was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

racing driver, the son of

Nobuhide Tachi is a former Japanese racing driver, and the co-founder of TOM'S, a Japanese racing team and tuner for Toyota and Lexus. His son, Shingo was also a racing driver. Career Racing career Tachi was born in Suzuka, Japan. Kenji Mimura, the founder ...

(舘信秀), founder and head of TOM's, the motorsport side of

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

. Tachi raced in British

Formula Vauxhall In science, a formula is a concise way of expressing information symbolically, as in a mathematical formula or a ''chemical formula''. The informal use of the term ''formula'' in science refers to the general construct of a relationship betwe ...

with Rowan Racing in 1994 and 1995 before switching to British Formula 3 in 1996 with a

Dallara Dallara is an Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Gian Paolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' Melegari (Parma), Italy he created ...

-Toyota prepared by Team Magic Racing. He had a good season finishing 2nd in Class B. He returned to race in the Japanese F3 series in 1997 and 1998 finishing 3rd. He also won the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) GT300 class championship in 1998, driving a

Toyota MR2 The Toyota MR2 is a line of two-seat, mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive sports cars manufactured in Japan and marketed globally by Toyota from 1984 until 2007 over three generations: W10 (1984–1989), W20 (1989–1999) and W30 (2000–2007). It ...

for

Team Taisan Jr. Team Taisan (チーム・タイサン, stylized as Team TAISAN) is a Japanese auto racing team founded in 1983 by Yasutsune "Ricky" Chiba and owned by the Taisan Industrial Company. Most active in the Super GT Series, formerly known as the All ...

with Tsuchiya Engineering. Partnered with veteran co-driver

Keiichi Suzuki is a Japanese musician, singer, and record producer who co-founded the Moonriders, a group that became one of Japan's most innovative rock bands. He is known to audiences outside Japan for his musical contributions to the video games ''Mother'' ...

, Tachi won a record five out of six races in 1998, and scored 106 points en route to winning the title. He was killed the following year when testing a GT500 category

Toyota Supra is a sports car and grand tourer manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation beginning in 1978. The name " supra" is derived from the Latin prefix, meaning "above", "to surpass" or "go beyond". The initial four generations of the Supra were ...

at the

TI Circuit Okayama International Circuit (岡山国際サーキット), formerly known as TI Circuit Aida (TIサーキット英田) before 2005, is a private motorsport race track in Mimasaka, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. TI was the abbreviation of "Ta ...

, Okayama, Japan. There was a technical failure and Tachi failed to slow down for the first corner, crashing into the tyre wall at unabated speed. He suffered massive chest injuries from the steering wheel and died an hour later. Before his death, Tachi had signed for

Team LeMans Le Mans Ltd., headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo is an automobile parts manufacturer founded in 1967. The original company name was Le Mans Chamber of Commerce. The company is mainly engaged in the development and sales of motorsport parts and the ...

in JGTC alongside former

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

driver

Hideki Noda is a Japanese professional racing driver. He participated in three Formula One Grands Prix, débuting in the 1994 European Grand Prix, but did not score any championship points. He replaced Yannick Dalmas in the Larrousse car for the last thre ...

, and was also set to make his

Formula Nippon The Japanese Super Formula Championship is a formula racing series. It is considered as being the top level of single-seater racing in Japan and regional motorsports in Asia. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and ...

debut for Team TMS.

Complete JGTC Results

References

1977 births 1999 deaths Japanese racing drivers Racing drivers who died while racing Formula Nippon drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers Japanese Formula 3 Championship drivers Sport deaths in Japan {{Japan-autoracing-bio-stub TOM'S drivers