Satoru Nakajima

Satoru Nakajima (Japanese name: 中嶋 悟 ; born February 23, 1953 ) is a former racing driver from Japan.

Career
Nakajima was born into a farming family living just outside Okazaki, Japan. He began driving cars in his early teens in the family's garden with his older brother giving him tips, careful that they were not caught by their father. He felt a great deal of exhilaration behind the wheel of a car, and from then on knew what he wanted to do.

He started racing after he finished school and passed his driver's licence. In 1973 he was a rookie in the Suzuka Circuit series, which he won. Five years later, he won his first race in Japanese Formula 2. In 1981 he won his first championship, thus beginning a period of domination in the series. He won five of the next six championships, all of them using a Honda V6.

Nakajima participated in 80 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting in the Brazilian Grand Prix on April 12, 1987, bringing Honda engines to the Lotus team. He was 34 years old in his début race, making him one of F1's oldest débutantes of the modern era. He finished 6th, and so scored a point, in only his second race, the 1987 San Marino Grand Prix.

Honda left the Lotus garage after the 1988 season, leaving Nakajima and team-mate Nelson Piquet driving the Judd-powered 101. The pair had a very up-and-down season, with both failing to qualify for the 1989 Belgian Grand Prix, the first time in their 30-year history that Lotus had failed to make the grid, symbolically heralding the beginning of the end for the British team. A great upside to Nakajima's 1989 was a 4th place and fastest lap in the rain-soaked Australian Grand Prix, scoring his only points of the year and also equalling his best career finish, from the 1987 British Grand Prix.

Nakajima joined the Tyrrell team for the 1990 season, followed by Honda engines the next year. He raced for them for two uneventful years at the back of the pack before ending his career. Honda left F1 a year later to lay the first bricks on a works team, one that they had been working on during the F1 season, and that CEO Nobuhiko Kawamoto finally admitted to in October. The car, the Honda RC100 was unveiled to the media in February 1993, driven by Nakajima. Shortly afterwards, it passed FISA crash tests, meaning that the company could enter their team into F1 competition. In an attempt to improve on their previous chassis, Honda built two more, the RC101 and 101B, the latter intended to be used for racing purposes, the former for crash testing. Nakajima had the first public testing of the 101B in Suzuka in January 1994. The company decided against entering its own cars in F1 at this time, instead opting to further their engine development in America with CART, and later, the IRL.

Nakajima still lives in the family home near Okazaki. He owns the Nakajima Racing entry in Japanese Formula 3000, or Formula Nippon. Nakajima drivers have won the Formula Nippon championship three times, Tom Coronel doing so in 1999, Toranosuke Takagi in 2000, and Ralph Firman in 2002. Nakajima's current drivers are Takashi Kogure and Andre Lotterer, who finished 2nd in the 2004 championship, although he was tied in points with champion Richard Lyons. Nakajima's son, Kazuki, is currently signed to Stefan GP, despite the team not having an entry in the 2010 Formula One Season. Kazuki previously raced for Williams F1, but his contract was not renewed at the end of the 2009 Season Nakajima is currently signed to drive for F1 hopefuls Stefan GP, and was confirmed on February 19, 2010 by team boss Zoran Stefanovic despite the team not having an entry for the championship. . Kazuki Nakajima made his F1 début at the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix following the retirement of regular driver Alexander Wurz. Satoru's younger son, Daisuke, is also a racing driver. He competed in the British Formula Three Championship for 2009.

Sponsored

 * F1 Grand Prix: Nakajima Satoru (Sega Mega Drive - 1991)
 * F1 Hero Mega Drive (Sega Mega Drive - 1992)
 * F1 Super License: Nakajima Satoru (Sega Mega Drive - 1992)
 * Nakajima Satoru Super F-1 Hero (Super Famicom - 1992)
 * Colin McRae Rally (European cartridge version for the NES)

Appeared in

 * F1 Circus MD (Sega Mega Drive)
 * Fastest 1 (Sega Mega Drive) as S. Inakajima
 * Formula One: Built to Win (Nintendo Entertainment System) as S.Nakazima
 * Human Grand Prix II (Super Famicom)
 * Human Grand Prix III: F1 Triple Battle (Super Famicom)
 * Human Grand Prix IV: F1 Dream Battle (Super Famicom)

Complete Formula One results
(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)