A Rough Night In Roppongi, Rwb Tokyo Meeting

Konnichiwa Speedhunters! As you’ve probably noticed, we have decided to launch a #maximumattack on Tokyo Auto Salon this year.  Things have been practically non-stop for me since I arrived at Narita on Wednesday, and all the madness is already taking its tole on my body and soul, but that’s the price we pay as Speedhunters! Over the following weeks we’ll have tons of amazing stuff to share with you and my contribution starts now…

… with some photos from a special meeting organized by Nakai-san himself. Prior to arriving at the parking lot of the Hard Rock Cafe in Roppongi, Dino and I had already completed a staggering amount of work, including two feature shoots and a sneak peek from Tokyo Auto Salon’s setup day.

Working with Dino on his home turf has been an eye opening experience, to say the least; I don’t know of anyone who works as hard as this guy! Since he did all the work shooting the Makuhari Messe on Thursday, I decided to go ahead and throw in some elbow grease to get this meet knocked out. After all, it was the least I could do.

Then again, I suppose it doesn’t hurt that I’m completely obsessed with RAUH-Welt. In fact, I can still remember the first time I ever saw one of Nakai’s creations in an Autoworks magazine sent to me from Japan by a friend of mine. At that point in time I had seen nothing like it, there was a fusion of what I (and probably the rest of the world) then considered two separate scenes: European and Japanese.

Fast forward eight years and now RWB has become a household name, but back then I was completely floored. I immediately took to the Internet to try and find anything I could about these cars, which is ironically how I first heard about Mike Garrett who is now my colleague. I stumbled upon his personal Auto-Otaku blog and my jaw hit my keyboard.

I’m sure he probably doesn’t know any of this, but I had saved hundreds of his photos from Tsukuba track days of these savage Porsches. In fact, many of them were my desktops over the years. At that point in time he was simply the only person writing in the English language who was covering these cars. It wasn’t long after that he and Dino joined forces at Speedhunters…

…where they spread the word of RWB the world over. It was five years ago to the week that I first encountered one of Nakai’s masterpieces in the flesh, not surprisingly in the G-Works (formerly Autoworks) booth at Tokyo Auto Salon 2009. I remember being completely flabbergasted by the Stella Artois’ stance, and no matter how hard I tried to ignore it, I kept coming back to the car over and over.

It wasn’t until two years later that I would finally make it out to Nakai’s shop to meet the man behind these awe inspiring cars. For some reason, as “played out” as they might be, I just never seem to tire of RWB. I suppose it’s much like the 911 itself, while some might argue that they build the same exact car decade after decade, I would argue that perfection never gets old.

So what does any of that have to do with Thursday night? Well, everything and nothing I suppose, but at the very least it gives you some idea of how excited I was when Toshi-san told me back at SEMA that Nakai was planning something special for TAS.

When we left TAS setup my feet were swollen to what felt like double their original size and my jet lag, having come to Tokyo from Stockholm, wasn’t helping. All I could think about was going back to the hotel, kicking my feet up and catching some shut-eye, but in the back of my mind I remembered the months of anticipation for this day.

As we drove through Roppongi it was all I could do to keep my eyes open, but as soon as we rolled into the parking lot I was instantly wide awake. The sight of Porsches taking over the car park three rows deep sent my heart racing – it was time to roll up my sleeves and bare the cold.

It seems that Nakai’s taste hasn’t changed much over the years, and he still loves his Stella Artois. Interestingly, I’ve noticed that his style seems to actually get rougher and rougher with ever car he builds, which makes since considering the concept of his brand. I remember interviewing him a few years back as he explained “I don’t care about the paint, I like the rough style… that is why I chose rough world.”

He also has a knack for making his personal cars unbelievably low. I’d be shocked if there is even a single millimeter of clearance between the rear tire and the over fender.

As crazy as Nakai’s personal cars are, I was stoked to stumble upon this black beauty. For years I’ve had this idea floating around in my head of an understated RWB 911 (if one could ever call RWB “understated”) that was wingless and plain, with only a set of over fenders and bumpers.

As it turns out, I’m not the only one who had this idea. I’ve come across several examples on the Internet, but after seeing this one in person I’ve officially decided I quite like the look. The day will come when I own a 911, of that I can be sure, and this may well be an option worth considering.

Then again, you can’t really go wrong with a whale-tail or a banana wing, they’re all excellent choices. It never ceases to amaze me how versatile the 911 is; there isn’t really a wrong way to build one.

Getting to see this many RAUH-Welt Porsches in one place was undoubtedly a special experience, but if anything I think it may have made things even more complicated in my brain. There are so many decisions to make: which wing?  what wheels? what generation?

