Kunimitsu Takahashi
Drift legend · Japan
Slide the car to keep the speed, decades before it had a name.
The cornering style the entire sport descends from, an ex-Grand-Prix racer who first turned a car sideways on purpose to carry speed through a corner.
Before he ever touched a drift, Takahashi was a motorcycle racer, in 1961 he became the first Japanese rider to win a motorcycle Grand Prix. He then moved to four wheels and became one of Japan's dominant touring-car and sports-car drivers through the 1970s.
His corner technique, deliberately breaking the rear loose and holding the slide to carry more speed through a turn instead of gripping around it, was radical at the time. A young Keiichi Tsuchiya idolised him, adopted that style on the Gunma mountain passes, and codified it into what the world now calls drifting. That direct line of inheritance is why Takahashi is called the "grandfather of drifting".
He stayed a towering figure in Japanese motorsport as a driver and team owner until his death in March 2022 at age 82. Every touge legend and every Formula Drift champion is, technically, driving his idea.
At a glance
- Role: Grandfather of drift
- Region: Japan
Career highlights
- 1961: First Japanese motorcycle GP winner. Wins a 250cc World Championship Grand Prix, the foundation of his legend before he ever raced a car.
- 1970s: Touring-car dominance + the slide. Pioneers the carry-speed-by-sliding cornering technique that Tsuchiya later turns into drifting.
- 2022: Passes at 82. Remembered as the grandfather of drift, the origin of the whole discipline.
Source: Honda Racing, Takahashi tribute