Last week, Dino showed you what wheels RAYS had on display from their current and vintage catalogues at the 2022 RAYS Fan Meeting. Now it’s time to see what wheels the people of Japan brought to show off.

Walking around in the rain, I did my best to hunt out the most interesting wheels, and this is what I found…

We’ll bypass the trade stands which greeted punters, because the cars on display wore all sorts of wheels from across the globe. Today, it’s all about RAYS.

I’m sure you’ll remember this fat NSX from my first post. What do you think of the owner’s choice of Gram Lights 57XTREME SPEC-Ds? I think they work well with the angular lines of the Honda and this body kit.

In all honesty, for the most part I had no idea what I was looking at, such is the depth of RAYS’ catalogues past and present and the timelessness of their designs. But I’m not too concerned with model numbers; I just know what I like.

The number of different wheels was also testament to the unbreakable manufacturing techniques that have made the RAYS name synonymous with durability and quality. These Volk Racing GT-Cs have no doubt been around the traps a few times.

While there are definitely exceptions to the rule (the previously mentioned NSX for example) I generally think that period-correct wheels look best on old cars. Case in point, I believe it’s a criminal offence to have modern wheels – and silver to boot – on an old Subaru. I like the wheels, just not on this particular car. Is anyone with me?

Some wheels though, (yes, the TE37, keep your wig on), look good on anything – even with raindrops on my lens – from dinky sports cars to ginormous off-roaders. The TE37XT is the 4×4 version of the classic.

A set of RAYS can transform a mundane people-mover into a tough urban utility vehicle. They can also make an FJ cruiser look like an army corporal wearing New Balance trainers in the battlefield. It’s definitely unique.

A little more sensible and relatable is this 86 with a set of bronze Volk Racing 21Cs. That’s absolute fitment perfection in my eyes. I think the ‘L’ rims suit this wheel much better than the ‘LLL’ deep-dish version.

Of course, the GT cars on display showed of wheels that make street cars look like Tomica cars by comparison. After seeing the full carbon fiber Supra GT500 car at the Osaka Auto Messe, I’m still waiting to see a road legal GT car someday. Can someone please make that happen, I’m a little short on cash this month…

I think you could probably fit an oil drum to each corner of an FD3S RX-7 and it would still look ace, but these Volk Racing Challenge wheels are so good. They’re probably a bit lighter than an oil drum too.

These Volk Racing GT7s were a real highlight for me – very cool.

No, your eyes are not deceiving you, this NSX is wearing two different finishes on its TE37s. I’ll be able to tell you why soon, as I’m shooting this and a couple more cars from the guys at LEVEL1.

For the most part, people at this event were rocking various variations of the TE37. I think is because most of the cars fell into the modern classic category, which is exactly what the TE37 is. The rain probably kept the kyusha cars from turning up to show off more of the vintage mesh and star designs from the RAYS back catalogue.

Naturally then, the highlight of my day was seeing these forged Volk Racing Genome SE37W rolling past me. The owner told me, as he parked his minivan, that “they’re from 20 years ago.” These are the moments I live for.

I’m glad I braved the rain at the RAYS Fan Meeting, because I’ve now finally learned some of the model names for some of the best wheels in the world.

Toby Thyer
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tobythyer.co.uk

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