Noritake Takahara (高原 敬武, born 6 June 1951 in Tokyo) is a former racing driver from Japan.
He participated in 2 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on October 24, 1976. He scored no championship points.
Takahara is a two-time Japanese Formula 2000 champion, winning the title in 1974 and 1976, and resulting vice-champion in 1975 and third in 1973.
He won the Fuji Grand Champion Series three times in 1973, 1975 and 1976, and resulted vice-champion in 1974. He collected 17 wins and 30 podiums in that championship. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Noritake Takahara began racing with a Honda S800 Coupe in 1969 and was soon competing in Japanese F2000 and the Grand Champion sports car series. He qualified a Brabham BT36-Mitsubishi on pole position for the first F2000 race to be held, titled as the 1972 Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji.
Following this he won the Fuji Grand Champion Series three times, in 1973, 1975 and 1976, was runner up in 1974 and collected 17 wins and 30 podiums in that championship. In the series, he raced a March 742-BMW in 1974 though in 1976 he drove a Kojima Engineering Nova 512-BMW.
Besides national races, in 1973 he drove a GRD 273-Ford in a European F2 race at Estoril though crashed during the first heat. Then, in a rented March 741-Ford, he finished 11th in the 1974 International Trophy at Silverstone.
In 1976’s Japanese GP at Fuji he finished a creditable ninth in a Surtees TS19-Ford in the torrential rain, also becoming the first Japanese driver to finish a World Championship Grand Prix. He returned for the following year’s Japanese GP, in a Kojima KE009-Ford, but unfortunately crashed during the race.
He was a leading contender in the Japanese F2 series for the rest of the decade, driving Nova, Martini and March chassis (racing a Harada Racing March 792-BMW to third place at Suzuka in 1979). He also continued in sports cars, both in the national series and when the world championship visited Japan, until 1986.
After retiring from racing, Noritake became involved in Japanese motorsport management and administration.
Noritake Takahara, March – 1974 International Trophy – from Autosport
When was the first time a Japanese driver raced in F1? If you’re thinking Satoru Nakajima in 1987, go and sit on the naughty step. If you’re thinking of the 1976 Japanese GP, you’re off the hook but still not entirely right…
In fact it was one of the drivers on the grid at Fuji in 1976, Noritake Takahara, but it had been a couple of years earlier in the 1974 International Trophy.
Takahara was one of the top drivers in Japan’s Formula 2000 (F2) series, in which he raced a March, and had also contested a couple of 1973 European F2 rounds. He did a one-off deal with March for an F1 debut at Silverstone, where he drove the car in which Vittorio Brambilla had just taken his own F1 bow in the South African GP – hence the Beta Tools livery.
Takahara finished a steady 11th, before returning to Japan to win the F2000 crown. He raced with Surtees in the 1976 Japanese GP and with Kojima in the following edition, where his performances fell far short of those of compatriots Masahiro Hasemi and Kazuyoshi Hoshino.
Gallery F1 F2/Tasman 2.0 cup Japan GC Can Am
