Photo Gallery - 1/1/2023

 

Black and with the chassis named like one of the most famous secret agents in the world, this beautiful car wasn’t definitively a product of the Q-branch. However, its brief story is full of adventure and surprise.

In 1976, the F1 finally made its way to Japan. The Land of the Rising Sun always had a strong motoring tradition, which definitively blossomed after World War II. However, the Japanese manufacturers barely appeared abroad, except in rallies, as they created strong sales markets in Asia, Oceania, Africa and even parts of America. Nevertheless, the scenario was completely different on two wheels, as Japan is the land of motorcycles. By the late fifties, those brands were arriving in the MotoGP Championship, and soon they conquered it, winning multiple titles.

In F1 and Sport-Prototypes, the situation was the opposite. Few teams and manufacturers were committed to the most significant European and World Championships. Alas, only Honda made an effort to establish itself in Formula 1 in 1964. Still, they worked closely with Lola most of the time and recurring to world-class drivers, namely John Surtees and Richie Ginther. When Honda realized they needed far more investment to become a regular winner in F1 while they were already 2-wheel champions, they decided to pull the plug.

But the national motoring scene was rising quickly, and the championships were highly competitive. Many factories and businesses were interested in racing to promote their brands, so massive sponsorship was available. Nonetheless, there was no interest in most of them to going abroad. Also, the significant language barrier and substantial cultural differences didn’t help the few pioneers who ventured overseas. Despite globalization, even today, the Japanese scenario, both in Super formula and the GTs, has many stars who decide or have no chance to leave the country and attracts many foreign drivers, who can have professional careers and be paid, something impossible in other parts of the world.

When those pioneers began racing in F3 and F2, there was a renewed interest in Japan. Then, some young engineers decided to create a team to venture into F1 in 1974. Without money and experience, the Maki F1 team was a failure but caught the attention of some Japanese racing manufacturers. One of them was Matsuhisa Kojima, a motocross driver who made a fortune importing bananas to Japan. He created a team to build single-seaters, which soon became reasonably successful in F2. With F1 arriving in Japan in 1976, he hired Masao Ono and some more staff from Maki to prepare the new car, the Kojima KE007-Cosworth.

The driver was Masahiro Hasemi. Back then, with no social media and digital newspapers, only those familiar with the Japanese racing scene knew the fast and reliable driver from Tokyo. He had already managed several achievements in most of the racing categories and, since 1974, used to drive the F2 Kojimas in the local championship, which was highly competitive, and was a Nissan-bound driver since 1964. At 31 years old, Hasemi had his chance to prove himself against the best drivers in the world, and Kojima tested relentlessly during late summer and early autumn. Knowing Fuji by heart, it was easy for Kojima to find the perfect car setup and gear ratios. They also had Japanese-developed Dunlop tyres and tested them in every condition. However, this doesn’t explain what happened in the weekend…

Everyone was focused on the stellar fight between Niki Lauda and James Hunt for the World Championship. Everybody knows this story, so I won’t discuss it here. Despite their inexperience, Hasemi and the Kojima were immediately fast and able to set times in the upper-middle peloton. And during the first qualifying session, Hasemi put on a stellar performance to set the fourth time overall!!! Only Hunt, Lauda and Pace were better. Again, it was underestimated. He knew the circuit, the ratios, the setup etc. However, it was a new team and a rookie driver! It wasn’t for everybody to do something like this. It was a demonstration of great talent in a simple and well-conceived car. Sadly, Hasemi couldn’t repeat the exploit on the second session, as he crashed very hard on a fast lap at more than 250 km/h on the long right-hander before the finish line and left the Kojima in a disastrous condition. He was lucky not to be injured, but the qualifying had ended for him, and the mechanics had to work day and night to get the car ready for the race…

Despite missing Saturday’s qualifying session, while the Kojima workers got the KE007 ready and driveable the following day, Hasemi’s final position on the grid was tenth, only one second and eleven hundredths beyond the poleman Mario Andretti, on a Lotus! It was pretty promising.

Nevertheless, on Sunday, it was foggy and raining, sometimes quite heavily. It is common at Fuji Speedway to have such weather changes. Still, there was too much moisture on the air and water on the tarmac to raise concerns on many drivers, including names such as Hunt, Lauda, Fittipaldi and Pace. They defended the race should be delayed further because it wasn’t safe to drive in such conditions. Despite their stances, there was too much at stake. The public was waiting, TV transmission was set up, and the organizers didn’t want to lose money if they had to cancel the race if the rain continued so, as the majority of the drivers didn’t oppose vehemently and the forecast was favourable, the race started on time.

Hunt took the lead at the start, while Hasemi lost four places. Yet, it was just the beginning, as the Japanese were used to driving in those conditions at Fuji. Dunlop provided good rain tyres, also duly tested during the autumn. While Lauda and Fittipaldi chose to retire from the race due to the awful weather conditions, Hunt and Lauda battled for the lead, with a surprising Kazuyoshi Hoshino behind them (but that’s another story!). Hasemi was driving consistently on the fringes of the top-10 but began suffering from tyre problems, something familiar to the remaining drivers yet on the track. After stopping on lap 24, Hasemi made the fast lap of the race with fresh tires a lap later! By then, the rain had stopped, and the tarmac was drying fast, so the drivers had to choose the wet parts of the track not to further damage the tyres.

However, Dunlop didn’t bring enough slicks for the race. These were far more inefficient than the wets against their foreign counterparts, so Hasemi began losing time regularly and was completely off the pace. Yet, the Kojima was reliable enough, and Hasemi concluded the Japanese Grand Prix in the eleventh and last place, seven laps behind Andretti, who gave Lotus its first win since 1974, while Hunt celebrated the world title. Later, it was found that Jacques Laffite effectively had the fastest lap. It was promptly corrected by the Japanese Automobile Federation, which communicated to FISA and released the correction to the media. Ironically, the alleged record stood for many years in many reliable sources, even official ones, because it was forgotten amidst the hectic finale. There are probably still books and magazines that innocently credit Hasemi with the fastest lap of the race even now!!

There were plans for Kojima to race on some selected rounds of the 1977 F1 World Championship. Still, they fell apart due to the lack of sponsorship interest. After all, the sponsors were mainly focused on the national market, and Kojima was a racing brand, so there was no interest in selling cars abroad, so the new Kojima only raced again in the 1977 Japanese Grand Prix. Then, F1 left Japan only to return when Honda was now an established engine manufacturer and a regular winner in 1987.

Kojima tried again in 1978, and, during that year, there were discussions of an eventual partnership with Willi Kauhsen to enter F1 with a new car and one or two drivers, one of them being Keke Rosberg and Toshiba sponsorship. However, it would come to nothing, as few sponsors were interested, and the rumoured major backer pulled the plug later in the year, so the Japanese dream ended there. Kojima closed its doors in 1980, while Willi Kauhsen tried to build his own F1 in 1979, but the car was awful, and the team disappeared shortly after. As for Hasemi, he would never drive an F1 car again. He wasn’t called for the 1977 race but had the offer to drive for Theodore in 1978. However, Teddy Yip wanted money, and, as usual, the Japanese weren’t interested in foreign markets, so the offer came to nought. Hasemi would later become widely known for his performances with Nissan on Touring Cars and the Group C prototypes, apart from multiple titles at home.