Tsuchiya Engineering is a team located in Fujisawa, Kanagawa, founded by Haruo Tsuchiya, and now ran by his son, Takeshi.

Origins

Haruo Tsuchiya used to work at TOMEI Automotive, before leaving in 1971 to create his own shop and team. The team initially competed in local touring car races, before entering JTC, where it won the Division-3 title twice, in 1989 and

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

. Tsuchiya later entered JGTC, and not long after, in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, they set a record-breaking season. A partnership with

Team Taisan Team Taisan (チーム・タイサン, stylized as Team TAISAN) is a Japanese auto racing team founded in 1983 by Yasutsune "Ricky" Chiba and owned by the Taisan Industrial Company. Most active in the Super GT Series, formerly known as the All J ...

and with drivers

Shingo Tachi was a Japanese racing driver, the son of Nobuhide Tachi (舘信秀), founder and head of TOM's, the motorsport side of Toyota. Tachi raced in British Formula Vauxhall with Rowan Racing in 1994 and 1995 before switching to British Formula 3 in ...

and Keiichi Suzuki earned them 5 wins out of 6 races. In 1999, they partnered with A'PEX and had 3 drivers throughout the season, one of which,

Morio Nitta Morio (written: , , , , , , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese singer-songwriter and actor *, Japanese anime director *, Japanese karateka *, Japanese actor *, pen-name of Sokichi Saitō, ...

(who had entered in all the races) won the title, giving Tsuchiya back to back titles in GT300. They entered in GT500 in 2000, but they couldn't build on their massive success in GT300, only achieving a win, in the season opener of

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

. The team folded in 2008 due to the economic recession.

Return to Super GT

Haruo's son Takeshi, founded team SAMURAI in 2010, with his father as manager. VivaC 86 MC

In 2015, Tsuchiya Engineering made their official return to GT300, where they won the championship in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

with

Takeshi Tsuchiya is a professional race car driver. Racing Record 24 Hours of Le Mans results Complete Formula Nippon results (key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation o ...

and Takamitsu Matsui at the wheel. The team continued their strong form of results after 2016, but in 2020 the team switched to the

Porsche 911 The Porsche 911 (pronounced ''Nine Eleven'' or in german: Neunelfer) is a two-door 2+2 high performance rear-engined sports car introduced in September 1964 by Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. It has a rear-mounted flat-six engine and origin ...

and began to struggle with results, leading them to ditch the Porsche after 2 disappointing seasons, switching to a self-built Toyota GR Supra. Despite the car change, the struggles didn't stop as the team failed to score points in the first 3 races of the season and pulled out of the 4th round at Fuji following a testing crash at Suzuka. In

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

, at the 4th round of the season at Fuji, both Tsuchiya-ran cars caught fire, leading to both cars withdrawing from the following event and the rest of the season. As of November 2023, Takeshi was still hoping to return to GT300, having started a fundraiser known as the "Hopico Revival Project" in order to help the small team return to racing. The team is set to return to GT300 competition for the 2024 season with 2016 champion

Takamitsu Matsui is a Japanese racing driver affiliated with Toyota Gazoo Racing who currently competes in Super GT for Hoppy Team Tsuchiya. A longtime competitor in the series, he is best known for winning the 2016 championship in the GT300 class, driving ...

and

Togo Suganami is a racing driver from Japan who currently competes in Super GT. Career Formula career Suganami started his first Formula racing in 2017 in F4 Japanese Championship until 2018 season which was his highest standing in 5th with 2 wins and 3 ...

, with a rebuilt version of "Hopico".

Partnership with Max Racing

Before the 2020 Super GT season it was announced that Tsuchiya Engineering would support newcomers Max Racing, by servicing their car. The partnership lasted until the Fuji GT 450km Race in 2023, where both cars caught fire and Max Racing ceased operations.

References

{{reflist, 2 Japanese auto racing teams category:companies based in Kanagawa Prefecture category:sport in Kanagawa Prefecture category:auto racing teams established in 1971 category:1971 establishments in Japan category:Japanese racecar constructors category:Super GT teams