Nobuteru Taniguchi

2014 Super GT Suzuka Race

Nobuteru Taniguchi (谷口 信輝 Taniguchi Nobuteru, born May 18, 1971, Hiroshima) is a Japanese racing driver and drifting driver who currently competes in Super GT and D1 Grand Prix. Taniguchi is commonly nicknamed "NOB" (first three letters from his name, meaning "No One Better") or "The Pimp" as a reference to his S15 Silvia which he is best known for.

Career

Taniguchi began his motorsport career when he was racing minibikes and won a Honda sponsored All Japan Mini Bike race, which took place at its Suzuka Circuit.[1] Taniguchi would progress into four wheels and became interested in drifting when he acquired a Toyota AE86.[1] He also worked at Takahiro Ueno’s car bodykit company, Car Make T&E to supplement his racing career whilst competing in various one make series racing with the Toyota Celica and Vitz and participating in drift events.[1] In 1999, he came into the attention of HKS when he won a Suzuka Clubman Race in a Honda Civic sponsored by Bride. HKS signed him up as a test driver and as a sponsor, as well as sponsoring his S15 Silvia for drift events.[1]

Drifting

Taniguchi won the first season of D1 Grand Prix in 2001 for HKS. HKS and Formula Drift made an exclusive partnership in 2007 that brought NOB to the United States to perform drifting exhibitions at Formula Drift events. Taniguchi made his first appearance at Formula Drift’s second event Road Atlanta, May 11 and 12, 2007.

Mid way through the 2004 season of D1, NOB switched to an Altezza which had not been properly set up and had shown some technical issues that many believe cost him the championship that year. During the 2005 season, the switch to Altezza was proving to be a mistake for HKS and NOB which led them to quit the series at the end of the season. Both of them did not return to the D1 series until 2008 as a spot participant. And they fully returned to the series again in 2012 with a Toyota 86.

Taniguchi has gone through four cars with HKS for D1, between 2001 and 2005, the RS1 Hyper Silvia S15 (Crashed by Keiichi Tsuchiya, eventually rebuilt for 2002 and later revised as a backup car with a similar build to the RS2 in 2003), and RS2 Hyper Silvia S15 (RS2 from HKS Power Japan, later moved to HKS Europe), the Genki RP Altezza, which was designed without experimental/prototype HKS parts, for the purpose that a private drifter could copy the car. He also drifts in Toyota Aristo (Lexus GS300 in US) for non-D1 events.

Taniguchi had the most wins in D1 Grand Prix until his tally was overtaken by Youichi Imamura in 2005.

Racing

He was also a test driver for HKS in 2004 and 2007 where he drove the HKS Time Attack Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 7 and set a 54.37 second lap time at Tsukuba Circuit (famous for its complexity and focus on cornering skills), and again in 2007, where he drove the all carbon fiber body HKS CT230R Mitsubishi Evolution and set the current Tsukuba Time Attack record of 53.589 seconds (video).

Taniguchi and HKS have not limited their racing campaign to Japan. In 2005, Taniguchi drove the HKS USA Mitsubishi Evolution in the Car and Driver Super Tuner Challenge against top US manufacturers and drivers. Taniguchi beat the nearest competitor by three seconds, and set the day’s fastest ¼ mile, 0-60, and road course times. In 2006, Taniguchi drove the HKS Speed Source RX-8 in the Grand Am Cup race at Arizona’s Phoenix International Raceway and set the fasted qualifying time for any Mazda RX-8.

Taniguchi won the Super Taikyu series in Japan in 2002 and 2005. In 2002 he began competing in JGTC with RE Amemiya in a Mazda RX-7. He has continued to compete in the series as it became Super GT in 2005. Having previously raced for Team Taisan in 2007/08 he has returned to Amemiya in 2009. After RE Amemiya's withdrawal at the end of 2010 season, he moved to Goodsmile Racing using a BMW Z4 GT3 which also ends his drought of GT300 Champion title in 2011 season. Again with the BMW Z4 GT3, Taniguchi captured 3rd place in the 2014 season finale at Twin Ring Motegi, secured 78 points in total for his season, narrowly winning the GT300 Champion title again with no points difference but only 1 more race victory.

He made his World Touring Car Championship debut with Proteam Motorsport at the 2009 FIA WTCC Race of Japan, at the Okayama International Circuit.

He has won the 2009 Super Taikyu Championship with his team mate Masataka Yanagida and Fariqe Hairuman in Petronas Syntium Team BMW Z4M Coupé. He also won the A5 petrol class and second overall in 2010 Dubai 24 Hour with his team mate Fariqe Hairuman, Masataka Yanagida and Johannes Stuck in Petronas Syntium Team BMW Z4M Coupé.[2]

Other Work

Taniguchi appears in many DVD series, such as Video Option, Drift Tengoku, Best Motoring, Rev Speed Video and Hot Version. He now lives in an apartment in Yokohama opposite his friend and former employer Ueno.

