Hideki Noda – a brief Formula One career……

In the late 1980’s Japan was in love with the world of Formula One. Honda engines were powering drivers and teams to glory, and there was a lottery to get tickets to watch their Grand Prix at Suzuka.

Honda had entered Formula One back in the 1960’s winning the Mexican GP of 1965. Japanese drivers and teams entered races in the mid-1970’s through the Maki and Heros Racing teams with very little success, but in the mid 1980’s Saturo Nakajima became the first Japanese Formula One driver to really make an impact.

Nakajima was supported by Honda and found himself racing alongside Ayrton Senna in the Lotus team in 1987 and then Nelson Piquet in 1988 and 1989! Quite the test if your first job as a Formula One driver is to beat your team mate!

However several more drivers from Japan appeared on the grid over the next few years, and the driver which caught my eye most recently was Hideki Noda who made three appearances for the Larrousse team in 1994.

I saw Noda race in British Formula Three at Thruxton back in both 1990 and 1991, racing alongside Mika Salo and the late Marcel Albers in the two seasons. A debut season saw several points finishes and 12th place in the drivers championship, but his second season saw a race victory at the August Silverstone meeting, the first Japanese driver to win a Formula Three race outside of Japan.

Progression into International Formula 3000 for the 1992 season which saw an eight place finish at Magny-Cours, but he returned for 1993 and a slight improvement in form. A third season in F3000, this time alongside Pedro Diniz in the Forti team saw a marked improvement in speed. Points were scored at Silverstone , followed by a podium finish at the Enna-Pergusa round, and a 10th place finish in the drivers title.

Whilst the progression had been relatively slow, which could be said for many drivers in the very competitive world of Formula Three and Formula 3000 in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s (and is still the case in these feeder Formula) Hideki was well supported by his sponsors which was a significant factor when a seat at the Larrousse team became a possibility in the 1994 season.

Larrousse were in financial troubles and drivers who could bring invaluable sponsorship were the short term lifeline the team needed. For the final three races of the 1994 season Noda stepped into the role of Formula One driver, initially alongside regular team driver Eric Comas.

At his F1 debut he qualified within a second of his team mate, 24th on the grid, but stalled at the start, needing a push start to race. Ten laps at the rear of the field were all he could manage before a gearbox issue forced him to head to the pits.

On route to the pits and race retirement he was lapped by Rubens Barrichello and Nigel Mansell in their Jordan and Williams cars respectively. Rubens went one way round Hideki, Mansell drove into the back of him, not what anyone watching would of expected!

The next race was at Suzuka, and again qualifying (even with local knowledge) was competitive from Noda, a mere 0.013 seconds off Comas’ pace. Torrential rain hampered the race, and Noda was one of three local drivers who all ended their races within the first three laps.

What turned out to be his final F1 race was at the season ending Australian race at Adelaide. Comas had been replaced by another driver with a budget, Jean-Denis Deletraz, who Hideki out qualified by over 2.3 seconds. In the race he was beaten off the line by the Simteks and suffered an oil leak after 18 laps again ending his race early.

1995 saw Noda sign up to be the second Simtek driver alongside Jos Verstappen for the second half of the season; sadly the team folded before he managed to drive for the car in anger and subsequent opportunities with Forti also came to nothing.

Along the way to Formula One Hideki had shown speed, race craft and desire, certaianly sufficient to win in Formula Three and achieve a podium finish in Formula 3000. In his three races in Formula One again he showed speed, but was racing for a team fighting for survival and didn’t really get an opportunity to show what he was capable of.

Given the speed of Jos Verstappen in the 1995 Simtek (especially the first few races) its yet another case of what might have been achieved by Noda with a better car, some testing and more experience under his belt in Formula One.

However Hideki’s story didn’t end there. Indylights in the USA led to a rain affected race win in 1997, as well as racing in the Indy Racing League, Le Mans, A1 GP and back in Japan Formula 3000 / Nippon and Super GT (including wins in 1999 and 2001 for Toyota).

Clearly quick Hideki Noda is one of the less well known of the 20 Japanese drivers to make Formula One, but certainly one who should be recognised for his career in motor sport, if not the three Formula One races he started in 1994.