Akihiko Nakaya

Akihiko Nakaya (中谷明彦, Nakaya Akihiko, born November 3, 1957) is a successful racing driver in the Japanese Touring Car Championship and F3000,^[1][2] as well as regular presenter on the Japanese motoring show Best Motoring. Nakaya offered a distinctively analytical approach to reviewing cars on the show, providing detailed analyses of various vehicle components and explaining certain driving styles that were best suited to their characteristics. He was a regular driver of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions during Best Motoring races involving the I, II, III, IV, V, VI (including the Tommi Makinen Edition), VII, and VIII of the car, often recording lap times significantly quicker than other drivers of the same vehicle.

Nakaya's name was applied to a special preface-build of the Mitsubishi FTO, the Nakaya-Tune FTO, which appeared in 1997.

Nakaya was considered for a Formula One ride with Brabham in 1992, but the FIA would not grant him a superlicense on the grounds that Japanese F3000 (today the Super Formula Championship) was, at the time, not considered a stepping stone to F1. The ride eventually went to Giovanna Amati, who was more known for her sex than talent and was replaced three races into the season by future World Champion Damon Hill.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1987	Ralliart Australia	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	MNZ	JAR	DIJ	NUR	SPA	BNO	SIL	BAT ovr:5 cls:4	CLD ovr:9 cls:5	WEL		NC	0
	STP Mitsubishi Ralliart												FJI ovr:10 cls:5

† Not eligible for series points

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key)

Year	Car#	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1986	53	Mitsubishi Ralliart	Brad Jones	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	B	61	DNF	DNF
1987	16	Ralliart Australia	Gary Scott John French	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	1	154	5th	4th

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class pos.
1989	Brun Motorsport From-A Racing	Harald Grohs Sarel van der Merwe	Porsche 962C	C1	78	DNF	DNF
1997	Team Lark McLaren	Gary Ayles Keiichi Tsuchiya	McLaren F1 GTR	LMGT1	88	DNF	DNF
1999	Team Goh	Hiroki Katoh Hiro Matsushita	BMW V12 LM	LMP	223	DNF	DNF