While my gut says to go with the RWB original 930, a 993 is also an excellent choice! Maybe even an original 911, or a 997? A boy can dream…

After all, stranger things have happened. For example if you would have told me ten years ago that I’d be shooting a parking lot taken over by RWB Porsches in Tokyo, let alone getting paid to do it, I would have never believed it. But where there’s a dream, a will and maybe a little luck, there’s a way.

So on that note, dream big Speedhunters… dream very big. It’s time to catch a few hours of sleep as we’ll be heading out to Tsukuba Circuit dark and early tomorrow. Lots more to come from Japan soon!

-Sean

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1

these pictures will look amazing in slow shutter and low iso

2

these pictures will look amazing in slow shutter and low iso

3

Great read! I found myself reading and going to the next section of text without looking at the pictures. haha I totally agree with you; "perfection never gets old." If Dino see this, this is what I was talking about with the nostagic feeling of a meet in Japan. Give me RWB porsches and FD RX-7's all day. :)

4

Great read! I found myself reading and going to the next section of text without looking at the pictures. haha I totally agree with you; "perfection never gets old." If Dino see this, this is what I was talking about with the nostagic feeling of a meet in Japan. Give me RWB porsches and FD RX-7's all day. :)

5

I by no means want to disrespect Nakai san, but what exactly is the big deal about these RWB Porsches? I never quite understood why they're so popular. Please don't give me hate I genuinely just want to know.

6

I by no means want to disrespect Nakai san, but what exactly is the big deal about these RWB Porsches? I never quite understood why they're so popular. Please don't give me hate I genuinely just want to know.

7

I by no means want to disrespect Nakai san, but what exactly is the big deal about these RWB Porsches? I never quite understood why they're so popular. Please don't give me hate I genuinely just want to know.

8

@Dekro 
Well if you dont get it why explain it, you'd stil dont get it.

9

The black wingless one is badass! My personal favourite though has to be Rough Unity. That yellow suits it so well.

10

1. Wake up
2. Win the Mega Million Lottery
3. Buy a 930 and a 964 and a 997
4. Get the RWB treatment on all three cars
5. Get a giant garage to fit all three cars plus the F40 that I just bought
 
The order is: 2, 3, 4, 5, 1

11

*Porschegasm* or should I say *RWBgasm*... Damn man, this made me drool all over the place. DO WANT!

12

Oh my god!

13

@Dekro I feel the same way. All he really did was copy the design of the 993 GT2 and applied it to other 911 body styles. Oh, and he added some wheels and vinyl wrapped the cars. He doesn't do engine work and he doesn't do chassis work - he just sends the cars out for that. That's why I prefer companies like Ruf of 9ff, because they not only make the car look good, but they also make the performance match the looks.

14

@Dekro they are generally all painted by a friend of nakai-san, haven't seen one wrapped before, and they only do little things to the engine, enough to make it fun, because as good as these cars look they were made to be driven hard originally (though lately are becoming a bit of a fashion piece unfortunately)

15

@Dekro If its not your thing, its not your thing.   Some people like their cucumbers better pickled.To some its trendy, to others they are classics in the making.  Just like to some out there, cars are nothing more than a means of transportation.  The rest of us are here.  ts visceral - it either speaks to you, or it doesn't.  Some people like underground rap, some people only like classical, some people only like rock.  And others stil can appreciate elements of each and intertwine them.

16

@777  @Dekro I don't know what all Nakai-san does in building these cars, but I know he is very into the total performance of his Porsche's, just look at the Idlers Games and all the Porsche events they hold at race tracks in Japan.  He's a one man shop.  I'd say fabbing these body parts and custom fitting them and get the stance set up and achieving the look and also being able to drive them hard, that's what I enjoy about these RWB cars.

17

Fantastic!  And that black wingless 911......

18

anyone else think the rwbs have kind lost a lot of the uniqueness considering how man of them there are and how similar they all look..

19

It can't be coincidence that the meet took place in front of a Bauhaus sign, or can it?

20

Man, one of these days; one of these days. Great article and pictures Sean!!

21

@regdrunkguy ; I can see what you mean but for some reason, it still carries through for me. I'd have one without a second thought..

22

@Dom @Dekro Exactly.

23

So when did they take the Gorilla down at the Hard Rock. That thing was iconic. Oh and the cars are great. But, that lot always has great cars parked there, especially on the weekend. We always park there when going out on the town. It is right in the heart of Roppongi and walking distance to all the clubs and bars.

24

@regdrunkguy There were already a lot of RWB cars before the big hype explosion happened a couple years ago. I'd say each one has enough unique touches to make each of them slightly different, though I can see where you're coming from.

25

Stop making me want one. It's never gonna happen. *Sigh* Awesome photo's, awesome cars!

