Team Taisan (チーム・タイサン, stylized as Team TAISAN) is a Japanese

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

team founded in 1983 by Yasutsune "Ricky" Chiba (3 April 1945 - 7 June 2024) and owned by the Taisan Industrial Company. Most active in the Super GT Series, formerly known as the

All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) is a grand touring car racing series that began in 1993. Originally titled as the , the series was renamed to Super GT in 2005. It was the top level of sports car racing in Japan. The series was s ...

(JGTC), Taisan has been involved in all but one season from 1994 to 2018, taking a sabbatical in 2015. During that time they have won eight team championships and four drivers championships, representing manufacturers

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence, Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

, and

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

. Team Taisan has also participated in the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

, winning their class on their debut in . For nearly their entire career, Taisan has been sponsored by tire manufacturer

Yokohama Rubber Company is a Japanese manufacturing company based in Hiratsuka, Japan. The company was founded and began on October 13, 1917, in a joint venture between Yokohama Cable Manufacturing and BFGoodrich. In 1969, the company expanded to the United States ...

, often carrying the name of Yokohama's Advan brand.

History

Endless Taisan 911 2013 Tokyo Auto Salon

The team was initially formed through and their efforts in the All Japan Endurance Championship and

Fuji Long Distance Series The was a Japanese endurance championship which took place mainly at Fuji Speedway, Fuji International Speedway. The series began in 1977 and until 1984 was an independent championship with three rounds, all held at Fuji. In the first two season ...

. Taisan operated one of the teams' Porsche 962C with drivers

Kunimitsu Takahashi was a Japanese professional motorcycle road racer, racing driver, and team manager. Nicknamed "Kuni-san", he is known as the "father of drifting". His racing career lasted from 1958 to 1999. He competed on motorcycles between 1958 and 1963, ...

and Kenji Takahashi. Kunimitsu went on to win the Endurance Championship three times from 1985 to 1987, while Nova Engineering won the team championships in the Fuji Long Distance Series those same years. Taisan expanded their program to include the

Japanese Touring Car Championship The Japanese Touring Car Championship (abbr: 1985–1993: JTC, 1994–1998: JTCC, officially known as All Japan Touring Car Championship, ) was a former touring car racing series held in Japan. The series was held under various regulations during ...

in 1989 with

BMW M3 The BMW M3 is a high-performance version of the BMW 3 Series, developed by BMW's in-house motorsport division, BMW M GmbH. M3 models have been produced for every generation of 3 Series since the E30 M3 was introduced in 1986. The initial mod ...

s, adding Briton

Will Hoy William Ewing Hoy (2 April 1952 – 19 December 2002) was a British racing driver and the 1991 British Touring Car Champion, the highlight of a 20-year career in motor racing. Biography Born in Melbourn, Cambridgeshire, Hoy did not begin racing ...

to the team in 1990. A

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...

category

Nissan Skyline GT-R The is a Japanese sports car based on the Nissan Skyline range. The first cars named "Skyline GT-R" were produced between 1969 and 1972 under the model code KPGC10, and were successful in Japanese touring car racing events. This model was fol ...

was added to the team in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

for Kenji Takahashi and

Keiichi Tsuchiya is a Japanese professional race car driver. He is known as the for his nontraditional use of drifting in non-drifting racing events and his role in popularizing drifting as a motorsport. In professional racing, he is a two-time 24 Hours of Le ...

while their BMWs continued in the lower JTC-2 category. Kunimitsu replaced Kenji in the Skyline for

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

before Kunimitsu and Tsuchiya left to form their own racing team and the JTCC eliminated the Group A cars from the series, leaving the team with a single

Super Touring Super Touring, Class 2 or Class II was a auto racing, motor racing touring car category defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for national touring car racing in 1993. It was based on the "2 litre Touring Car Form ...

BMW for Kazuo Mogi in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

. Taisan returned to sports car racing in

in the new All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, the team participating with one of their former 962Cs and teamed alongside a

Ferrari F40 The Ferrari F40 (Type F120) is a Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, mid-engine, rear-wheel drive sports car engineered by Nicola Materazzi with styling by Pininfarina. It was built from 1987 until 1992, with the LM and GTE race car version ...

Masahiko Kondo Masahiko (written: 正彦, 雅彦, 誠彦, 昌彦, 允彦, 政彦, 真彦, 正比古 or まさ彦) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, an officer in the Imperial Japanese Army imprisoned for his involvement ...

and

Anthony Reid Robert Anthony Maxwell Reid is a British racing driver, born on 17 May 1957 in Glasgow, Scotland. He was educated at Loretto School in Edinburgh. He lives in England. Formula cars He spent many years in Formula Three and other junior single-s ...

won one race for the Porsche while Tetsuya Ota and

Oscar Larrauri Oscar Rubén Larrauri (born 19 August 1954) is a racing driver from Argentina. He participated in 21 Formula One Grands Prix, all with the EuroBrun team, debuting at the 1988 Brazilian Grand Prix. He scored no championship points, only qualify ...

earned one victory in the Ferrari. A switch to a pair of

Porsche 911 GT2 The Porsche 911 GT2 is a high-performance, track-focused sports car built by the German automobile manufacturer Porsche from 1993 to 2009, and then since 2010 as the GT2 RS. It is based on the Porsche 911 Turbo, 911 Turbo, and uses a similar twin ...

s earned three GT1 victories in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

and the teams championship for the GT1 category, while the team also added a GT2 class campaign under the Team Taisan Jr. moniker for a

Porsche 964 The Porsche 964 is a model of the Porsche 911 sports car manufactured and sold between 1989 and 1994. Designed by Benjamin Dimson through January 1986, it featured significant styling revisions over previous 911 models, most prominently the more i ...

