Takumi Fujiwara's Toyota AE86

Takumi Fujiwara's Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX (AE86) (originally owned by Bunta Fujiwara), also known as The White Ghost of Akina, the Panda Trueno, or more simply as the Eight-Six (Hachi-Roku), is one of the main vehicles in the Initial D series. Bunta Fujiwara used this car to set the fastest downhill record on Mt. Akina and then used it as the delivery for his tofu shop. It would later become legendary after his son, Takumi, used the car to beat Keisuke Takahashi of the Akagi RedSuns, he would later use it during his time as part of Project D before retiring the car at the end of the series.

Use by Bunta Fujiwara
It's unknown when Bunta purchased the Eight-Six, though it is implied that he had used it during when he went around racing with Yuichi Tachibana. He may have used it during his races with his rival, Ken Kogashiwa. He used the car to set the fastest downhill record on Akina, with this record still standing by the beginning of the series. At some point Bunta opened the Fujiwara Tofu Store, turning his car into a delivery vehicle. Five years prior to the beginning of the story, Bunta started sending a 13 year old Takumi out in the Eight-Six as a delivery driver. Over the years Takumi gained immense skill with the car, learning how to drift his car incredibly close to the guardrails and how to perform gutter runs out of his own boredom.

Birth of a Legend
During a tofu delivery run, Takumi overtook Keisuke Takahashi on the Akina downhill using a perfect inertia drift. This event would lead to Keisuke and the other RedSuns wishing for revenge. Koichiro Iketani, after hearing a story from his boss, Yuichi Tachibana, searches for the fastest downhill racer on Akina, an Eight-Six driving tofu shop owner. After Iketani begs the man he was looking for, Bunta Fujiwara, on several occasions to represent the Akina SpeedStars in their battle against the Akagi RedSuns, he eventually tells him that there is a 50/50 chance that he will show up. Bunta makes a deal with his son; if Takumi goes up to Akina and defeats Keisuke Takahashi in a downhill battle, he will allow him to use the Eight-Six, giving him a free full tank of fuel, so that Takumi can go to the beach with Natsuki Mogi. Takumi accepts and travels to Akina, confusing the SpeedStars, who were expecting Bunta. After Takumi explains that he had already beaten Keisuke in the past, Iketani happily lets him represent the SpeedStars, understanding that if Bunta sent him then he must be good. Despite the Eight-Six being technically inferior to Keisuke's FD3S, he manages to keep up with him throughout the whole course, falling behind on the straightaways but catching up again in the corners. Takumi eventually overtakes Keisuke by performing a gutter run, putting the tires of the car into the drainage ditch on the inside of the hairpin turns. Takumi wins with a 7 second lead. He then goes on his date with Natsuki, with her calling the Trueno cute.

Takumi would then go on to race two members of the Myogi NightKids: Takeshi Nakazato and his R32 GTR (his first encounter with a 4WD) and Shingo Shoji and his Civic EG6 (his first encounter with a FF). He then raced the leader of the Akagi RedSuns, Ryosuke Takahashi. Takumi wins this battle when Ryosuke's FC3S loses the grip in its tires, allowing Takumi to slip by and win. Takumi then battles Impact Blue and their SilEighty on Usui Pass (his first battle on a course other than Akina) and Kenta Nakamura of the Akagi RedSuns and his Silvia S14 on Myogi (his first battle in the rain). During Team Emperor's Gunma campaign, Takumi went up against Seiji Iwaki and his Lancer Evolution IV on Akina, beating him after Seiji deviated from the plan that was given to him. This would be Takumi's last official race on Akina.

Death on Akagi
After Takumi's defeat of Seiji Iwaki on the Akina downhill, Emperor leader Kyoichi Sudo challenges him to a downhill battle at Akagi. Initially not wishing to race Sudo, Takumi changes his mind after finding out about Natsuki Mogi's secret relationship with a salary man and angrily travels to Akagi to accept Sudo's challenge. Sudo considers the battle a lesson to Takumi about how his car is inferior and unsuited to modern street racing. Despite managing to keep up with Sudo for much of the race, Takumi is eventually outran by him on a straightaway, and shortly after the realisation of his loss, the Eight-Six's engine explodes, sending him into a spin. Not long after this, Bunta shows up with a truck to pick up the car with. He tells Takumi that, despite his complaints, they will have to replace the engine in the Eight-Six instead of rebuilding it.

