is a Japanese professional racing driver. He participated in three

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

Grands Prix, debuting in the

1994 European Grand Prix The 1994 European Grand Prix (formally the XXXIX Gran Premio de Europa) was a Formula One motor race held on 16 October 1994 at the Circuito Permanente de Jerez, Jerez, Spain. It was the fourteenth race of the 1994 Formula One World Championsh ...

, but did not score any championship points. He replaced

Yannick Dalmas Yannick Dalmas (; born 28 July 1961) is a former racing driver from France. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times (in 1992, 1994, 1995 and 1999), each with different teams. Prior to this, he participated in 49 Formula One Grands Prix, debuti ...

in the

Larrousse Larrousse Formula One was a motorsports racing team founded in 1987 by Didier Calmels and former racer Gérard Larrousse, originally under the name Larrousse & Calmels. It was based in Antony, Hauts-de-Seine, Antony, in the southern suburbs of Pa ...

car for the last three Grands Prix of the season, but failed to finish in any of the three races. In 1995, he joined

Simtek Simtek (Simulation Technology) was an engineering consultancy firm and Formula One racing team. The Formula One (F1) engineering consultancy arm, Simtek Research, was founded in 1989 by Max Mosley and Nick Wirth. It originally was involved i ...

as a test driver, hoping to get some races in. However, the

Kobe earthquake The Great Hanshin Earthquake (, ) occurred on January 17, 1995, at 05:46:53 JST in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, including the region of Hanshin. It measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale and had a maximum intensity of 7 o ...

and the folding of the Simtek team ended his brief Formula 1 career. A year later, Noda went to America and raced in the

Indy Lights Indy NXT (pronounced "Indy Next"), previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as INDY NXT by Firestone for sponsorship reasons. Indy NXT is the highest step on the Roa ...

and became the only Japanese driver to win a CART-sanctioned event. After a few years in America, Noda moved back to Japan, where he drove a Team Cerumo Toyota Supra with

Hironori Takeuchi Hironori Takeuchi (born December 22, 1964, in Kanagawa) is a Japanese auto racing driver. Career Takeuchi competed in the Japanese Touring Car Championship between 1996 and 1998.http://www.driverdb.com/drivers/3522/career/ Career statistics at Dri ...

. In the annual non-championship All-Star event at Aida, Noda and Takeuchi were forced out with mechanical problems. In 1999, he joined the Esso Tiger Team Le Mans under Koichiro Mori, again to drive a Toyota Supra, ex-Australian V8 Supercar driver

Wayne Gardner Wayne Michael Gardner (born 11 October 1959) is an Australian former professional motorcycle and touring car racer. He competed in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from to , most prominently as a member of the Honda factor ...

. The highlight of their season was a win at Fuji. With 33 points, they were equal 17th in the series. In 2002, Noda returned to the United States and drove in six

Indy Racing League IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing Governing body, sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two Auto racing, racing series: the premier IndyCar Serie ...

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

races for Convergent Racing and Indy Regency Racing with a best finish of 10th at

Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix Raceway (formerly known as ISM Raceway from 2018–2020, Phoenix International Raceway from 1964–1973 and 1976–2017, and FasTrack International Speedway from 1973–1976) is a dogleg oval track in Avondale, Arizona. The track has ...

while with Convergent. He also competed in a round of the inaugural

A1 Grand Prix A1 Grand Prix Operations Ltd. operated as A1 Grand Prix (A1GP) was a "single-make" open-wheel auto racing series that ran from 2005 until 2009. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themse ...

season with Japan at

Lausitz Lusatia (; ; ; ; ; ), otherwise known as Sorbia, is a region in Central Europe, formerly entirely in Germany and today territorially split between Germany and modern-day Poland. Lusatia stretches from the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers in the east ...

, where he scored three points for the Japanese team.