. Taisan Jr. became a dominant team in the rechristened GT300 class, winning the drivers and teams championships in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, followed by second place in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

and another championship in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

while campaigning a new

Toyota MR2 The Toyota MR2 is a line of two-seater, MR layout, 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 (1999� ...

in cooperation with Tsuchiya Engineering. Taisan's success led to the team being invited to participate in the

in for the LMGT category. Their Porsche 911 GT3-R, driven by

Hideo Fukuyama is a retired Japanese racing driver. A former competitor at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, he attempted to compete in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series in the early 2000s, but only qualified for four races before leaving the series. He was the first Japan ...

, Atsushi Yogo, and

Bruno Lambert Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters * Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne ...

won the category by a six-lap margin. Upon returning to Japan, Taisan began a streak of four consecutive GT300 team championships from

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

–

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, including a drivers championship with Fukuyama in 2000. Another Le Mans also earned the team a podium finish in their class for . Taisan downsized to a single Porsche team from 2004 onward as the JGTC transitioned to the new Super GT Series; Taisan eventually joined with Endless for a joint program that earned them another drivers and teams championships in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. The team expanded once again in 2013, retaining the Porsche in Super GT while joining the new

Asian Le Mans Series The Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS) is an Asian sports car racing endurance series created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and based in Asia. It is the successor to the defunct Japan Le Mans Challenge which folded in 2007 after its second s ...

with a

Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 The Ferrari 458 Italia (Type F142) is an Italian Mid-engine design, mid-engine sports car produced by Ferrari. The 458 is the successor of the Ferrari F430, F430, and was first officially unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show#2009, 2009 Frankfu ...

, winning the series championship and earning the team an automatic invitation to Le Mans, their first since . A difficult 2014 season with a new

Nissan GT-R The Nissan GT-R (''Gran Turismo–Racing''; model code: R35; Japanese: 日産・GT-R; ''Nissan GT-R'') is a series of cars built by Japanese marque Nissan from 2007 to 2025. It has a 2+2 (car body style), 2+2 seating layout and is considered b ...

led Taisan to take a sabbatical year from Super GT, returning in 2016 with an

Audi R8 LMS The Audi R8 is a mid-engine, 2-seater sports car, which uses Audi's trademark quattro permanent all-wheel drive system. It was introduced by the German car manufacturer Audi AG in 2006. Production ended in the first quarter of 2024. The car i ...

in cooperation with

SARD Carnelian (also spelled cornelian) is a brownish-red mineral commonly used as a semiprecious stone. Similar to carnelian is sard, which is generally harder and darker; the difference is not rigidly defined, and the two names are often used int ...

. Team Taisan also began to embrace

electric motorsport Electric motorsport is a category of motor sport that consists of the racing of electric powered vehicles for competition, either in all-electric series, or in open-series against vehicles with different powertrains. Very early in the history o ...

by participating in the All Japan EV-GP Series in 2011 with Tesla Roadsters as well as a modified

Porsche 914 The Porsche 914 or VW-Porsche 914 is a mid-engined sports car designed, manufactured and marketed collaboratively by Volkswagen and Porsche from 1969 until 1976. It was only available as a targa-topped two-seat roadster powered by either a ...

, winning the 2011 championship. The team also began developing electric

karts Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size moto ...

. In 2018 Chiba announced an auction of many former Taisan racing cars dating back to the early 1990s, including several JGTC and Super GT machines. Chiba also announced at the conclusion of the

2018 Super GT season Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number) * One of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * 18 (film), ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short story ''God's Dice'' * Eighteen (film), ...

that the team would cease participation in Super GT, instead concentrating solely on electric motorsports. File:TaisanGT-R.jpg, 1991 Nissan Skyline GT-R Group A File:No.35 TAISAN STARCARD 962C at 1994 Japan GT Championship.jpg, 1994 Porsche 962C File:Ferrari F40 TAISAN STARCARD No40 01.jpg, 1994 Ferrari F40 File:Endless Taisan 911 2012 Super GT Sugo free practice.jpg, 2012 Porsche 911 GT3 R File:Naoki Yokomizo 2014 Super GT Suzuka Q1.jpg, 2014 Nissan GT-R GT3 File:No.26 TAISAN SARD R8 FUKUSHIMA at SUZUKA 1000km THE FINAL (13).jpg, 2017 Audi R8 LMS

Complete race results

Complete JGTC Results

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

Complete Super GT Results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) Note: Non-championship races (NC1,NC2) are major races that did not count towards the championship.

References

{{reflist Japanese auto racing teams 1983 establishments in Japan Auto racing teams established in 1983 24 Hours of Le Mans teams Super GT teams