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| Keiichi Tsuchiya | |
|---|---|
 Tsuchiya at Super GT Malaysia Round in 2025 | |
| Born | January 30, 1956 (1956-01-30) (age 69) Tōmi, Nagano, Japan |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
| Years | 1994–2000 |
| Teams | Team KunimitsuHonda, Team LarkMcLaren,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 Japanese professional race car driver. He is known as theDrift King (ドリキン,Dorikin) for his nontraditional use ofdrifting in non-drifting racing events and his role in popularizing drifting as amotorsport. In professional racing, he is a two-time24 Hours of Le Mans class winner and the2001All Japan GT Championship runner-up. He is also known fortouge driving.
The car he drives, aToyota 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 2-part video known as 'The Touge' produced by Pluspy (styled as+P) documents Tsuchiya's touge driving with his AE86.
He was aconsultant for the popularmanga andanime series,Initial D, in which he makes several cameos. He also served as a stunt coordinator and stuntman onThe Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, where he also made a cameo appearance.
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 fromstreet racing and became noted in the underground scene.
He would continue to take part in theJapanese Formula Three Championship,Japanese Touring Car Championship (JTCC), the latter while driving aCosmo OilSierra Cosworth andNissan Skyline GT-R (Team Taisan) in theGroup A championships and later aHonda Civic in theSupertouring car championships.[1]
He went on to score a class win and an 8th place overall at the1995 24 Hours of Le Mans in aHonda NSX. Inthe same race in 1999, this time in aToyota GT-One, during the last hour while co-driverUkyo Katayama was building up pace to the leadingBMW V12 LMR he was forced into the grass by a backmarker privateer's BMW LMR, blowing the tire out. They survived the ordeal and went on to score the fastest lap but were forced to settle for second.
He has raced inNASCAR-sanctioned exhibition races atSuzuka Circuit (Suzuka Thunder 100) and atTwin 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.
When Tsuchiya was a freshman in circuit racing, he was about to get his racing license suspended because of the illegal racing he was recording for Pluspy. In the movie seriesShuto Kousoku Trial, he advised street racers to leave the illegal racing scene if they want to become involved with professional racing.
After his retirement, he was Team Director for both GT500 for one year and GT300 Class ofARTA JGTC Team until the team disbanded their GT300 operation at the end of the 2005 season. He owned the aftermarket companyKei Office until he sold the business in the end of 2005 to formDG-5. After quitting D1 in January 2011, he co-founded amateur drifting seriesDrift Muscle, where he also worked as judge.
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 theD1 Grand Prix Kei Office and DG-5S15 Silvia of driver and employeeYasuyuki 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 inVideo Option alongside fellow racing driversManabu Orido andNobuteru Taniguchi, a monthly video magazine, similar to Hot Version except regularly covers the D1GP and its sister video magazineDrift Tengoku which deals purely with drifting.
He has been an editorial supervisor on the televisedanimeInitial D andWangan Midnight. He also appeared in the semi biographical filmShuto 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 theInitial 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, Bunta; in the Third Stage, a motorcycle rider wearing a similar racing suit overtakes Takumi as he was en route to an invitation 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 oppositeTop Gear'sJeremy Clarkson in a Motorworld in Japan special showing drifting competition in the mid 1990s in Japan.
After 1995, he sometimes appeared as aFormula One guest commentator in JapaneseFuji TV.
In 2006, he made acameo as a fisherman in the movieThe Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift in which he served as a stuntman.[2][3]
In 2014, he announced a joint venture with the King of Europe Drift ProSeries in order to create the King of Asia ProSeries. He would also act as one of the main judges for several important races in the King of Europe ProSeries, being called in as a guest representative throughout the years.
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | DC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Team Taisan | Nissan Skyline GT-R | JTC-1 | SUG Ret | SUZ 2 | TSU 2 | SEN 3 | AUT 4 | FUJ 3 | 5th | 128 | |||
| 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 |
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | DC | pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Team Kunimitsu | Honda Civic Ferio | AUT 1 | AUT 2 | SUG 1 8 | SUG 2 4 | TOK 1 | TOK 2 | SUZ 1 17 | SUZ 2 16 | MIN 1 Ret | MIN 2 Ret | AID 1 16 | AID 2 11 | TSU 1 8 | TSU 2 4 | SEN 1 13 | SEN 2 11 | FUJ 1 13 | FUJ 2 Ret | 16th | 20 |
| 1995 | Team Kunimitsu | Honda Civic Ferio | FUJ 1 | FUJ 2 | SUG 1 21 | SUG 2 Ret | TOK 1 23 | TOK 2 Ret | SUZ 1 Ret | SUZ 2 12 | MIN 1 23 | MIN 2 9 | AID 1 13 | AID 2 Ret | SEN 1 22 | SEN 2 Ret | FUJ 1 6 | FUJ 2 21 | 21st | 7 | ||
| 1997 | Tsuchiya Engineering | Toyota Chaser | FUJ 1 | FUJ 2 | AID 1 | AID 2 | SUG 1 | SUG 2 | SUZ 1 | SUZ 2 | MIN 1 | MIN 2 | SEN 1 | SEN 2 | TOK 1 | TOK 2 | FUJ 1 14 | FUJ 2 10 | 23rd | 1 | ||
| 1998 | Tsuchiya Engineering | Toyota Chaser | FUJ 1 3 | FUJ 2 8 | MOT 7 | SUG 1 5 | SUG 2 6 | SUZ 1 Ret | SUZ 2 4 | MIN 1 8 | MIN 2 5 | AID 4 | FUJ 3 | 7th | 63 |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics 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 GTS-R | 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 DSQ | 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 |
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 |  KremerHonda Racing Team Kunimitsu | Kunimitsu TakahashiAkira Iida | Honda NSX | GT2 | 222 | 18th | 9th |
| 1995 | Team KunimitsuHonda | Kunimitsu TakahashiAkira Iida | Honda NSX | GT2 | 275 | 8th | 1st |
| 1996 | Team KunimitsuHonda | Kunimitsu TakahashiAkira Iida | Honda NSX | GT2 | 305 | 16th | 3rd |
| 1997 | Team Lark McLaren Parabolica Motorsports | Akihiko NakayaGary Ayles | McLaren F1 GTR | GT1 | 88 | DNF | DNF |
| 1998 | Toyota MotorsportsToyota Team Europe | Ukyo KatayamaToshio Suzuki | Toyota GT-One | GT1 | 326 | 9th | 8th |
| 1999 | Toyota MotorsportsToyota Team Europe | Ukyo KatayamaToshio Suzuki | Toyota GT-One | LMGTP | 364 | 2nd | 1st |
| 2000 | TV AsahiTeam Dragon | Akira IidaMasahiko Kondo | Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S | LMP900 | 330 | 8th | 7th |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
| International | |
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| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