Career

Formula One (1994-1995)

Noda replaced French driver

towards the end of the 1994 season at the

European Grand Prix The European Grand Prix (also known as the Grand Prix of Europe) was a Formula One event that was introduced during the mid-1980s and was held every year from to , except in . During these years, the European Grand Prix was held in a countr ...

Jerez Jerez de la Frontera () or simply Jerez, also cited in old English-language sources as , is a city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Located in southwestern Iberia, it lies on the Campi� ...

. After qualifying 24th behind his teammate

Érik Comas Érik Gilbert Comas (; born 28 September 1963) is a French former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . In Japanese motorsport, Comas won the All-Japan GT Championship in 1998 and 1999 with Nismo. He won the French Formula ...

, he retired due to gearbox failure. At his home race in Japan, Noda was 23rd on the grid but retired again due, this time due to an electrical fault. His last Grand Prix saw him 23rd on the grid at

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, this time out qualifying his new teammate

Jean-Denis Délétraz Jean-Denis is a masculine given name, and may refer to: * Jean Denis Attiret (1702–1768), French painter and missionary * Jean-Denis Bredin (1929–2021), French attorney * Jean-Denis Cochin (1726–1783), French priest * Jean-Denis Constant ...

. Noda again retired, this time due to an oil leak. In 1995, Noda was due to drive for

in Canada but the team withdrew from F1 before he could. In his last attempt to drive in F1, he was denied his super license, preventing him from driving for

Forti Forti Corse, commonly known as Forti, was an Italian motor racing team chiefly known for its brief and unsuccessful involvement in Formula One in the mid-1990s. It was established in the late 1970s and competed in lower formulae for two decades. ...

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 "Tanak ...

for the

Pacific Grand Prix The Pacific Grand Prix () was a round of the Formula One World Championship twice in the mid-1990s and non-championship events in the 1960s. The non-championship events were held at Laguna Seca in the United States from 1960 through 1963. The ...

A1 Grand Prix (2005–2009)

In 2005, Noda was announced as the second driver for the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

entry for the 2005-06 A1 Grand Prix season, second to

Ryo Fukuda Ryo may refer to: * Ryō, a gold currency unit in pre-Meiji Japan Shakkanhō system * Ryō (actress) (born 1973), Japanese model, actress, and singer * Ryō (given name), a unisex Japanese given name * Ryo, Georgia, an unincorporated community in G ...

. His first race for the team came at the

second round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

, where he qualified in 21st place. In sprint race, Noda managed to move up 11 places to finish 10th and score one point for Japan. The feature race saw Noda finish one place higher in ninth place, scoring a further two points for the Japanese A1 GP team. Japan finished 21st at the end of the season, with eight points.

Personal life

Noda's daughter Juju is also a racing driver, who competed in the W Series.

Racing record

Complete Japanese Formula 3 Championship results

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

Complete British Formula Three Championship results

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

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

Complete Japanese Formula 3000/Formula Nippon results

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

Complete Formula One results

( key)

American open-wheel racing results

( key) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Indy Lights

Indy Racing League

Complete JGTC/Super GT results

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

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Footnotes

References

All Formula One race and championship results are taken from: * ''Official Formula 1 Website. Archive: Results for 1994 season'
www.formula1.com
Retrieved 7 July 2006 All IRL race and championship results are taken from: * ''Official IRL Website. Archive: Results for 2002 season'
IndyCar.com
Retrieved 7 July 2006

External links

Hideki Noda Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noda, Hideki 1969 births Living people Japanese racing drivers Japanese Formula One drivers Larrousse Formula One drivers IndyCar Series drivers Japanese IndyCar Series drivers Indy Lights drivers A1 Team Japan drivers Japanese Formula 3000 Championship drivers Formula Nippon drivers International Formula 3000 drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers American Le Mans Series drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Super GT drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers Dandelion Racing drivers TOM'S drivers Team LeMans drivers Alan Docking Racing drivers A1 Grand Prix drivers Carlin racing drivers Racing drivers from Osaka