Taki Inoue

Takachiho "Taki" Inoue (井上 隆智穂 Inoue Takachiho, born 5 September 1963) is a Japanese former racing driver. He competed in Formula One from 1994 to 1995, driving for Simtek and Footwork Arrows.

Biography Inoue was born in Kobe. He competed in the British Formula Ford Championship in 1988, followed by a spell in All-Japan Formula Three from 1989 to 1993 and a season in the International Formula 3000 championship in 1994.

Formula One Inoue's damaged car is towed back to the pits after his bizarre practice accident at the 1995 Monaco Grand Prix. Inoue participated in 18 Formula One Grand Prix races. His first appearance was a one-off race for Simtek at the 1994 Japanese Grand Prix, from which he retired. For the next year he moved to Footwork Arrows. Over the course of his career he scored no championship points. He is perhaps best remembered for two bizarre incidents while driving for Footwork in 1995. The first occurred after a practice session at Monaco, when his stalled car was being towed back to the pits when it was hit by a course car, driven by Jean Ragnotti, causing it to roll into the barriers, although Inoue was fit to race the next day. The second happened on Hungarian GP on live TV worldwide – attempting to assist the marshals in putting out the engine fire which had forced him out of the race, a safety car Tatra 623 driven to the scene by a marshal hit him, injuring his leg, although he recovered for the next race. Instead, he was announced in January to drive for the Minardi team. Fisichella, the team's test driver in 1995, had backing from Marlboro Italy.

With his sponsorship reduced, Inoue was out of a drive in Formula One. After a brief switch to sportscars, he retired from racing at the end of 1999 and now manages drivers in his own country. He is also known for his self-deprecating humour, as Inoue publicly proclaimed himself as the "worst driver in Formula One", admitted that he initially had no idea what a pit stop was, and in an interview with the Top Gear magazine in 2015 stated that he was "not good enough to drive in F1". In another instance, after Nico Rosberg's retirement at the end of 2016, Inoue put out a tongue-in-cheek advertisement as a replacement driver on Twitter detailing his F1 antics which gained notable traction on social media, as have other tweets since.

Racing record Career summary

Complete International Formula 3000 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Points 1994 Super Nova Racing SIL PAU CAT PER HOC SPA EST MAG NC 0

Complete JGTC results Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DC Points 1999 Club: Yellow Magic Ferrari F355 GT GT300 SUZ FUJ SUG MIN FUJ TAI MOT 32nd 3