26

Does anyone know the name of the matt grey car in the last but one photo, the one with the white star infront of the rear wheel?
 
It looks like Great something, but I can't read the name from the angle of the photo.

27

@jamesaevans Hurricane I think

28

Ah bugger, we missed it by ONE freaking day, travelling halfway round the world!
 
http://www.ableitet.no/temp/rwb_tokyo.jpg

29

@Westm1121 Thank you, confirmed as "Great Hurricane" and I also found another feature on Speedhunters: http://www.speedhunters.com/2011/10/event_gt_gt_hellaflush_japan_2011_pt_3/

30

@Dom @cornerbalance I never stated that I didn't like them...I just asked WHY they were popular. I personally like how most of them look. No one has yet to tell me why they are so popular. I've never gotten a concrete explanation. But nonetheless, I get what you guys are saying.

31

@Dom @cornerbalance I never stated that I didn't like them...I just asked WHY they were popular. I personally like how most of them look. I just asked for an explanation for what he does to clear things up. But nonetheless, I get what you guys are saying.

32

@regdrunkguy Considering Ive never seen one in real life and probably never will, no.

33

@Dekro Because they look cool? What other reason do you need?

34

@Dekro Ruf hardly does anything to the visual appearance of their cars. And depending on how much of RWB suspension and aero is functional RWB might be better prepared for track duty.

35

Good stuff.

36

I'm not a fan of old Porsche's, but I do give much respect to craftsmen like Nakai who have spent decades honing their craft and stay true to what they believe. These men are the one's that buck trends and shape the automotive landscape. No matter how many mass produced parts are made, and how inexpensive they may become, true craftsmanship will never take a backseat.

37

I'm not a fan of old Porsche's, but I do give much respect to craftsmen like Nakai who have spent decades honing their craft and stay true to what they believe. These men are the one's that buck trends and shape the automotive landscape. No matter how many mass produced parts are made, and how inexpensive they may become, true craftsmanship will never take a backseat.

38

@regdrunkguy Remember when being a car enthusiast was unique, but now you pretty much have to be the same have a "cool car"

39

@regdrunkguy Remember when being a car enthusiast was unique, but now you pretty much have to be the same have a "cool car"

40

@regdrunkguy there actually aren't that many at all - each one just seems to always pop up online in pics.  Only Nakai would say how many I'm sure, but my guess ~100 cars as a half educated guess.  Not that I'm drawing comparisons, but all "standard" edition F40's look the same too, but it's an amazing car never-the-less.

41

@regdrunkguy there actually aren't that many at all - each one just seems to always pop up online in pics.  Only Nakai would say how many I'm sure, but my guess ~100 cars as a half educated guess.  Not that I'm drawing comparisons, but all "standard" edition F40's look the same too, but it's an amazing car never-the-less.

42

@MikeWedl That's too funny, thanks for the compliment! Definitely an interesting vibe here in Japan, that's for sure!

43

@Dekro  @Dom  @cornerbalance I think at the end of they day it boils down to a few things....
 
1: They're crazy wide
2: They're slammed to piss
3: They have "strange" wheels compared to the other 99.9% of tuned Porsches
4: They often have matte paint
5: They're Japanese
 
I think Nakai has made it easier for JDM enthusiasts to appreciate a Porsche because he styles them in an undeniably Japanese way. Porsche enthusiasts that generally loathe them. I'm both a JDM enthusiast and a Porsche enthusiast and I really like them from view points.

44

@Dekro@Dom@cornerbalance
I think at the end of they day it boils down to a few things....
 
1: They're crazy wide
2: They're slammed to piss
3: They have "strange" wheels compared to the other 99.9% of tuned Porsches
4: They often have matte paint
5: They're Japanese
 
I think Nakai has made it easier for JDM enthusiasts to appreciate a Porsche because he styles them in an undeniably Japanese way. Porsche enthusiasts generally loathe them. I'm both a JDM enthusiast and a Porsche enthusiast and I really like them from view points.

46

@KeithCharvonia I'm pretty sure it was intentional, but there are several reasons why this specific parking lot was chosen - mostly location.

47

@PCYang Yep, quality wins over quantity every day in my book.

48
Speedhunters_Rob

so much wow. great post dude

49

Thank You for this post, and for the awesome desktops!

50
MarcellusCunningham

im so mad i couldnt go to roppongi on saturday i missed some good shit

51

@Speedhunters_Rob You've got to come to Japan man, it's essential.

52

You bet your ass I dream big, Sean ;)

53

Holly crap. What a cool location. It looked cold though. Where you cold  :-D  ?

55

I never tire of looking at 911 Porsches. They are timeless. When done in RWB style they are so much more unique that other Porsche tuners - it just stands out.
Yea, the black /wingless is just bitchin'.

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