Whatever happened to.. ?

  • Thread starter Furinkazen
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I find it unbelievable that Gidley didn't get a seat for 2001 while Tora Takagi did, being the worst driver to ever have stepped into CART... at least for a full season...
 
Carbonox
I find it unbelievable that Gidley didn't get a seat for 2001 while Tora Takagi did, being the worst driver to ever have stepped into CART... at least for a full season...
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You obviously forgot about Dennis Vitolo and Eliseo Salazar.
 
Okay, I may have been a bit harsh with Takagi, but I would have got rid of him as soon as he got involved in 3 crashes at Toronto, all because of his fault. At least he finally retired on the 3rd one so the remainder of the field didn't have to worry about being taken out.
 
What about Christiano Da Matta after he was involved in that near fatal accident at Road America with a deer? Didn't he go Grand Am for a short while after?
 
Does anybody remember a Japanese F1 driver named Katayama?(if i remember correctly). He used to crash every race, he even got run down by the ambulance in one race. Not surprised we dont hear from him any more.
 
A1-242
Does anybody remember a Japanese F1 driver named Katayama?(if i remember correctly). He used to crash every race, he even got run down by the ambulance in one race. Not surprised we dont hear from him any more.
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Uko Katayama? Went to Super GT I think. And Formula Nippon.
 
Furinkazen
What about Christiano Da Matta after he was involved in that near fatal accident at Road America with a deer? Didn't he go Grand Am for a short while after?
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He was in ALMS last year in a GT Jaguar XKR, car wasn't great though, not sure what he's doing this year.
 
A1-242
Does anybody remember a Japanese F1 driver named Katayama?(if i remember correctly). He used to crash every race, he even got run down by the ambulance in one race. Not surprised we dont hear from him any more.
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Crashed every race? Run down by an ambulance? You're thinking of Taki Inoue my friend. Although Ukyo Katayama was hardly any better at keeping the car out of the tyre barrier, he at least showed he had decent pace in him. Also I am certain he was never run down by an ambulance although his compatriot Taki Inoue broke his leg when the marshals car drove into him.
 
Ukyo Katayama was described by Murray Walker as being one of the finest F1 drivers of the time.

And we know Murray wasn't always right.

Katayama-san was quite interested in mountain climbing and I think that's what he still does now.
 
MazdaPrice
Ukyo Katayama was described by Murray Walker as being one of the finest F1 drivers of the time.

And we know Murray wasn't always right.

Katayama-san was quite interested in mountain climbing and I think that's what he still does now.
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Well, Murray being Murray, he actually claimed that "Ukyo Katayama is possibly one of the greatest drivers that Grand Prix racing has ever produced".

We all know he meant Japan, but it's classic Murray.
 
He's not far wrong though. He had terrible cars, but Katayama wasn't that bad. Just a shame he didn't score as many points as he did.

Obviously Kobayashi has surpassed them all now, but at the time it was Katayama vs. Inoue for the pride of Japan with the benchmark being set by Nakajima, an engine bringer and Suzuki, who didn't do much apart from an admittedly superb 3rd in Japan in in a Larrousse in 1990. So much to live up to!
 
csmeteora9
Crashed every race? Run down by an ambulance? You're thinking of Taki Inoue my friend. Although Ukyo Katayama was hardly any better at keeping the car out of the tyre barrier, he at least showed he had decent pace in him. Also I am certain he was never run down by an ambulance although his compatriot Taki Inoue broke his leg when the marshals car drove into him.
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I googled it after i posted, it was Ukyo Katayama.

Eating humble pie, sorry you were right.
 
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As has been stated before, Katayama was pretty good. He did crash quite a bit, but he was still good. He had a great season in 1994. Inoue on the other hand, was terrible.

Katayama is a keen mountain climber, however he had to be rescued from Mount Fuji a few years back. His two friends were later found to be dead.

He also raced while suffering from cancer in his back. He was diagnosed in 1994. A little ironic considering he was once sponsored by "Japan tobacco.

Edit:
A1-242
I googled it after i posted, it was Ukyo Katayama.
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Ukyo Katayama did not crash every race. Nor was he hit by an ambulance.
 
Ah yes, the famous TS020. Only bettered by the equally superb BMW V12 LMR with another favourite of mine at the wheel; Jo Winkelhock.

Whatever happened to... Jo Winkelhock?

Better known for his time in tintops, Smokin' Jo Joachim Winkelhock was the 1993 BTCC Champion and 1995 STW Champion. In addition, he was also German & European F3 champion in 1988. A brief but disasterous stint with AGS in followed but this did not work and Jo never made the grid for a proper Grand Prix; unlike his brother Manfred and nephew Tomas. Following this, he began his long association with BMW in touring cars and success followed in the United Kingdom and Germany, in addition to winning the Macau Race in 1994 and in 1998. Endurance success followed in 1999, winning the famous Le Mans 24 hours in the WilliamsF1 prepared BMW V12 LMR with Yannick Dalmas and Pierluigi Martini. Winding down his career in the new DTM for Opel, Jo now works for his family's roadside recovery business in Waiblingen, Germany.

A commanding race in the BTCC, 1996, in my favourite sounding touring car; the Schnitzer BMW 320i


And here are the sounds of that magnificent E36
 
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MazdaPrice
Ah yes, the famous TS020. Only bettered by the equally superb BMW V12 LMR with another favourite of mine at the wheel; Jo Winkelhock.
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What class did the Toyota win?? I thought it was second in LMPGTP?
 
hawkeye122
Whatever happens to the Tyres after a race event is over? I think I could make a pretty awesome coffee table out of a tyre from a Peugeot 908, or the Pirelli from an F1 car. I don't care if it was Karun Chandok's tyre, where can I get one? I dont care if it's from some lowly LMP team, that would still be pretty cool.
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I had a Ferrari F1 tire that I payed WAY to much for. Used it as a coffee table with a glass top. The problem is that they smell fairly bad and if you have carpet, it will stain. So I sold it for WAY to much.
 
Yeah. 1999 was a year of airborne LMGTP cars too. The Mercedes CLK, BMW V12 LMR, and the Toyota all went airborne I recall.............
 
Just the Mercs pretended to be aeroplanes. Not once, but twice.

The others were fairly grounded, I'm sure.

Also, it was the Mercedes-Benz CLR. Just to be accurate. The CLK-GTR was from the GT1 in 1997 and the CLK LM was from 1998.

I think you might be confusing the airborne crash of a 911 GT1 at Road Atlanta in 1998 and a BMW V12 LMR at the same track in 2000. Le Mans was just the Mercs.
 
MazdaPrice
He's not far wrong though. He had terrible cars, but Katayama wasn't that bad. Just a shame he didn't score as many points as he did.

Obviously Kobayashi has surpassed them all now, but at the time it was Katayama vs. Inoue for the pride of Japan with the benchmark being set by Nakajima, an engine bringer and Suzuki, who didn't do much apart from an admittedly superb 3rd in Japan in in a Larrousse in 1990. So much to live up to!
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Katayama was by far the best Japanese driver at the time. He was quite highly rated as well and supposedly turned down a seat at a top team because he didn't think it was fair on them considering his treatment of cancer (or something along those lines). He didn't even reveal he had cancer till after he left F1!
Shinji Nakano was also reasonable and perhaps could have done better with some more support at Prost and how can we forget Takuma Sato?

Tora Takagi wasn't so bad either actually, certainly way better than Ricardo Rosset...
 

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