	SUZ 2				?	?
1987	STP Ralliart	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	Div.3	NIS 1	SEN 1	TSU Ret	SUG 18	FUJ 10	SUZ Ret				?	?
1988	STP Ralliart	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	JTC-1	SUZ	NIS 4	SEN 2	TSU Ret	SUG Ret	FUJ 15				?	?
1992	Team Taisan	Nissan Skyline GT-R	JTC-1	AID 4	AUT Ret	SUG 3	SUZ 3	MIN 17	TSU 2	SEN 4	FUJ 17		9th	74
1993	Team Taisan	Nissan Skyline GT-R	JTC-1	MIN Ret	AUT 1	SUG Ret	SUZ 2	AID 5	TSU 4	TOK 6	SEN Ret	FUJ Ret	11th	59

External links

• Kunimitsu Takahashi career statistics at MotoGP.com
• Official Team Site
• Kunimitsu Takahashi career summary at DriverDB.com