Lexus LFA Crash - Toyota's Chief Test Driver, Hiromu Naruse, killed
Toyota has officially confirmed that its master test driver Hiromu Naruse was killed yesterday in the Lexus LFA crash.
67-year-old Naruse lost control of the LFA Nurburgring prototype and swerved into the oncoming lane and collided with a BMW driven by two BMW test-drivers.
Check out our original post about the accident here.
Follow the jump to read more about Hiromu Naruse.
Press Release:
HIROMU NARUSE MASTER TEST DRIVER TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION
Hiromu Naruse is Master Test Driver at Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) in Japan.
Naruse joined Toyota Manufacturing Corporation in 1963 as a test driver with Motor Sports in the Technical Division where he test drove the Toyota 7 and the 2000 GT. In 1970, he was transferred to Switzerland where he contributed to the growth of Toyota Motor Sports. He participated in and won many races, as one of the first Japanese participants, including the Nurburgring and Spa 24 Hour challenges. He transferred to the Dynamic Performance Testing Group in 1975 and in 1979 became part of the Overall Testing Group.
Naruse helped establish Special A in 1984.
He also helped establish VDx in 1995 where the group was responsible for auditing and evaluating new vehicles. In 2002 Naruse joined Team N where he is responsible for special assignments.
Naruse’s experience as a driver has included the evaluation and development of every Toyota sports car including the Supra and many hours at Nurburgring. He has earned the nickname “Nur-meister” and holds the top spot of Toyota’s 300 test drivers.
- By: Omar Rana
