| BEFORE FORMULA ONE | ||
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Background
When the Kat disses you, you're in big trouble, kiddo |
Born on 5 September, 1963 in Kobe, allegedly the son of a slot-machine magnate (though the man himself denies wealthy
family), Takachiho Inoue had the unfortunate combination of being untalented, moneyed and Japanese. In Formula One terms, that he would be much-maligned was his birthright. Some cases in point, perhaps. This is the man whom even Ukyo Katayama described as "rubbish". The Bluffer's Guide to F1, which depicts the sport as one where the aim is to throw a car at a wall, as a result names Inoue as an example of the perfect F1 driver. |
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Background
Synonomous in the F1 world with incompetence - almost unfairly, perhaps? |
When Johnny Herbert first tested the 1995
Benetton and was 2.5 seconds slower than Michael Schumacher, in hindsight he
And of course, Taki has a well known 'UnApPrEcIaTiOn PaGe' dedicated to him on the 'net. As a result, many would regard him as the worst-ever Grand Prix driver. But let Autosport in its 1995 review bat for poor Taki: "he cheerfully accepted his limitations, although he would occasionally put in quite a respectable time on a circuit he knew." |
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1987-94
Sponsorship plays its part as Taki drowns in comparatively poor results. |
Right from the start Inoue showed that he was bound for loserdom. He raced in the Fuji Freshman touring car series in Japan in 1985, before doing Formula Fords in Britain in 1987-8, and in the early 1990s he returned to his homeland to compete in F3. In 1992 he scored 2 fourth places and was 10th overall. He improved by one spot the next year, once again just missing out on the podium twice.
In 1994 he returned to Europe to race in F3000 with David Sears' new Super Nova operation as team-mate to Vincenzo Sospiri. Driving a Reynard, while Sospiri was in championship contention right to the end, Inoue failed to score a point, his best being 9th at Estoril, where he qualified a creditable 7th. |
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| FORMULA ONE | ||
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1994 Simtek Not the easiest GP debut for Japan's Taki-san... |
Late in 1994, though, Inoue secured a one-race deal to make his F1 debut at Suzuka for the beleaguered
Simtek team. Though he was 3.4 seconds slower than team-mate David Brabham who was 24th on the grid, and 3.1 seconds slower than
Mika Salo's Lotus on 25th spot, Inoue somehow made the field by virtue of the fact that both Pacifics were slower than him still.
In the rain-soaked mayhem on race day, though, he was eliminated at the end of lap 3 when he aquaplaned into the wall on pit straight, whilst countryman Katayama did the same simultaneously ("rubbish" indeed!). |
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1995 Arrows Hefty fine after Inoue spins - thankfully, this was a one off (the fine, not the spins!) |
For 1995, though, Inoue returned as the Arrows/Hart team, short of funds, took a gamble with him, hoping that
Gianni Morbidelli in the other car might produce some results. In what turned out to be a highly eventful season, nothing less than a blow-by-blow account would suffice.
In Brazil he qualified in 21st, before retiring at two-thirds distance with a fire on board. Across the border in Argentina, he spun in practice, and the Arrows team was fined US$20,000 for not having a wheel-decoupling device as the regulations demanded. Inoue went on to qualify 26th and last, 10.2 seconds slower than Morbidelli and 14 seconds behind pole-sitter David Coulthard. In the race, he spun out. At Imola he crashed early after starting 19th. |
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1995
Safety car can't rescue Captain Chaos |
In Spain he had another engine fire after starting a much-improved 18th. Then in Monaco he was Captain Chaos again, when he was hit, of all things, by the safety car. In Saturday practice, he had stopped on the track, and was being towed back when the session was over with Inoue still in the car.
Meanwhile, French rally ace Jean Ragnotti had decided to take the Renault safety car out for a spin, and he hit the Arrows coming into the swimming pool section. The F1 car was written off as it flipped. Inoue did not have his belts on, but he had his helmet on, and a chunk was taken out of that! He was fortunate that concussion was all he got. Eventually starting the race last, he was put out by a gearbox failure. |
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1995
Makes Ukyo look a bit stupid |
He somehow kept going in Canada and finished 9th. Then in France, he started 20th, one spot ahead of the man who rubbished
him, Ukyo Katayama.
The Kat got his revenge, though, by colliding with his fellow kamikaze on the first lap. Another spin then put Inoue out at Silverstone, and he had another gearbox failure early on in Germany. |
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1995
Hungarian marshals play tenpins with a certain unlucky Japanese driver |
Then came Hungary, and for the first time he outqualified his team-mate, now Massimiliano Papis, by starting 20th. But it was only after his engine failed on lap 14 that his real fun began.
Having stopped on the edge of the track, his engine steaming, Inoue got out and began to berate the two marshals on the scene for not getting the fire extinguishers out. One of them finally ambled to the armco to get an extinguisher, but Inoue, in a hurry, followed the poor soul and seized the canister from him. As he turned back towards his stricken Arrows, Inoue failed to see the marshals' vehicle heading towards him along the grass, and he was given an almighty clout. Amazingly, he ended up on his feet, but after a moment's delayed reaction, he clutched at his broken left leg and fell to the ground. Even more amazingly, one of the marshals on the spot hurriedly took the extinguisher which he had now dropped, without tending to the hapless driver writhing on the deck! |
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1995
Caught up in title race collision. But finishes in Japan! |
Recovering in time for Belgium, Inoue again outqualified Papis, and this time made his home 12th. In Italy he started 22nd, and then got caught up in the battle between
Michael Schumacher
and Damon Hill.
Having let the German by, Hill claims that Inoue blocked him, and that distraction caused him to brake late once he was alongside the Arrows, and ram the back of the Benetton in yet another controversial collision between the title contenders. At Estoril Inoue was 15th, and at the Nurburgring he failed to get off the start line from 23rd spot after his electrics played up. At Aida he had another Hart engine failure, but he managed to finish 12th (and last) on home soil at Suzuka. |
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1995-96
Off to Minardi, 'till sponsor pull out puts Taki's career in a spin |
For the final race of the season in Australia, he started 21st, and then spun into the wall having been preoccupied with watching Schumacher in his mirrors as he was about to be lapped. With that his season, in which he spent as much time off the track as on it, was over.
But for 1996 he was seemingly going to get another chance, much to everyone else's dismay, when Minardi needed his money. He was said to be bringing a quarter of Minardi's budget, but before the season opener in Melbourne, one of Inoue's sponsors pulled out, and he was replaced by the infinitely more able Giancarlo Fisichella. |
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| AFTER FORMULA ONE | ||
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1996
No money spells curtains for Inoue |
Since money has been at the centre of Taki Inoue's motor-racing career, it's probably not surprising that, once a major sponsor had pulled out, his career was just about killed off. As a result, in his post-F1 career, he only seems to appear a few times.
One was in the BPR Global Endurance Series 1000km race at Suzuka in mid-1996. He was to drive a Konrad Porsche with Robert Nearn and Bert Ploeg, and in typical fashion he crashed the car into the tyres on Friday practice. In 1999 he tried doing some Japanese GT races in a Ferrari F355. Competing in 4 races, he did, as you could expect, stuff all. |
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