Toyota's loss

Toyota's loss -- and Toyoda's loss

Crash claims test driver Naruse, who helped craft cars and mentor a CEO

Automotive News -- June 28, 2010 - 12:01 am ET

 TOKYO -- The death of master test driver Hiromu Naruse, killed last week in his beloved Lexus LFA sports car at the Nurburgring complex in Germany, is a loss not just for Toyota Motor Corp. but for President Akio Toyoda. 

The 67-year-old veteran, dubbed the Meister of Nurburgring, helped fine-tune a generation of Toyota's best cars, from the 2000GT of the '60s and Supra of the '80s to today's LFA. But his impact as mentor of the founding family's scion was just as important. 

The weathered, white-haired Naruse was the first to challenge Toyoda's car guy street cred by pushing him to become a certified performance driver, not just an armchair aficionado. 

"The second thing he told me was that test drivers have a very dangerous job. You must understand the risks," Toyoda recalled Naruse warning him at the start of his training. 

On Wednesday, June 23, Naruse's yellow-orange LFA crossed the center line on a road just outside the race course and smashed head-on into a BMW carrying two other test drivers. They both survived, although one was in critical condition a day later. 

It was easy to understand Naruse's sway. Within Toyota, he loomed as an Obi-Wan Kenobi figure commanding cultlike reverence. When I met him last month in Germany on the sidelines of the Nurburgring 24-hour endurance race, I found an intense, no-nonsense car fanatic who left no doubt about his confidence or control behind the wheel, despite his age. 

His exacting standards helped perfect the $375,000 LFA, which stands at the pinnacle of the Toyota lineup, not just in price but in engineering and performance.

Hiromu Naruse helped shape Toyota, from its cars to its president, Akio Toyoda -- whom Naruse prodded to become a certified performance driver. Photo credit: HANS GREIMEL

Naruse met Toyoda long before he became president -- and was less than impressed. 

"He was young. At times the car might have been more in control of the driving than him," Naruse said. The hardest part of the training was "overcoming fear and knowing the car's limits." 

Over the next several years, Toyoda practiced extreme driving every week under the stern eye of Naruse. The curriculum included high-speed braking, emergency rollover escapes, pursuit driving and controlled spins. 

When Toyoda finally passed his advanced-level test-driver certification, he was inducted into a club of hotshot drivers -- led by Naruse himself -- who dub themselves "Top Guns." 

"He has a good sense of how a car should feel," Naruse said of Toyoda's driving. "But he also brings a sense of how customers would feel in the car, what customers are expecting." 

Toyoda now peppers his speech with terminology lifted straight from Naruse's philosophy about developing cars. Chief among them is Toyoda's belief in "seasoning" each model. 

Naruse's accident casts doubt on who will carry his torch. Clearly, the master had no plan to hang up the keys so soon. 

"I'm only halfway up the stairs," he said last month regarding plans for future racing and fine-tuning of the LFA super sports car he was so instrumental in creating. "I'm still ready for the next step."

You can reach Hans Greimel at hgreimel@crain.com.