A career that ran from a 2001 D1 Grand Prix championship to GT300 titles, Super Taikyu class wins and HKS time attack records.
Nobuteru Taniguchi is a Japanese racer who won the first D1 Grand Prix title in 2001 and later raced in Super GT, winning GT300 championships with BMW and Mercedes machinery. Beyond drifting and GT racing, he also won Super Taikyu classes and recorded time attack benchmarks in HKS cars.
Nobuteru 'NOB' Taniguchi is a Japanese driver from Hiroshima whose career moved from minibike racing into drifting and then into touring car, Super GT and endurance events. He claimed the first D1 Grand Prix championship in 2001, collected eight Super Taikyu class titles and set time attack benchmarks with HKS, the tuning firm that signed him in 1999.
How did Taniguchi start in motorsport?
Taniguchi's first competitive outings were on minibikes, and he took a win in an All Japan Mini Bike event held at Suzuka Circuit under Honda sponsorship. When the shop that owned his bike sold it, his racing paused and his attention turned to four wheels. A cousin counselled him towards a Toyota AE86, though his own preference had been a Mazda RX-7.
In 1998 he relocated to Tokyo, hoping to build a career as a motor journalist. To pay his way and stay involved in racing, he found work at the bodykit firm run by Takahiro Ueno, Car Make T&E, and entered one-make championships using Toyota Celica and Vitz cars, as well as taking part in drift meetings.
The breakthrough came in 1999 at Suzuka, where he won a Clubman event in a Honda Civic backed by Bride. HKS took notice, hiring him as a test driver and putting its name on his Silvia S15 for drift work.
From a Suzuka minibike win to the first D1 Grand Prix title, Taniguchi built a career across drifting, GT racing and time attack.
How did Taniguchi win the first D1 Grand Prix title?
Taniguchi took the inaugural D1 Grand Prix crown in 2001, driving for the After-Fire squad, which carried HKS sponsorship. He won two of the five rounds in his own Nissan Silvia S15 and fitted semi-slick tyres for the final, a choice that gave him an edge over the field and secured the title.
His drifting had begun earlier, in his AE86 with the After-Fire team. He then appeared in drift contests run by Video Option (Ikaten), Battle Magazine (BM-Cup) and CarBoy (DoriCon GP), where he was soon invited back for demonstration laps.
Ikaten eventually made him one of its judges, a role he kept after Option brought the event back to life.
What happened to his D1 results after the 2001 title?
The 2001 success was not repeated in the seasons that followed. Semi-slicks were outlawed for 2002, and HKS equipment suffered breakdowns and crashes. He still finished runner-up in 2002 and fourth in 2003, then led the 2004 standings before a car switch that many believe cost him the title.
In pre-season testing for 2002, Keiichi Tsuchiya crashed the S15 that HKS had prepared for him, so he opened the season in his personal car. The HKS machine returned later in the year, and he ended the campaign second overall with a single round victory and two podium finishes.
A failure of the HKS car before the first round of 2003 sent him back to his own S15, and he later crashed during qualifying. A second, improved HKS car rescued the year, which ended fourth with one victory and two podiums.
He led the table after winning at Autopolis, the last D1 Grand Prix victory of his career. HKS then moved him from the S15 into an Altezza that had been poorly prepared and suffered technical faults. He finished second with one win and three podiums, and he later said he would have preferred the S15 RS-2 for that season.
The Altezza was also the wrong choice in 2005. A strong early result at Odaiba was followed by a single podium over the year, and at season's end the team and driver walked away from the series. Taniguchi had held the all-time lead in D1 wins until Youichi Imamura passed him in 2005.
Which cars did Taniguchi drive for HKS in D1?
Between 2001 and 2005 HKS supplied a run of cars for Taniguchi: two Hyper Silvia S15s, the Genki Racing Project Altezza and an Altezza called IS220Z, which had begun life as his own car. The Genki Altezza used only off-the-shelf HKS components, so that private drifters could replicate it.
The first Hyper Silvia, RS1, was rebuilt after Tsuchiya's accident and then reworked as a spare for 2003, with a layout close to the RS2. Later it was sold to Rockstar Energy for its Formula D programme. The RS2 went to HKS Europe.
The IS220Z was loaned to HKS for a build, and the Genki Altezza stood as a blueprint for drifters who wanted a factory-backed car they could copy. For non-D1 events he used a Toyota Aristo, which the US market knows as the Lexus GS300.
How did Taniguchi's D1 results break down by season?
| Season | Car | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Nissan Silvia S15 (After-Fire, HKS) | Champion | Two wins from five rounds; semi-slicks in the final |
| 2002 | HKS Silvia S15 | Runner-up | One round win, two podiums |
| 2003 | Second HKS Silvia S15 | Fourth | One win, two podiums |
| 2004 | Altezza | Runner-up | One win, three podiums; led after the Autopolis win |
| 2005 | Altezza | Team left the series | One podium finish |
| 2012 | Toyota 86 | Returned to the series | Two podium finishes |
How did Taniguchi's D1 career end?
After 2005 he and HKS stayed away until 2008, when they took part as spot participants at Fuji Speedway and gave an exhibition at Odaiba. A 2009 comeback fell through because HKS would not commit, even though he had already assembled a budget and sponsor backing.
They came back in full in 2012 with a Toyota 86 and claimed two podiums. Efforts in 2013 with a NOS-assisted twincharger engine and in 2014 with a 3.4 2JZ unit made little progress, and he missed part of those seasons because of clashes with his Super GT programme.
The final chapter came in 2016 at Odaiba, where HKS and he reunited for a D1GP Champions exhibition. He used the same Toyota 86 once more and stepped away from professional drifting after that event.
