Kojima Engineering was founded in 1976 by Matsuhisa Kojima, a businessman who had made a fortune importing bananas and had a personal background in motocross racing during the 1960s. After building a strong reputation in Japanese Formula Two competition, Kojima turned his ambitions to Formula One and struck a deal with Dunlop to supply tyres for the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix.
To design and construct the KE007, Kojima brought in several staff members from the Maki team, a previous Japanese Formula One entrant with existing contacts in the paddock. They helped arrange the entry at Fuji Speedway and secured a Cosworth DFV engine — the dominant customer unit of the era — giving the Japanese car the same basic power unit as most of its rivals.
The KE007 was tested extensively throughout the autumn of 1976 with Masahiro Hasemi, a leading Japanese Formula Two driver, at the wheel. When qualifying opened at Fuji, Hasemi delivered a major surprise by posting the fourth-fastest time in the first qualifying session, demonstrating that the indigenous machine was genuinely competitive.
The second session proved disastrous. Hasemi crashed heavily, and the Kojima team was forced to rebuild the car virtually from scratch before the race. Despite the setback, Hasemi started from 10th on the grid and ran strongly before tyre trouble intervened, leaving him to finish 11th overall.
The aftermath produced one of the more unusual footnotes in Formula One record-keeping. Hasemi was initially credited with the fastest lap of the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix, a result celebrated as a remarkable achievement for the fledgling team. Several days after the race, however, the Fuji circuit issued a press release correcting the measurement error: the fastest lap had in fact been set by Jacques Laffite in a Ligier. The correction was duly acknowledged in Japan by the Japan Automobile Federation and the Japanese media, but the revision did not travel well internationally, and for many years external record books continued to credit Kojima with one Formula One fastest lap.
Kojima planned to contest South American races at the start of 1977, but those entries were cancelled. The team built a new car, the Kojima KE009, for the 1977 Japanese Grand Prix, this time on Bridgestone tyres. The rubber proved unsatisfactory, and Noritake Takahara qualified only 19th before crashing while avoiding debris. A second KE009, entered by Heros Racing, finished 11th with Kazuyoshi Hoshino driving.
Kojima Engineering continued as an active Formula Two entrant in domestic Japanese competition until the late 1980s but never again ventured beyond the national scene.
The KE007 holds an enduring place in Japanese motorsport history as the machine that demonstrated a domestically constructed Formula One car could qualify and race at the front of the midfield against established international teams. The fourth-fastest qualifying time at its debut remains the benchmark of what the car achieved before circumstances intervened. Despite the fastest-lap controversy — ultimately resolved in Laffite's favour — the KE007's debut at Fuji Speedway in 1976 stood as proof that Japanese engineering could compete at Formula One level, predating Japan's eventual dominance through Honda's engine programme by a decade.
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