Rebirth
The Trueno was fitted with a new engine by Masashi Suzuki, a mechanic and friend of Bunta's. This new engine was a TRD Group A racing engine based on the fourth generation of the 4A-GE that was found in Toyota AE101s. It is unknown how he sourced this engine, although he may have contacts in the professional racing scene (suggested by the fact that he knows Keiichi Tsuchiya). Due to the sheer speed of the car with its new engine the driver is put under a large amount of g-forces, and so the car was fitted with a bucket seat. Since Bunta had used a lot of money to fix the car that Takumi has earned while delivering tofu, he says that the car's ownership is now 50/50 between him and his son. Takumi originally believes that the car's new engine is less powerful due to the change in the shift points and the lack of a proper tachometer. With the help of Wataru Akiyama, a fellow Eight-Six driver, Takumi is able to find out that the reason the car is under-performing is due to his tachometer's inability to show the true redline of the engine, Wataru also recommends the installation of water temperature and oil pressure gauges. With help from Koichiro Iketani and Yuichi Tachibana (who gets the new instrument board from Suzuki), Takumi is able to install the new tachometer and faces Wataru in a battle on Shomaru pass, where he quickly adjusts to his new engine. Takumi then goes on to rematch Kyoichi Sudo on Irohazaka, his home course, with his new engine giving him the power he needed to match and beat Sudo. He would then battle Kai Kogashiwa, the son of Bunta's old rival Ken Kogashiwa, on the same course. After reconciling with Mogi, Takumi would then race her ex-boyfriend Miki on a snowy Akina to save her from him assaulting her. Exclusively in Third Stage, Takumi would also rematch Ryosuke Takahashi on Akagi, though this battle was merely an exhibition to display his growth before he joins Ryosuke's new team: Project D.

Project D
Takumi joins Project D as one of their Double Aces with his Trueno. Shuichi Matsumoto is assigned as his mechanic, modifying the settings for the Eight-Six with help from Ryosuke. Takumi's first opponent with Project D was Toru Suetsugu of Seven Star Leaf, with Takumi winning the battle after Toru attempted to copy the weight-shifting gutter technique that Takumi had performed, failing to correctly shift his weight and causing his Roadster to fall into the gutter and flip.

His next opponent was Daiki Ninomiya, a braking specialist and student of the Todo School. Prior to the battle Matsumoto switches the Eight-Six's break pads, giving him more endurance whilst making breaking slightly more difficult. On the advice of Ryosuke, Takumi doesn't look at his rear-view mirror. Daiki loses the battle after wearing down his EK-9's tires.

Tomoyuki Tachi, an ex-student and "old boy" of the Todo School, asks for a rematch against Project D, driving the Todo School's Demo Car. Before the battle, the Eight Six is fitted with a carbon fibre hood and headlights to lighten the car. During the battle with Tachi, Takumi uses his Blind Attack technique for the first time, turning off and closing his headlights so that his opponent is unable to locate where his car is, leaving them unable to defend against him. Takumi performs this move a second time later on during the battle, using Tachi's headlights to figure out the racing line. Takumi maintains his blind attack until the last corner, which he enters side-by-side with Tachi before pulling ahead and crossing the line first.

The night after his battle with Tachi, on a downhill run Takumi comes up against a Subaru Impreza driven by his father, although he wouldn't find out until later. Takumi, defending his title as Akina's downhill legend, races the Impreza. Although he accepts that both the driver and the car are good, he believes that he can pass the driver with a gutter run. Takumi is shocked when the Impreza manages to perform the technique right after him, overtaking him on the next straight-away.

Takumi's next opponent was the Toyota Altezza driver Nobuhiko Akiyama, the cousin of Wataru and the leader of the Northern Saitama Alliance. The battle was short-lived, as Takumi left Nobuhiko in his dust after the first hairpin turn, on the orders of Ryosuke. Nobuhiko used this race against Takumi to devise a plan on how to beat him, something Ryosuke is likely to have known.

Nobuhiko's observations lead to the recruitment of the rally driver Sakamoto and the purchase of a Suzuki Cappuccino (a very light kei-car) for him to use. Prior to the battle Bunta gives Takumi full ownership of the Eight-Six, announcing that he is going to get himself a newer car (although by this point he had already owned his Impreza for a while. The battle against Sakamoto takes place in the rain, different than the ideal conditions that Nobuhiko had planned for. Takumi wins the battle after performing a Blind Attack, preventing Sakamoto from blocking him.

After the battle, Takumi wakes up for a tofu run, and is shocked to see an Impreza parked outside. He quickly realises that it was the same car that had beaten him on Akina and that Bunta had been the driver. Takumi makes a tofu run in the Impreza, later comparing it to flying a spaceship. This experience effects how he drives the Eight-Six, making him lose confidence in his ability. Takumi fixes his Four Wheel Drive complex with some helpful advice from Wataru.

Project D's next opponents were the Tsuchisaka Lan-Evo Team, a pair of Lancer Evolution drivers unafraid to use dirty tactics to win. Takumi is put up against the Lan-Evo VI driver, Ichijo, who tells Takumi that he should throw the race, else he will have to call a gang to beat the members of Project D up. Takumi wins the race after Ichijo slips on leftover oil from when the team had made Keisuke crash previously.

