Keiichi Tsuchiya facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Keiichi Tsuchiya |
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Tsuchiya at Super GT Malaysia Round in 2025
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| Born | January 30, 1956 (age 69) Tōmi, Nagano, Japan |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
| Years | 1994–2000 |
| Teams | Team Kunimitsu Honda, Team Lark McLaren, Toyota Team Europe, TV Asahi Team Dragon |
| Best finish | 2nd (1999) |
| Class wins | 2 (1995, 1999) |
Keiichi Tsuchiya (born January 30, 1956) is a famous Japanese race car driver. He is known as the Drift King because he helped make drifting popular in motorsports. Drifting is a special way of driving where the driver makes the car slide sideways. Keiichi Tsuchiya used drifting even in races where it wasn't usually done. He also won two big races at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and was a runner-up in the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship. He is also famous for driving fast on mountain roads, which is called "touge driving."
His favorite car, a Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno, became very popular because of him. In Japan, this car is often called "Hachi-Roku," which means "eight-six." A video series called 'The Touge' showed Tsuchiya driving his AE86 on mountain roads.
Keiichi Tsuchiya also worked as a helper for the popular Japanese cartoon series Initial D. He even appeared in some episodes. He also helped with car stunts and appeared in the movie The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.
Biography
Keiichi Tsuchiya started his racing career in 1977. Unlike many drivers who came from rich families, he learned his amazing driving skills from street racing. He became well-known in the underground racing scene.
Racing Achievements
Tsuchiya raced in many important championships in Japan. He drove different cars like a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth and a Nissan Skyline GT-R. Later, he raced a Honda Civic in other car championships.
He achieved a class win and finished 8th overall at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans race. He was driving a Honda NSX in that race. In 1999, he raced in the same event with a Toyota GT-One. His team was close to winning, but another car caused a tire problem. Even after that, they still finished second, which was a great achievement.
Drifting and Beyond
When Tsuchiya was starting his professional racing career, he almost lost his racing license. This was because he was recording illegal street races for a video series. Later, he advised other street racers to stop illegal racing if they wanted to become professional drivers.
After he stopped racing professionally, Tsuchiya became a team director for the ARTA JGTC Team. He also owned a car parts company called Kei Office. Later, he started a new company called DG-5. In 2011, he helped create a new amateur drifting series called Drift Muscle, where he also worked as a judge.
His special color is jade green. This color appears on his racing suit and helmet. It was also the color of cars from his former company, Kei Office.
Keiichi Tsuchiya also hosts a video magazine called "Best Motoring." This magazine shows tests of new Japanese cars. It has a special part called "Hot Version" that focuses on cars that have been changed for better performance. He also appears in another video magazine called Video Option, which covers drifting events.
He was a supervisor for the TV cartoon series Initial D and Wangan Midnight. His own driving life is very similar to the main character in Initial D, Takumi. Both of them learned to drive on mountain roads while helping their family businesses. Tsuchiya even made a few small appearances in the Initial D series. He also appeared on the TV show Top Gear in a special episode about drifting in Japan.
After 1995, he sometimes worked as a guest commentator for Formula One races on Japanese TV. In 2014, he helped create a new drifting series in Asia called King of Asia ProSeries. He also judged some important races in the King of Europe ProSeries.
Images for kids
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A Nissan Skyline GT-R like the one Tsuchiya drove.
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Keiichi Tsuchiya in 2008, as an advisor for ARTA.
