Dragon Ball Reveals Official Goku Artwork as F1 Driver for Real-Life Grand Prix

Goku ditches the World Martial Arts Tournament for a chance at the Grand Prix in a recently revealed illustration by the late Akira Toriyama, with the rarely-seen Dragon Ball artwork transforming Goku into an F1 racer.

The image was revealed on the official Dragon Ball website, whose staff uploaded another seldom-seen artwork by the legendary Toriyama for the latest edition of the Toriyama Archives. The artwork was featured in Weekly Shonen Jump 1990 No. 46, which was originally released on Oct. 16, 1990. The official website states, “As this issue was released just before the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix, it included a cool bonus sticker featuring Goku as an F1 driver. At the time, there were still few resources available about F1 cars, and so Akira Toriyama had to pore over various photos in order to have a reference for this drawing.”

Related

Dragon Ball Super’s Latest Special Reveals New Toyotarou-Original Trunks and Goten Artwork

While Dragon Ball Super fans eagerly await the manga’s return, Toyotarou presents brand-new interval artwork featuring teenage Trunks and Goten.

As seen in the illustration, Goku is fully committed to playing the role of an F1 driver. The vehicle in question is a McLaren MP4/6 with a Honda RA121E V12 engine. Despite Toriyama’s unfamiliarity with Formula One racing cars, the manga artist faithfully recreated the vehicle with minimal references available to him at the time. Amusingly, this wouldn’t be the last time Toriyama would struggle at drawing specific vehicles. On a page shared by X user @/MinovskyArticle, Toriyama regretted making Sheriff Rao operate a tank in the Sand Land series due to how difficult it was to draw them.

Dragon Ball’s Akira Toriyama Was Known for His Vehicle Designs – Sometimes to His Regret

Toriyama’s full quote from 2000 regarding Sand Land reads: “This was supposed to be a short, simple manga about an old man and a tank, which I made for my own personal enjoyment. But the tank was harder to draw than I expected, and I stubbornly insisted on drawing it all myself, so I came to regret ever getting involved with it. But the story was already plotted out to the end, so I couldn’t change anything, and I went through hell drawing the whole thing.”

Related

Dragon Ball’s Toyotarou Inks the Lead Character From a Beloved Super Nintendo Classic

Dragon Ball Super’s official artist Toyotarou offers his illustrative take on a classic Super Nintendo character by the late Akira Toriyama.

The new Sand Land anime TV series is available on Hulu and Disney+. The Sand Land video game is also available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Meanwhile, the Dragon Ball anime franchise is available to stream on Crunchyroll, with the original manga licensed in English by Viz Media. Dragon Ball Super is currently on hiatus but has been officially confirmed to return at some point in the future.

Dragon Ball

Dragon Ball tells the tale of a young warrior by the name of Son Goku, a young peculiar boy with a tail who embarks on a quest to become stronger and learns of the Dragon Balls, when, once all 7 are gathered, grant any wish of choice.

Created by

Akira Toriyama

First Film

Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies

Latest Film

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

First TV Show

Dragon Ball (1986)

Upcoming TV Shows

Dragon Ball DAIMA

First Episode Air Date

April 26, 1989

Cast

Sean Schemmel , Laura Bailey , Brian Drummond , Christopher Sabat , Scott McNeil

Summary

Dragon Ball is the labor of writer/illustrator Akira Toriyama, beginning with Dragon Ball back in 1984. The series originally started as a serialized manga back in Weekly Shonen Jump for nearly a decade until it expanded into the anime franchises it is most known for today. Dragon Ball was later adapted into two animes, with one being Dragon Ball Z, the most universally known series in the entire Dragon Ball canon. The franchise has continued to expand lore via films, video games, and additional sequel TV series, such as the more recent Dragon Ball Super and Super Dragon Ball Heroes. Dragon Ball centers mostly around Son Goku, a being known as a Saiyan, and his friends as they face off against intergalactic threats and seek out the titular dragon balls. When all seven of these balls are collected, they can be used to summon a legendary dragon that can grant the wishes of whoever so gathers them. The Dragon Ball franchise continues to be one of the most well-known and beloved animes of all time, with over forty different countries airing it, and has had a tremendous impact on Western culture as a whole.

Expand

Source: Dragon Ball official website