It’s a sad day today as the industry mourns the loss of Toyota’s Chief test Driver Hiromu Naruse in a tragic accident in Germany.

Autoblog reported that Hiromu Naruse has died in a car crash on highway 410 near the Nurburgring race track.

Reports says that Hiromu Naruse was driving the Lexus LF-A Nurburgring editionin a 2-lane highway when he veered into oncoming traffic and collided head-on with a BMW E90 3 series sedan. Naruse died and the two test drivers driving the BMW 3er sedan were badly injured.

“The riders wore helmets and the cars were packed with electronics,” a police spokesman said. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

Picture of the LFA Nurburgring edition that Naruse was driving at the time of the accident posted by AUTOBLOG.

Video of the accident from a German press Rhein-Zeitung

In an article titled “Tales of a Lexus Test-Driver” written by Brian Gill and Doug Knox for Lexus Magazine, Hiromu Naruse admitted that it was scary driving the LFA for the first time.

Here’s a quick excerpt from that same Lexus Magazine article.

LEXUS: What was it like to drive the Lexus LFA prototype the first time out?

Narume: I have to say, when I drove the LFA for the first time, it was scary. It was like a monster.

LEXUS: You put it through some pretty hairy tests last year.

Narume: When we raced the LFA in Nardo, Italy, I thought I might not return to Japan alive. The purpose of this “test” was to evaluate the car’s durability at 200 mph for a long period. The race was in the dark with no lights on the track, plus there were birds flying at me—and imagine if a tire burst! We created the final LFA through these kinds of test experiences.

Lexus: What’s your most memorable moment as a test driver?

Narume: Well, I can you that for a little while during the LFA races, I knew how to draw the back of a Porsche without looking—we had been behind them at first. But when the Lexus LFA passed Porsche for the first time, we had such big emotions! After that, other racing manufacturers started showing us respect. They told us, “Lexus has created such an impressive car!”

Go to Lexus Magazine to read the full article.

Hiromu Naruse was nicknamed by performance auto elites as the “Nur-Meister” which translates as Sole Champion, Only Master or One and Only Master. This 67-year old man is truly a legend. A true legend, he is behind a lot of the Toyota cars we all know like the 1970 Toyota Celica, 1983 Toyota AE86, 1984 Toyota MR2, 1994 Toyota Supra, 1998 Lexus IS aka Altezza, 1999 Toyota MR-S, and the 2007 Prius (2nd gen).

Couple more iconic Toyota cars that Narume was involved in.

1967 Toyota 2000GT

1970 Toyota 7

Narume was also behind the idea of racing the Lexus LFA for the sole purpose that Lexus could speed up the development process by three years..

Here are some pictures of him as he lead the team at the recent 24hr of Nurburgring with their Team Gazoo Lexus LFA racecar.

Rest in Peace Narume-san. Condolence to all his family, friends and fans. Also hoping for a speedy recovery for the two BMW test drivers that were injured in the accident.

Useful links:
Autoblog
Rhein-Zeitung
Lexus Magazine
Gazoo Racing