Taki Inoue

Taki Inoue

Nation:	Japan
Formula 1 world championship
First start:	1994 Japanese Grand Prix
Last start:	1995 Australian Grand Prix
Constructors
1994  Simtek  1995  Footwork
statistics
World Cup balance:	no World Cup placement
Starts Victories Poles SR 18th - - -
World Cup points :	-
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

Takachiho "Taki" Inoue ( Japanese 井上 隆 智 穂 , Inoue Takachiho ; born September 5, 1963 in Kobe ) is a former Japanese automobile racing driver . In 1994 and 1995 he contested a total of 18 Formula 1 races, but could not collect any championship points. Inoue is considered a classic pay driver and described himself in an interview in 2013 as “one of the worst Formula 1 drivers of all time”.

Career

Junior series and first Formula 1 experience

Inoue came to the UK from Japan in 1987. There he completed an apprenticeship at the Jim Russell Racing School. In 1988 Inoue took part in the British Formula Ford Championship, 1989-1993 in the Japanese Formula 3 Championship , with his best result of the ninth championship in 1993 was. In 1994 Inoue started in Formula 3000 , but could not achieve any championship points there and was often involved in accidents he was responsible for himself.

Inoue made his first entry into Formula 1 with sponsorship from Japanese companies in 1994 , when he competed in the Japanese Grand Prix for the British team Simtek . As expected, he qualified for last place on the grid, more than three seconds behind his team-mate David Brabham . On lap three Inoue slipped off the track due to heavy rain and had to end the race.

1995 Formula 1 season at Footwork

Inoues Footwork after his training accident at the Monaco Grand Prix

These rather bad experiences did not stop Inoue from buying a seat with the British team Footwork, also known as Arrows , for the 1995 season with sponsorship money totaling 4.5 million US dollars . In none of the 17 races of the season did he manage to achieve a better result with the Footwork FA16 than his teammates Gianni Morbidelli or Massimiliano Papis .

There were notable incidents of the season during Saturday practice at the Monaco Grand Prix when his car hit the guardrails with blocked wheels. During the subsequent removal, the training was already over , the safety car driven by French rally driver Jean Ragnotti collided with the footwork, which then overturned. Inoue was sitting in his car at the time and suffered a slight concussion because he had not fastened the seat belt. Despite this incident, Inoue was able to contest the race the next day, but retired due to a gearbox failure.

Also worth mentioning is an incident at the Hungarian Grand Prix when Inoue, who got out of his broken-down car, was hit by the medical car and suffered a slight injury to his leg. For the next race of the season in Belgium Inoue had recovered sufficiently.

His best result of the season was eighth in the Italian Grand Prix , in which a total of ten cars crossed the finish line.

According to Formula 1

For the 1996 season , a contract had already been signed with the Italian team Minardi , which cost Inoue 3 million US dollars. Shortly before the start of the season, however, the contract was canceled because one of his sponsors left. In the end, Giancarlo Fisichella , who was active in Formula 1 until 2009 , was awarded the contract for the cockpit.

After his Formula 1 time, Inoue drove in the Japanese GT championship in 1999 , which he finished in 32nd place overall.

At the end of 1999 Inoue finally retired from active racing and founded the "International Management Company", which manages the careers of mostly Japanese racing drivers.

statistics

Statistics in the Formula 1 World Championship

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
1994	MTV Simtek Ford	Simtek S941	Ford HB 3.5 V8	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1995	Footwork Hart	Footwork FA16	Hard 3.0 V8	17th	-	-	-	-	-	-	24.
total				18th	-	-	-	-	-	-

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th
1994
															DNF
1995
	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	9	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	12	8th	15th	DNF	DNF	12	DNF

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

literature

• Christian Eichberger: The heavy legacy of the modern donkey . Paydriver in Formula 1. In: Motorsport Aktuell. Issue 23/2013, p. 7.

Web links

Commons : Taki Inoue  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Detailed biography on f1rejects.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Certainly the worst Formula 1 driver of all time". Motorsport-Total.com, October 9, 2013, accessed October 13, 2013 .