Takumi's next battle was against Dr. Toshiya Joshima, of the Ibaraki based team Purple Shadow. Takumi compares Joshima and his Honda S2000 to his father and the Impreza, breathing down his neck for the whole of their first run. The race continues for several runs, with Joshima changing his line in each in an attempt to throw Takumi off. During their seventh run, Joshima passes Takumi by clipping a corner. Takumi manages to keep close to Joshima, using every gutter to his advantage. Takumi regains his lead by performing a gutter drop and a blind attack simultaneously, shocking Joshima and preventing him from defending, causing the battle continue into its eighth run. During the run, Takumi makes a mistake whilst performing a gutter drop, breaking the suspension in his car and allow Joshima to shoot ahead of him. However, Takumi manages to limp past the S2000 when Joshima pulls over to vomit due to the heat.

Kanagawa Campaign
After damaging the car in the battle with Purple Shadow, the Eight-Six is repaired by Matsumoto. The suspension of the car is redone, and a new rotor is added. Fumihiro returns the car to Takumi before they confront the impostors in Saitama.

Takumi's first opponent of the Kanagawa Campaign was Satoshi Omiya, the leader of Team 246. During the battle Takumi uses his blind attack, however Omiya had turned his rear-view mirror away from his line of sight, so he was no more blind than usual. The use of this blind attack gave Takumi slightly better aerodynamics, and when he turned his lights back on it confused Omiya into thinking that there was an oncoming car. Omiya's mistake gives Takumi the room he needs to come up alongside his opponent. During a turn, Omiya regains his lead, but clips his rear wing against a signpost, causing it to break, throwing off his balance and causing him to spin out.

Project D then goes up against Team Katagiri, a group of professional racers that includes previous opponent Kai Kogashiwa. This rematch marks the first mention of the "Fujiwara Zone" - Takumi's almost supernatural ability to control his car as though it is an extension of his own body, and his ability to make his car accelerate like a four-wheel drive. Both Takumi and Kai entered a corner with no traction, causing the two cars to go into a half-spin, and while Takumi manages to control the spin, Kai spins out, turning a full 360 degrees before continuing on, although it was too late as Takumi had sped away.

Takumi's next battle was against Hiroya Okuyama of Team Spiral. This battle ends similarly to Takumi's battle with Nobuhiko Akiyama, with Takumi leaving Okuyama in the dust within the first third of the course.

The last battle of the Kanagawa campaign would be against Team Sidewinder, with Takumi going up against Shinji Inui, a fellow Eight-Six driver with a similar background to him.

Death and Legacy
During Takumi's race with Shinji, the Eight-Six is pushed to its limits. In a last-ditch effort to overtake Shinji's Eight-Six, Takumi performs a Blind Attack. As he turns his lights back on, Takumi realizes that he is revving his engine over 12,000RPM, and seconds later this over-revving causes his engine to explode. Learning from his previous experience, Takumi puts the car in reverse gear, winning the race. In the Manga, despite Matsumoto offering to help find a new engine, Takumi decides to get rid of the Eight-Six. Yuichi Tachibana notes that it is an appropriate end to the car, with the car disappearing into legend with its perfect record intact. In Final Stage, Takumi instead keeps the car, choosing to fix it up over time instead of getting rid of it.

In between the events of Initial D and MF Ghost, Takumi would go on to mentor Kanata Livington, who drives a Toyota GT86, the spiritual successor to the AE86.

Use by Bunta Fujiwara
According to Ryosuke Takahashi, 19 years before the start of the film, Bunta was the fastest racer in Gunma, with the potential to become a world champion, however Bunta stopped racing to get married and start his tofu shop.

Bunta slaved over his Eight-Six, taking about a month to find the right suspension alone.

Bunta implies that he and Yuichi Tachibana had raced each other on several occasions, with Yuichi's cars being beaten by Bunta even though they were faster and more expensive.

One night, because his hemorrhoids were acting up, Bunta sends out a 13 year old Takumi to do the delivery runs for him, with him becoming the permanent delivery driver from then on. After Takumi clips the guardrail one night, Bunta starts to give him a cup of water to simulate the load of tofu in the boot.

Akina's Eight-Six
During a tofu delivery run, Takumi overtakes Takeshi Nakazato by performing an inertia drift. The next day, Takeshi goes to Yuichi's gas station to ask him to pass on a message, that he will be waiting at the top of Akina for him. Itsuki, Yuichi's son, goes to the Fujiwara Tofu Shop to ask Bunta to race for the Akina SpeedStars. After visiting a nightclub with him, Yuichi also calls Bunta to ask him to race in Itsuki's place. Bunta tells Takumi that if he goes up to Mt. Akina and beats Takeshi, then he will give him the car with a full tank of gas so that he can go to the beach with Natsuki Mogi. Takumi races Takeshi and overtakes by using a gutter run.

