Satoru Nakajima
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Formula Nippon | |
Born | Okazaki, Japan | 23 February 1953
---|---|
Formula One World Championship career | |
Nationality | ![]() |
Active years | 1987 – 1991 |
Teams | Lotus, Tyrrell |
Engines | Honda, Judd, Ford |
Entries | 80 (74 starts) |
Championships | 0 |
Wins | 0 |
Podiums | 0 |
Career points | 16 |
Pole positions | 0 |
Fastest laps | 1 |
First entry | 1987 Brazilian Grand Prix |
Last entry | 1991 Australian Grand Prix |
Satoru Nakajima (中嶋 悟, Nakajima Satoru, born 23 February 1953[1]) is a Japanese former racing driver. He is a five-time Japanese Top Formula champion, and was the first full-time Japanese Formula One driver. Accordingly, he is responsible for several firsts for Japanese drivers in Formula One, including being the first to score championship points (at the 1987 San Marino Grand Prix, where he finished sixth in only his second F1 race), and being the first to record a fastest lap (at the 1989 Australian Grand Prix).
Early life
Nakajima was born into a farming family living just outside Okazaki, Japan. He began driving cars in his early teens in the family's garden with his older brother giving him tips, careful that their father didn't catch them. He felt exhilaration behind the wheel of a car, and from then on knew what he wanted to do.
Career
He started racing after he finished school and passed his driver's licence. In 1973 he was a rookie in the
Nakajima participated in 80
Honda had originally pushed for Nakajima to replace
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Satoru_Nakajima_demonstrating_Lotus_101_2011_Japan.jpg/220px-Satoru_Nakajima_demonstrating_Lotus_101_2011_Japan.jpg)
1988 was another miserable year in F1 for both Nakajima and Lotus. In the final season for turbos and using the same V6 engines that propelled McLaren drivers Senna and Alain Prost to win 15 of the season's 16 races, Nakajima scored only a single point during the season finishing sixth in the opening race in Brazil. He also failed to qualify the Lotus 100T at both Monaco and Detroit, the only times between its first race in 1983 and the end of the turbo era in 1988 that a Honda V6 turbo failed to qualify for any Grands Prix entered. Despite this, on occasions Nakajima was able to push his team mate, reigning World Champion Nelson Piquet who had replaced Senna.
Not normally the best of qualifiers or racers despite having equipment superior to most, including the same all-powerful Honda V6 turbo engine as the McLarens, Nakajima could have easily been excused for performing poorly at the
Despite most believing he did not truly deserve to be in F1, Lotus showed faith in Nakajima when they re-signed him for
Nakajima joined Tyrrell for the 1990 season (along with the promise of the team using the Honda V10 engine in 1991). He raced for them for two uneventful years at the back of the pack before ending his career. In 1990 he was team mate to young Frenchman Jean Alesi, who scored 13 points (including two second places) to Nakajima's three. In 1991 with the Honda engines used by McLaren in 1990 (and serviced by Mugen Motorsports), he was joined by Italian Stefano Modena. Nakajima was again outscored by his team mate, with Modena scoring 10 points and Nakajima's two points coming from finishing 5th in the opening race of the season in Phoenix.
Honda left Formula One a year later to lay the first bricks on a works team, one that they had been working on during the Formula One season, and that CEO
Personal life
Nakajima still lives in the family home near Okazaki. He owns the
Nakajima's son,
Racing record
Career summary
Japanese Top Formula Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | DC | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1977 | Heros Racing Corporation | Nova | BMW | SUZ 4 |
SUZ Ret |
MIN | SUZ 10 |
FUJ 5 |
FUJ 2 |
SUZ 3 |
SUZ 5 |
3rd | 52 (53) |
