In Japanese, there is a term called “omakase” which translates to
“leave it to you”. Sometimes the term is used at sushi bars when a
customer leaves it to the chef to choose the finest fish of the day.
When it comes to Nakai-san and his famous Porsche tuning shop, Rauh Welt it is kind of like a sushi restaurant with a seasoned chef. Many of Nakai-san’s customers also use the omakase method when it comes
to having him build their cars. After all, why would you not trust a
guy who holds legendary status for his tuning style?
When we took our trip to the Rauh Welt shop in Kashiwa City a few weeks ago, we not only got the chance to check out Nakai-san’s personal car, but a few customer cars that were at the shop undergoing some work. As we were looking at the shop, Nakai even called one of his local customers who cruised over to the shop in his car so we could see another one of RWB’s creations. As Nakai-san showed us the cars, it became very obvious just how influential he is when it comes to Porsche building.
Although nearly all of his customers have Porsche 911’s of various types, the tuning levels on the cars range from pure street cars to dedicated track cars. Like a lot of other tuning shops, the bond between the shop and the customers is strong at RWB and the cars are always evolving as the customers feel the need to extract more potential from their machines.
The first car we will look at is the 1985 930 model. The first thing that jumps out at you is the color which is a Mopar-esque lime green. The color choice on this car actually has a funny story behind it. The customer originally wanted a red car, but Nakai-san took things into his own hands and did the car in this wild green color. Without the owner knowing! Back to the omakase thing right? Nonetheless, the car came out looking quite nice and certainly grabs the eye.
While this car may look like a race machine on the outside, underneath it is a docile street car with little mechanical tuning. The owner was not interested in racing on the circuit, but wanted to Nakai-san to build him a street car that has all the cool style you would expect from Rauh Welt. Nakai did all of the body work and the aero parts are all RWB originals.
The interior on this car is clean and mostly original. There is no roll cage and the seats are reclining Recaros. Perfect for a daily driver. I just love the simplicity of 911 interiors in general. No gimmicks and everything is placed right where you need it. Driver’s car.
The fuel injected engine remains essentially stock. I’m not sure about you guys, but I know I wouldn’t be complaining about it one bit.
Ah yes, one of the most important parts of car style. The wheels. Nakai-san has a very strong relationship with Work Wheels and this car features a custom set of 18″ Work Brombachers with widths of 11J in the front and 12J in the rear. Even though the Brombacher is a multi-peice wheel, on this car the whole wheel has been painted one color and I really like the way they came out. You can also see the RWB original brakes hiding behind the spokes. This car is also equipped with a set of RWB original full coilovers.
Stance can make or break a car and RWB cars happen to write the book on good stance. Look at how perfectly the wheels tuck into the widened fenders.
Obviously the owner of this car does not have a problem with getting a lot of attention. Then again, I can’t see how it would be anything but good attention.
Now we have another RWB customer car. This yellow 1992 964 model belongs to the local customer that Nakai called so he could show us the car. Another radical looking street car to say the least.
The original purpose of this car was street use, but the owner has since been developing a love for circuit racing and the car’s focus is gradually moving in that direction. Nakai-san expects that this car will eventually evolve into a full race machine. As expected, all of the exterior work is done by RWB and a number of original FRP body parts have been installed.
This one is powered by a fuel-injected 3.8L powerplant with tuning parts that were sourced from an American company, (forgot to ask the name!). Current power output is estimated to be around 300ps. Chances are the car will be seeing more power increases as it becomes more focused on circuit use.
Here’s the cockpit which is a lot more race car-like than the one on the green car. You can obviously see the full roll cage as well as the fixed bucket seats and fire extinguisher. One thing that is interesting about this car is the transmission. Right now it has the original semi-automatic tiptronic transmission, but after running at Tsukuba Circuit, the owner wants more precise control over the gears and the car will be soon going under the knife for a full manual conversion.
The wheels on this car are again 18″ Work Brombachers built to custom RWB specs. This time the centers are gold with traditional polished wheel lips. Suspension is also RWB original of course.
How would you like to roll up on this car while on the Wangan Bayshore Route or at Tsukuba Circuit?
If you thought these cars were crazy, wait for the next RWB cars we are gonna feature, including Nakai-san’s personal beast.
-Mike Garrett