Tag Archives: Taka Aono

Taka Aono: It’s Not A Handicap. Period.

February 25, 2013 in Videos by

Campaigned from the very first race by Taka and his wife Yoshie, he is the only driver on the grid to have driven the same chassis in every race meeting of Formula Drift since its inception in 2004.

Yeah, you read that right. After almost 10 years, the only AE86 that still arrives every event to go up against the new talent in their modern cars is Taka’s. But it’s not easy to keep coming back. He’s constantly told the time has come to step out of his beloved AE chassis into something more modern to compete to win.

The reasons he’s given? Too light. No power. Wheelbase is too short. Too old.

What does Taka think? Like a true hachiroku ‘lifer’ he is pragmatic: “You know, I should say… the car is there, but I need to drive better…. I gotta catch up with the power. I need to be the big man, or I gotta get bigger balls or whatever… but the Corolla, it’s not a handicap. Period.”

Taka Aono: A Retrospect

April 15, 2010 in Videos by

Somewhat fitting after yesterday’s post on the 2010 season of Formula D kicking off, today’s post is a homage to the guy who some might say is the hardest working AE86 driver in the USA: Taka Aono.  This video by the AE86-loving DeadPirate crew is a recap of Taka’s season in 2009.  Seriously great editing and an awesome soundtrack too.

Vimeo [For HD Viewing]

AE86’s @ Formula D 2010

April 14, 2010 in Events by

Anontio and the crew over at MotorMavens have got their coverage up of the first round of the 2010 Formula D at Long Beach in the USA. Good to see a few hachirokus represented, especially the  (now pink and yellow) Trueno monster of Taka Aono. Jump over to MM now and check out the pics!

MotorMavens

All The Horsepower In The World..

June 15, 2009 in Videos by

… won’t stop you from spinning out and losing the round… Here Taka Aono in his trusty AE86 shows Daijiro Yoshihara that the key to success isn’t simply a bigger dyno sheet…