1978 | Heros Racing Corporation | Nova Martini |
BMW Renault |
SUZ 3 |
FUJ 2 |
SUZ 1 |
SUZ 2 |
SUZ 2 |
MIN | SUZ 2 |
3rd | 67 | |
1979 | i&i Racing Development | March | BMW | SUZ 12 |
MIN | SUZ 11 |
FUJ 4 |
SUZ 9 |
SUZ Ret |
SUZ 2 |
7th | 28 | |
1980 | i&i Racing Development | March | BMW | SUZ 1 |
MIN | SUZ 1 |
SUZ 3 |
SUZ 6 |
SUZ 6 |
3rd | 59 | ||
1981 | i&i Racing Development | Ralt March |
Honda | SUZ 3 |
SUZ 2 |
SUZ 3 |
SUZ 1 |
SUZ 1 |
1st | 79 | |||
1982 | John Player Special Team Ikuzawa
|
March | Honda | SUZ 1 |
FUJ 6 |
SUZ 1 |
SUZ 3 |
SUZ 1 |
SUZ 1 |
1st | 80 (98) | ||
1983 | Harada Racing Company | March | Honda | SUZ 1 |
FUJ DSQ |
MIN Ret |
SUZ 4 |
SUZ Ret |
FUJ 13 |
SUZ 1 |
SUZ 2 |
4th | 65 |
1984 | Heros Racing Corporation | March | Honda | SUZ 1 |
FUJ 3 |
MIN Ret |
SUZ 9 |
SUZ 1 |
FUJ 2 |
SUZ 1 |
SUZ 1 |
1st | 107 (109) |
1985 | Heros Racing with Nakajima | March | Honda | SUZ 2 |
FUJ 1 |
MIN 1 |
SUZ 1 |
SUZ 2 |
FUJ 2 |
SUZ 1 |
SUZ 1 |
1st | 115 (145) |
1986
|
Heros Racing with Nakajima | March | Honda | SUZ 2 |
FUJ 2 |
MIN 4 |
SUZ 1 |
SUZ 2 |
FUJ 3 |
SUZ 2 |
SUZ 4 |
1st | 92 (112) |
Complete International Formula 3000 results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)
Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | DC | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1986 | Team Ralt | Ralt RT20 | Honda V8[5] | SIL Ret |
VAL 5 |
PAU | SPA | IMO 8 |
MUG 5 |
PER Ret |
ÖST 4 |
BIR 8 |
BUG
|
JAR
|
11th | 7 |
Complete Formula One results
(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | WDC | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1987
|
Camel Team Lotus Honda | Lotus 99T | BRA 7 |
SMR 6 |
BEL 5 |
MON 10 |
DET Ret |
FRA NC |
GBR 4 |
GER Ret |
HUN Ret |
AUT 13 |
ITA 11 |
POR 8 |
ESP 9 |
MEX Ret |
JPN 6 |
AUS Ret |
12th | 7 | |
1988
|
Camel Team Lotus Honda | Lotus 100T | BRA 6 |
SMR 8 |
MON DNQ |
MEX Ret |
CAN 11 |
DET DNQ |
FRA 7 |
GBR 10 |
GER 9 |
HUN 7 |
BEL Ret |
ITA Ret |
POR Ret |
ESP Ret |
JPN 7 |
AUS Ret |
16th | 1 | |
1989
|
Camel Team Lotus | Lotus 101 | Judd CV 3.5 V8 | BRA 8 |
SMR NC |
MON DNQ |
MEX Ret |
USA Ret |
CAN DNQ |
FRA Ret |
GBR 8 |
GER Ret |
HUN Ret |
BEL DNQ |
ITA 10 |
POR 7 |
ESP Ret |
JPN Ret |
AUS 4 |
21st | 3 |
1990
|
Tyrrell Racing Organisation | Tyrrell 018 | Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8 | USA 6 |
BRA 8 |
15th | 3 | ||||||||||||||
Tyrrell 019 | SMR Ret |
MON Ret |
CAN 11 |
MEX Ret |
FRA Ret |
GBR Ret |
GER Ret |
HUN Ret |
BEL Ret |
ITA 6 |
POR DNS |
ESP Ret |
JPN 6 |
AUS Ret | |||||||
1991
|
Braun Tyrrell Honda | Tyrrell 020 | Honda RA101E 3.5 V10
|
USA 5 |
BRA Ret |
SMR Ret |
MON Ret |
CAN 10 |
MEX 12 |
FRA Ret |
GBR 8 |
GER Ret |
HUN 15 |
BEL Ret |
ITA Ret |
POR 13 |
ESP 17 |
JPN Ret |
AUS Ret |
15th | 2 |
Helmet
Nakajima's helmet was white with two red lines forming a circular end on the chin area, with a wide line on the rear of the helmet with written NAKAJIMA on it. His son Kazuki Nakajima uses a slightly different version of this helmet.
Video games
Between 1988 and 1994, Nakajima endorsed many Formula One video games for various consoles like Family Computer, Sega Mega Drive, Game Boy and Super Famicom. While most of these games (released by
References
- ^ Jenkins, Richard. "The World Championship drivers - Where are they now?". OldRacingCars.com. Retrieved 29 July 2007.
- ^ a b "Double R sign Daisuke Nakajima". autosport.com. 27 February 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2009.
- ^ "Nakajima retires from racing, takes on new Toyota WEC role". motorsport.com. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
- ^ Klein, Jamie (24 November 2019). "Daisuke Nakajima announces retirement from racing". motorsport.com. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
- ^ "Satoru Nakajima Results". Motorsport Stats. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
External links
- Nakajima Racing
- Satoru Nakajima career summary at DriverDB.com