Japanese racing legend Kunimitsu Takahashi dies aged 82

In a career spanning five decades, Takahashi was a pioneer for Japanese riders in grand prix motorcycle racing before embarking on a successful career on four wheels that took him to victories in single-seaters, sports prototypes and touring cars.

Since his retirement from professional racing at the age of 59, Takahashi has remained a fixture on Japan’s motorsport scene via team ownership, with his eponymous Team Kunimitsu outfit having scored two SUPER GT titles in 2018 and 2020.

Having emerged as a leading talent on Japan’s domestic bike racing scene in the late 1950s as a teenager, Takahashi was selected as a Honda works rider for the brand’s assault on the FIM Road Racing World Championship in 1960.

The following year, he became the first Japanese rider to win a race in any class when he took victory in the West German GP in the 250cc class at Hockenheim at the age of 21. He would pick up a further three GP wins in the 125cc class, all with Honda machinery.

A life-threatening crash in the Isle of Man TT in 1962 and subsequent loss of form convinced Takahashi to turn his attention to car racing in 1965. Joining Nissan, he contributed to the success of cars like the R380 prototype and Skyline 2000 GT-R touring car during the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Japan’s national scene was still in its infancy.

Kunimitsu Takahashi, Tyrrell 007

Photo by: David Phipps

Although he would remain competitive in single-seaters well into the 1980s, Takahashi’s biggest career successes would come in sportscars. In 1985-87, he took three consecutive titles in the All-Japan Sports Prototype series driving a Nova Engineering-run Porsche 962 and added a fourth crown to his resume in 1989.

By then, Takahashi had established himself as a