Death and Rebirth
One night, Takumi enters an impromptu battle with Kyoichi Sudo, the leader of Emperor. Takumi manages to keep up for a while, however he pushes his engine to the point where it explodes. Bunta takes the car away to repair it, fitting it with a new engine, a Silvertop 4A-GEU. The car undergoes several other upgrades, including the addition of a carbon fibre hood. With the newly fixed Eight-Six, Takumi participates in a three person battle with Ryosuke and Kyoichi, with Takumi overtaking the other two and winning the race.

Specs
The car is a 1983 (an early model, known as a "zenki") Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX 3door hatchback, chassis code AE86. It is painted in High-Tech Two-Tone, a black and white "panda style" colour scheme, because of this it is often called the Panda Trueno.

Original
The Trueno was originally fitted with a first generation 1.6L litre, 16 valve Bluetop 4A-GEU. This engine was nearing the end of its lifespan, unbeknownst to Takumi, hence it blew during his first battle with Kyoichi Sudo.

The engine was tuned with TRD High Tension Wires,Aftermarket Internals Paired with a TRD Close Ratio Gearbox. It had a maximum output of around 150HP and it revs at 7800RPM. It had a displacement of 1587cc and was naturally aspirated.

Replacement
Masashi Suzuki replaces the destroyed engine with a 1.6 litre, 20 valve Silvertop 4A-GEU (carbureted with dry sump oiling system in the manga) that Bunta Fujiwara had sourced. This engine is originally from a TRD (Toyota Racing Development) Group A AE101, as this is a race car engine it would be illegal to drive on public roads - something that Yuichi Tachibana points out to Bunta. This engine is used up until the end of the series, with Takumi accidentally blowing his engine for a second time after coming out of a Blind Attack at 11,000 RPM during his battle with Shinji Inui.

This engine had around 240HP, although it was likely tuned down for road use, and revved at 11,000RPM. It had a displacement of 1587cc and was naturally aspirated.

Custom Parts

 * A pair of Cibie T353 Amber Fog Lights are fixed to the front bumper.
 * A Toyota USDM Rear Bumper (only in anime) (later replaced by JDM Rear Bumper in Third Stage)
 * A Custom Made Chambered Muffler (Fujitsubo Legalis R/MC50 in arcade stage games)
 * A sticker that reads Fujiwara Tofu Shop is stuck to the right side of the car.
 * An ItalVolanti Admiral Red Trim Steering Wheel (changed to a Tom's steering wheel from 4th stage Manga onwards)
 * A cup holder was attached to one of the air vents on the dashboard. This was often used on delivery runs to hold a cup of water, which would simulate the movements of the load of tofu in the boot of the car
 * The original Door Visors (removed in Fifth Stage)
 * RS Watanabe Eight Spoke F8-Type Wheels (Gunmetal) 15x7
 * OEM "14 Toyota Intra Wheels (winter use with snow tires) as seen in Third Stage
 * A TRD Bucket racing seat with Takata 4-point drift harnesses is added to the car after its new engine is installed, to help the driver deal with the additional g-forces. It is added by Masashi Suzuki between Chapter 118 and Chapter 119 and Episode 6 of Second Stage.
 * A Smiths 12,000 RPM Tachometer (later changed to Ultra club sport tachometer) and Smiths auxiliary gauges (Oil Pressure/Water Temperature) are fitted in Chapter 132 and Episode 6, supplied by Masashi Suzuki.
 * The Trueno was fitted with a TRD Carbon Fiber Hood and Carbon Fiber Headlights by Shuichi Matsumoto of Project D in Chapter 239 and Episode 5 of Fourth Stage to make the car weigh less
 * A Cusco 2 Point Strut Bar
 * A Lightweight FRP Rear Gate with Acrylic Windows are added prior to Chapter 433 and Episode 5 of Fifth Stage
 * Project D's mechanics add a Cusco 6 point roll cage to the Trueno in Chapter 490. In Fifth Stage a TRD 4 point roll bar is installed instead.

Blind Attack
The driver and car are able to "disappear" by turning off the cars headlights, preventing opponents from being able to locate the car, giving the driver an advantage. This move also reduces the aerodynamic drag of the car, giving a slight speed advantage.

Fujiwara Zone
The Fujiwara Zone is the name given to Takumi's ability to control his car against all odds. Due to his incredible bond with the car he is able to drive it as though it were an extension of his own body. The Fujiwara Zone is also shown to allow him to accelerate as though he was driving a four wheel drive, and allows him to change the rhythm of his racing line. It can also be used to explain how he is able to perform the blind attack.