tsuchiya keiichi

A legendary Japanese racecar driver, known as the "Drift King" for his use of drifting in other motorsports and role in popularizing the technique. His recorded illegal street drifting activities in a Toyota Sprinter Trueno served as the inspiration for many touge racers and automotive enthusiasts.

In his official motorsports career, Tsuchiya was a driver in the All Japan GT Championship (predecessor to Super GT) and Japanese Touring Car Championship, driving cars such as the R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R, Ford Sierra, and Honda Civic. He also participated in NASCAR exhibition races in Japan and won the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans in class with a Honda NSX, later going on to score 2nd overall in a Toyota GT-One in 1999. In 2000, Tsuchiya founded D1 Grand Prix, where he also served as a judge for 10 years.

Tsuchiya was a consultant for Initial D, with Fujiwara Takumi's Toyota Trueno AE86 being inspired by his own real life car. He was also the stunt coordinator and one of the stunt drivers for The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.