Onward from episode 15, the four young supporters of Capeta at his local kart circuit are named after Formula One drivers - they are Kunimitsu (Kunimitsu Takahashi), Kazuyoshi (Kazuyoshi Hoshino), Satoru Nakayama (Satoru Nakajima) and (Mika Hakkinen). Kunimitsu strongly resemble Lewis Hamilton during his karting era and wears a karting suit resembling those worn by McLaren at the time.
Besides the mentions, the anime make numerous references to Michael Schumacher; for instance, Naomi Minamoto wears a helmet design that strongly resembles those of Schumacher's pre-Ferrari career.
The camera Kuroki shoots with, appears to be a Nikon F4S with 'Nihon' written on it instead. 'Nihon' was the alternative transliterated pronunciation of Nippon. Until 1988, Nikon's then trading name was 'Nippon Kôgaku'.