How did Taniguchi perform in Super GT?
Taniguchi has raced in JGTC and Super GT since 2002 and is a multiple GT300 champion, with class titles in 2011 alongside Taku Bamba and in 2012 alongside Tatsuya Kataoka. He also won the GT300 championship in 2014 and again in 2017.
He entered the category with RE Amemiya, running a Mazda RX-7, and claimed a first victory at Sepang in only his fourth start. He signed with Racing Project Bandoh in 2004, and the category adopted the Super GT name the following year. A stint with Direxiv and R&D Sports in 2006 nearly produced a title, and Team Taisan followed in 2007 and 2008.
In 2009 he became lead driver for Amemiya alongside Ryo Orime. Podium finishes came in all but three rounds, yet a missed Fuji start and a close call at Motegi left the pair three points short, second in both standings. The 2010 season opened with a Suzuka triumph, but Orime's crash while leading at Okayama and a run of poor results dropped them to third.
When Amemiya stepped back at the close of 2010, Taniguchi joined Goodsmile Racing, a team serviced by RS Fine that also drew on BMW tuner Studie and former Formula One racer Ukyo Katayama. With Bamba he took three wins in a BMW Z4 GT3 and the GT300 title in 2011. In 2012 he teamed with Kataoka, and the pair secured the crown again in that BMW.
The 2014 finale at Twin Ring Motegi produced a third-place finish, which carried him to 78 points and a tight GT300 title. Goodsmile moved to Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 machinery in 2015 and to a Mercedes-AMG GT3 in 2016. A further GT300 title came in 2017 with Kataoka. The partnership ran for 15 years and produced two championships, placing it among the longest-lasting pairings in the category's history.
Did Taniguchi ever race in GT500?
No, not in a championship event. He drove a Toyota Supra in a non-championship race, the 2002 Suzuka 1000km, for Team SARD alongside Manabu Orido and Jeremie Dufour.
A 2006 GT500 seat with Team Tsuchiya, backed by Yokohama and Eclipse, was planned with Orido as team-mate. A late change to the entry left the seat with someone else, and Taniguchi drove for Direxiv in GT300 that year.
What did Taniguchi win in Super Taikyu and endurance racing?
Taniguchi entered Super Taikyu in 2001 and has accumulated eight class championships. His most productive stretch was 2008 to 2013, when he won six successive class titles with the Petronas Syntium squad. He also won the Tokachi 24 Hours in 2005 and the Sepang 12 Hours in 2011 and 2012.
He won class titles in 2002 and 2005. Alongside Manabu Orido in ST-1, he dominated the class in a Porsche GT3 backed by Yokohama Advan, taking every round except the first. That year's Tokachi 24 Hours was also theirs, with Dominik Schwager sharing the drive.
At Petronas he raced a BMW Z4 M Coupe and a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3. Fuji 500 km victories came in 2012 and 2014, both in a BMW Z4 GT3, and at the 2010 Dubai 24 Hour he took the A5 petrol class and finished second overall, racing with teammates including Johannes Stuck.
His latest Super Taikyu appearance was a one-off at the 2023 season finale, driving an Aston Martin Vantage GT8R for D'Station Racing. Starting from pole, he and Orido took the ST-1 class win, their first shared victory in 18 years.
How fast was Taniguchi in time attack?
In the HKS Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 7 known as TRB-002, Taniguchi set a 54.37 second lap at Tsukuba before a later attempt ended in a crash. In 2007 an all-carbon Evolution, renamed the HKS CT230R, took the Tsukuba record with a time of 53.589 seconds.
In 2005 he raced the HKS USA Evolution in Car and Driver's Super Tuner Challenge, which pitted him against major American manufacturers and drivers. He won the day by three seconds and recorded the quickest quarter-mile, 0-60 mph and road course times.
At Phoenix International Raceway in 2006, he entered the HKS Speed Source RX-8 in a Grand Am Cup event and recorded the quickest qualifying lap of any RX-8. Later, a Toyota 86 called TRB-003 went under 50 seconds, though that time is contested because it ran full racing slicks rather than semi-slicks or radials.
Which other series and projects did Taniguchi take part in?
Taniguchi made his World Touring Car Championship bow in 2009 with Proteam Motorsport, and he took one-make titles in the Civic and Gazoo 86/BRZ categories. He also raced in the Netz Cup Altezza series. Formula Drift brought him to the United States for exhibitions from 2007.
Okayama International Circuit hosted that first WTCC round, which marked his debut in the championship.
An exclusive HKS and Formula Drift deal took him to the States in 2007, and his first Formula Drift outing was at Road Atlanta on 11 and 12 May 2007. He became a regular colour commentator on Formula Drift Japan, working beside announcer Tom Saeba and occasionally judging.
He has featured in DVD releases such as Hot Version and Best Motoring, and presents alongside Manabu Orido and Keiichi Tsuchiya.
He opened a YouTube channel on 24 March 2020, naming it NOB Channel, and posted his first upload on 3 April. Since then he has published something new each Friday, covering car reviews, his own project cars and motorsport.
What is Taniguchi's legacy in motorsport?
He is best known as the first D1 Grand Prix champion and as a multiple GT300 champion. He held the most D1 wins until 2005, and results across drifting, touring cars, Super GT, Super Taikyu and endurance racing mark a career that moved between disciplines.
He stopped professional drifting after the 2016 Odaiba event, but kept racing in Super GT and Super Taikyu. The 2023 class triumph with Orido showed the pair could still win together 18 years after their earlier success.
Tsukuba results remain part of his reputation, notably the CT230R record of 53.589 seconds and the disputed TRB-003 lap below 50 seconds.
