With a long list of accomplishments and world firsts, Hiroyuki Hasegawa has died at the age of 71.We recently have heard the founder of legendary Japanese tuning company HKS, has passed away. The company's website in Japan posted news that Hiroyuki Hasegawa has died at the age of 71.
The cause of death is unknown at this time but we have reason to believe it was of natural causes. Hasegawa-san lived and worked in the area Fujinomiya City in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, where the HKS world headquarters are based.
In a picturesque area of Japan located near the the base of Mount Fuji, Hasegawa-san set out to create an empire in the emerging Japanese vehicle tuning market. Starting in back in 1973, a young Hasewgawa-san along with Goichi Kitagawa began tuning engines in a simple shed prior to an investment by Sigma Automotive to form the three initials of the company HKS Co. Limited. The former Yamaha engineer worked tirelessly at putting his new company on the map and by 1974 had developed the world's first aftermarket turbocharger kits available to the public.
By the 1980's, turbocharger kits and upgrades became the core business of HKS. Hasegawa's company, HKS also became the first in the world to offer staple tuning electronics like the turbo timer and the boost controller, where users could find extra horsepower and control boost through their HKS turbo kits or even factory turbo cars.
But HKS also set many new benchmarks in the world of racing by proving their product in competition. HKS was involved with Japanese Grand Touring Car (JGTC), Formula 3, Time Attack, the D1 Grand Prix drifting series and of course, drag racing of all kinds. HKS even developed a V12 engine for use in Formula 1 but the technology didn't see competition thus preventing the course of HKS history from changing. But HKS still became renowned around the world and set up expansions: HKS USA in the U.S., HKS Europe in the U.K. and HKS Thailand to meet the exploding demand for tuning parts and electronics.
We wanted to reflect on HKS founder Hiroyuki Hasegawa with some personal stories:
tags: nathan finneman , racing , hks , car , motorsport
The cause of death is unknown at this time but we have reason to believe it was of natural causes. Hasegawa-san lived and worked in the area Fujinomiya City in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, where the HKS world headquarters are based.
In a picturesque area of Japan located near the the base of Mount Fuji, Hasegawa-san set out to create an empire in the emerging Japanese vehicle tuning market. Starting in back in 1973, a young Hasewgawa-san along with Goichi Kitagawa began tuning engines in a simple shed prior to an investment by Sigma Automotive to form the three initials of the company HKS Co. Limited. The former Yamaha engineer worked tirelessly at putting his new company on the map and by 1974 had developed the world's first aftermarket turbocharger kits available to the public.
By the 1980's, turbocharger kits and upgrades became the core business of HKS. Hasegawa's company, HKS also became the first in the world to offer staple tuning electronics like the turbo timer and the boost controller, where users could find extra horsepower and control boost through their HKS turbo kits or even factory turbo cars.
But HKS also set many new benchmarks in the world of racing by proving their product in competition. HKS was involved with Japanese Grand Touring Car (JGTC), Formula 3, Time Attack, the D1 Grand Prix drifting series and of course, drag racing of all kinds. HKS even developed a V12 engine for use in Formula 1 but the technology didn't see competition thus preventing the course of HKS history from changing. But HKS still became renowned around the world and set up expansions: HKS USA in the U.S., HKS Europe in the U.K. and HKS Thailand to meet the exploding demand for tuning parts and electronics.
We wanted to reflect on HKS founder Hiroyuki Hasegawa with some personal stories:
tags: nathan finneman , racing , hks , car , motorsport
RSS Feed