Complete Drifting Results

(key)

D1 Grand Prix

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Position Points
2001 HKS Nissan Silvia S15 EBS
4
NIK
1
BHH
TAN
EBS
4
NIK
1
1 68
2002 HKS Nissan Silvia S15 BHH
TAN
EBS
1
SGO
10
TKB
16
EBS
3
SEK
3
NIK
6
2 64
2003 HKS Nissan Silvia S15 TKB
TAN
BHH
16
SGO
DNQ
FUJ
2
EBS
6
SEK
3
TKB
1
4 64
2004 HKS Nissan Silvia S15 IRW
2
SGO
2
EBS
3
APS
1
ODB
6
2 82
Toyota Altezza SXE-10 EBS
TAN
TKB
TAN
2005 HKS Nissan Silvia S15 IRW
10
10 36
Toyota Altezza SXE-10 ODB
2
SGO
TAN
APS
EBS
8
FUJ
6
TKB
2008 HKS Toyota Altezza SXE-10 EBS
FUJ
9
SUZ
OKY
APS
EBS
FUJ
- 8
2012 HKS Toyota Altezza SXE-10 ODB
10
Toyota 86 SUZ
5
APS
3
EBS
EBS
CNT
ODB

Racing record

Complete JGTC/Super GT results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DC Pts
2002 RE Amemiya Mazda RX-7 GT300 TAI
6
FUJ
12
SUG
Ret
SEP
1
FUJ
12
MOT
Ret
MIN
Ret
SUZ
13th 29
2003 RE Amemiya Mazda RX-7 GT300 TAI
21
FUJ
10
SUG
3
FUJ
23
FUJ
Ret
MOT
14
AUT
20
SUZ
9th 4
2004 Racing Project Bandoh Toyota Celica GT300 TAI
4
SUG
1
SEP
Ret
TOK
7
MOT
13
AUT
5
SUZ
5
5th 48
2005 Racing Project Bandoh Toyota Celica GT300 OKA
7
FUJ
6
SEP
7
SUG
7
MOT
2
FUJ
6
AUT
3
SUZ
9
7th 54
2006 Direxiv Vemac RD320R GT300 SUZ
7
OKA
1
FUJ
18
SEP
2
SUG
4
SUZ
2
3rd 75
R&D Sport MOT
6
AUT
20
FUJ
13
2007 Team Taisan Porsche 996 GT3-RS GT300 SUZ
11
OKA
3
FUJ
19
SEP
13
SUG
Ret
SUZ
Ret
MOT
1
AUT
8
FUJ
1
6th 58
2008 Team Taisan Porsche 996 GT3-RS GT300 SUZ
3
OKA
2
FUJ
Ret
SEP
15
SUG
7
SUZ
5
MOT
4
AUT
15
FUJ
1
3rd 71
2009 RE Amemiya Mazda RX-7 GT300 OKA
3
SUZ
2
FUJ
3
SEP
3
SUG
11
SUZ
7
FUJ
DNS
AUT
2
MOT
2
2nd 82
2010 RE Amemiya Mazda RX-7 GT300 SUZ
1
OKA
18
FUJ
11
SEP
1
SUG
7
SUZ
6
FUJ
C
MOT
8
3rd 52
2011 GSR & Studie with Team Ukyo BMW Z4 GT3 GT300 OKA
4
FUJ
5
SEP
1
SUG
6
SUZ
5
FUJ
1
AUT
9
MOT
1
1st 87
2012 GSR & Studie with Team Ukyo BMW Z4 GT3 GT300 OKA
3
FUJ
1
SEP
12
SUG
7
SUZ
Ret
FUJ
8
AUT
5
MOT
4
5th 52
2013 GSR & Studie with Team Ukyo BMW Z4 GT3 GT300 OKA
2
FUJ
9
SEP
6
SUG
15
SUZ
DSQ
FUJ
1
FUJ
AUT
1
MOT
4
3rd 70
2014 GSR & Team Ukyo BMW Z4 GT3 GT300 OKA
1
FUJ
1
AUT
16
SUG
15
FUJ
4
SUZ
5
BUR
3
MOT
3
1st 78
2015 GSR & Team Ukyo Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 GT300 OKA
5
FUJ
5
CHA
13
FUJ
18
SUZ
8
SUG
16
AUT
7
MOT
2
11th 35

* Season still in progress.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Nobuteru Taniguchi » Driver Profile » Drift Japan
  2. http://www.petmos.com.my/en/4-Wheels/News/2010/DUBAI24HRS--PST-quartet-take-the-Dubai-24Hours-by-.aspx
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nobuteru Taniguchi.
Preceded by
None
D1 Grand Prix Champion
2001
Succeeded by
Katsuhiro Ueo
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