Asahi Racing Team

The Drift King who shaped the mountain passes.

Keiichi Tsuchiya is a Japanese professional race car driver, born January 30, 1956. Known as the Drift King (Dorikin), he is celebrated for his nontraditional use of drifting in non-drifting racing events and for popularizing drifting as a motorsport. His professional racing achievements include being a two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner and the 2001 All Japan GT Championship runner-up. He is also known for tōge driving. Tsuchiya served as a consultant for the popular manga and anime series, Initial D, in which he makes several cameos. He also served as a stunt coordinator and stuntman on The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, where he made a cameo appearance.

Quick Facts

First appears: N/A in Main Series
Status: Not Featured

Lore & Background

Tsuchiya started his career as a racing driver and became widely known after appearing in illegal street racing videos produced by Pluspy. He rose to international prominence by popularizing the art of oversteer through the Fuji Freshman series in 1977. Unlike many drivers who came from wealthy families or motorsport backgrounds, he honed his skills from street racing and became a prominent figure in the underground scene. The car Tsuchiya drives, a Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno, has become one of the most popular sports cars; the car is also known as 'Hachi-Roku' in Japan (hachi-roku meaning 'eight-six'); his car is also called 'The Little Hachi that could.'

A 2-part video known as 'The Touge' produced by Pluspy (styled as +P) documents Tsuchiya's touge driving with his AE86. His life in driving is parallel to that of the Initial D main character, Takumi, as both of them started exploring their local touge while doing regular deliveries for their family businesses. He makes a number of cameos in the series: in the First Stage, he briefly converses with Takumi's father, Bunta; in the Third Stage, a motorcycle rider wearing a similar racing suit overtakes Takumi as he was en route to an invitation battle with Ryosuke Takahashi; and in the Final Stage, he meets Takumi in person while the latter spectates a circuit race in the end credits.

Reader's Guide

Initial D features a hierarchy of racing teams, from local hill crews to organized street racing clubs like RedSuns and Project D. The Asahi Racing Team is not recognized among these canonical factions. It does not have a known base of operations or core members in the manga. Fans sometimes confuse this name with Akina SpeedStars due to phonetic similarities, but they are distinct entities in terms of canon presence. For accurate team research, focus on verified groups like Emerald Knights or Z-Racing which appear in the main storyline.