33 replies to this topic

[Ellen2]

Former F1 driver and 2000 Formula Nippon champion Toranosuke Takagi has signed to drive for a Toyota powered CART team in 2001.

"I was reluctant to have to race in Japan after 2 years in F1 but it was a path I had to take and I concentrated on winning the championship from the beginning of the season. It was mission accomplished for me." Takagi said.

"I will race in CART next year and I believe it is the closest approach for me towards Formula One again, please watch my driving in the US next year as the champion driver from the competitive Formula Nippon series." He added.

Takagi did not name the team he has signed with.

[Ellen2]

oopppss, wrong title, Kamikaze goes to CART, that's what I meant

[aRTi]

Their are also rumours he is going to be the second test driver alongside Salo. If that's true then it's not the wrong title ;)

[MacFan]

Allan McNish has signed as the second test driver alongside Salo.

[aRTi]

Allan McNish? Okay, wrong title…

[david_martin]

Actually, Toyota signed McNish first - it was announced at Le Mans IIRC. Toyota only signed Salo in August.

[aRTi]

No problem…
Like Ellen2 said: Kamikaze goes to CART.

It's good, Takagi is going to the States. Banzai…

Takagi in Formula Nippon, going to Formula One, back to Formula Nippon and then CART. What is next Formula… Nippon?

[mhferrari]

The Green Helmet to CART. His helmet always reminded me of those metallic green colored flies.

[theMot]

Hes an ok driver Takagi, wouldnt surprise me if he did reasnobly well there. I dont think he has what it takes to go well in F1 but in cart he could surprise a few people.

[A3]

I think he's fast for a couple of laps, but he lacks race consistency.

[f1lover]

he is an excellent driver. ricardo rosset rated him very highly!

[Louis Mr. F1]

wait for the new Japanese driver, Sato, when he enters F1, i've read from various sources that this is the real one. (i know there are many over-hype Japanese drivers before they get into F1, but it seems this is the real one) and i think with their passion, maybe they deserve to have someone to cheer for.

[FlatFoot]

I would assume that quote has been translated? I merely ask because one of Takagi's major downfalls was that he didn't speak nor did he care to learn the english language. I remember reading how the team had a helluva time figuring out how he wanted to set the car up due to the language barrier.

[aRTi]

I understand that Shinji Nakano is driving for Fernandez Racing next season. This year he was driving for Walker Racing.
And also PPI Motorsports will end their relationship with Toyota (and Pioneer?).
Is Toranosuke Takagi driving for Derrick Walker with Pioneer and Toyota in 2001?

[baddog]

if hes only okay for a couple of laps, how come he DESTROYED formula nippon, which I understood to be a pretty competitive series of actual races longer than a couple of laps

Shaun

[Hooster]

Takagi is an excellent driver. I wouldn´t be surprised if he is faster than such luminaries as DC.

[Williams]

Formula On is different from all other racing series. There have been champions from all other racing series who have come to F1 only to die on the vine. It takes a special kind of driver, and a special kind of personality to do well in F1. Takagi does not appear to be one such driver, and will probably never be competitive in Formaula One.

Having said that, good luck in CART, Tiger !

[BuzzingHornet]

Hooster, if he's faster than DC then he's as quick as Hakkinen.

[Hooster]

I think the gap between Hakkinen and DC is big enough for Takagi to fit into.;)

[BuzzingHornet]

What, a couple of tenths on most (not all) tracks??
Look who he is racing against in equal machinery! Brundle reckons that MS & MH are two of the greatest of all time! Being a tenth or two shy of Hakkinen is an acheivement, beating him occasionally is something to write home about. Name a driver that would be closer to Hakkinen than DC, only Schumacher springs to my mind

Brundle was a good driver, but he was often a second slower than Hakkinen! DC is in many ways on a hiding to nothing, he could go to any other team and dominate and people would say 'my, how you've improved'

[Hooster]

Villeneuve, Trulli, Frentzen, Fisichella and Button. Perhaps also Barrichello, Ralf Scumacher and Eddie Irvine.

[RedFever]

Buzzing

I can name a few:

JV, Trulli, Fisi, Ralf, JPM maybe, Jenson Button, they are all at least as fast as DC

[BuzzingHornet]

Sorry guys but no way. I'm not saying this out of patriotism either, he's a Scot and i'm not

Every time I go to a Grand Prix I come away impressed by Coulthard. And there's been some years where I actively disliked him but having seen him drive i'm convinced, he's really on it. I don't know about Button or Montoya as i've only seen Montoya on telly and Button in F3 so I can't really comment.

Just my personal opinion but there you go. Remember that DC was much more impressive when fighting for the World Championship in mid-season, it was the team that screwed his chances with dodgy pitstop calls.

[aRTi]

Originally posted by baddog
if hes only okay for a couple of laps, how come he DESTROYED formula nippon, which I understood to be a pretty competitive series of actual races longer than a couple of laps

Round 1 of this years Formula Nippon was at the Grand Prix track of the Suzuka circuit. This race was won by Toranosuke Takagi. He had to do 32 laps, almost 188 kilometres.
Round 16 of this years Formula One was also at Suzuka. Michael had to do 53 laps, that's almost 311 kilometres.
If Toranosuke can do 32 consistent laps to win that race, he is still 21 laps short.
In CART he is going to do also 500 miles races…

The last two seasons Nakajima Racing was the dominant force in Formula Nippon. In 1999 Tom Coronel, driving for Nakajima, won the championship.
This year it was Takagi's turn. Stepping back from Formula One. Winning 8 out of 9 and still one race to go, means this year he is the best. But I'm not sure it will help Formula Nippon to be a very competitive series.

Originally posted by f1lover
he is an excellent driver. ricardo rosset rated him very highly!

