following his education at musashi university, ota turned to racing cars in 1982. he drove in the junior formula fj1600 (formula japan) series before moving on to all-japan formula three championship in 1986 and then graduated to race in the domestic formula 3000 series between 1987 and 1991, excepting 1989. ota also competed in numerous domestic series such as japanese touring car championship (jtcc), all japan sports prototype championship (jspc) and fuji grand champion series as well as in super taikyu. while competing in jspc, ota was a factory driver for mazda between 1989 and 1991.