Toyota’s chief test driver, Hiromu Naruse, has been killed in a head-on collision near the Nurburgring today Toyota has confirmed.
Naruse, 67, was killed in an accident close to Toyota’s workshop near the circuit. The Lexus LFA Nurburgring Edition in which he was travelling collided head on with a BMW.
The BMW involved in the crash was also driven by a test driver. Both the BMW driver and his passenger were seriously injured.
Naruse joined Toyota in 1963 in the Vehicle Evaluation and Engineering Division, and had been involved with Toyota Motorsports since 1970.
He influenced development of all the sporty mass-production vehicles from the Toyota 2000GT to the MR-S, and is said to have logged more miles at the Nurburgring than any other Japanese person.
Naruse was also company CEO Akio Toyoda's personal on-track driver.