Oh boy… Lucky Toranosuke

I personally think Toranosuke is Okay, but nothing really special.
Comparing him with DC?
David had only top teams for over many years! And Toranosuke Grand Prix experience only with back markers.

[RedFever]

Buzzing, of course, you saw him when he did everything right and won the UK GP. That helps. But he is inconsistent, one day the king, one day the bafoon. That's no way of winning a WDC. Besides, i'd hire Ralf, Fisi, trulli and, above all, JV over him anyday anytime. JV already proved that with top material he wins the WDC not just talks about winning in the future. The rest never had a competitive car in their entire careers, but all are more solid, reliable drivers. I'd love to see them with a MacLaren, nobody would miss DC......

[aRTi]

Oh boy… I always think it's fun to see someone start a new heavy Copy-Paste-stuff on the BB without telling anybody what's the point. Always curious where it will lead to.

But what about Toranosuke "Tiger" Takagi is going to CART?

[RedFever]

the point of the thread seems pretty obvious to me....Ellen of course doesn't have much respect for Tiger otherwise wouldn't be calling him Kamikaze. I guess she expects him to do as poorly as he did in F1 and opened it up for others to agree or disagree. What did you expect? a phylosophical pamplet explaining why so far Japanese drivers have failed to leave a mark in F1 and the implications on the Japanese collective psyche???

[aRTi]

Originally posted by RedFever
What did you expect? a phylosophical pamplet explaining why so far Japanese drivers have failed to leave a mark in F1 and the implications on the Japanese collective psyche???

Interesting…

[RedFever]

I'll get to work on it right away. Maybe Samurai could have helped me, but he completly desappeared after Schumacher deservedly won the title and he had no more excuses left to trash him again. Any other volunteers?

[BuzzingHornet]

Red, I would personally hire JV AND DC
Out of Mika's shadow, DC would have a much better run at getting some team support. After all, look what a bit of TLC did for Wurz recently...

I've seen DC win and i've also seen him haul the 1996 mcLaren round, and he was impressive. Actually the day I saw DC win, Mika was more impressive still; before he had his problems he'd backed off and was absolutely cruising, but still pulling away!

[RedFever]

BH, let's not forget DNFs, DC had the most reliability out of the top 4 cars......

No, I would hire JV and Fisi or Ralf or Trulli or Button, certainly not DC. I don't need a driver who can be fantastic one day (Spa 99) or a total bonehead the next day.

[Force Ten]

Well, I would hire one driver who can deliver constantly on racing day and if that one seems to suck on a developing depertement, I would hire another one who'd excel on that and be reasonably fast on races.

So if one's JV the other one would very well be DC. How's Fisi's developing ability? JV can't develop a car if his life depended on that, he's to busy trying to look good and be exiting...;) (OK, he's not so bad but not anything special either)

[vroom-vroom]

I always thought Takagi had the most potential a Japanese driver had ever shown in his first F1 season at Tyrrell. He disappointed thereafter, but his machinery was sub-par and his endurance and motivation were suspect. I still think he could do well now that he's winning races again.

On the other hand, Sato is certainly the new rising star of the rising sun empire - forgive the pun. He had some scorching performances in British F3 this year and fairly beat both Pizzonia and Scheckter on more than one occasion. He indeed appeared to have the upper hand over Scheckter (the new Jaguar test driver) during the last half of the series. I'm surprised no one appears to have picked up on him yet.

[Pacific]

Force Ten-Agreed. This is why next year with Olivier Panis with the team BAR should improve the chassis a great deal. I'm not certain JV lacks the ability so much as he just doesn't enjoy doing it. Ricardo Zonta's developmental skills probably aren't poor after testing for Jordan and McLaren then racing two years for BAR, but Panis has A LOT of experience. His McLaren testing experience was very positive.

Benetton may have trouble next season. Giancarlo Fisichella has not shown me he has the dedication to develop a car like what Wurz did. Fisichella relies on talent. Wurz has talent, but has to rely on his technical abilities to help offset his size. Alexander is a VERY talented driver. He will shine testing for McLaren next season, moreso than Panis I suspect. That's a huge compliment for Alexander, I think Olivier is a damn fine driver himself. His confidence should be high and if he gets some support in the team...I suspect he will since testing will be a big responsibility for him. We now know Takagi will not be testing with BAR HONDA. Looks like Takagi is going to be gauged for Toyota F1. It's between him and McNish. Also with Benetton/Renault, Jenson Button isn't an experienced racer either. That's why it was imperative that they get Mike Gascoyne, but still. Can Gascoyne do it all?

Check out Ferrari too, Luca Badoer is pretty valuable to that team. Williams realizes the importance of testing, that's why they've made offers to Herbert and Gene. I'd look into Mark Blundell too, since he's looking for work.

Tora is now heavily rumored to be going to Walker since Vasser is going to Mo Nunn's team likely with Pioneer and MCIWorldcom as his sponsors. (See ya later PPI car number 97. That's the transfer of sponsorship basically.) Now, this will be interesting. Nakano was able to work with the Walker team, he has a good command of English and a work ethic despite not being world class in CART talent. Takagi has world class talent, but...Walker is not a big team. Slicks might keep Tiger closer to the front of CART regardless. He will be one of the most talented drivers in CART next season, but that doesn't always mean a lot. Hells bells, Memo Gidley looks SOL again and look what he's done for Della Penna Motorsports this season. (If Della Penna can convince DirecTV to stay and attract another sponsor they'll be able to stay. I hope so, but they also need engines. Toyota dropped them for Walker it looks like.)

How Tiger does will be just like F1 if he doesn't focus on his fitness and English. If he works to improve those, there is little reason why Tora can't help Salo lead the Toyota charge in F1. He's immensely talented.