The sound of naturally aspirated and boosted flat-sixes was interrupted by the occasional scream of Japanese tuned machinery at the idlers Games this past Sunday. Porches and hachiroku still dominate the series but it was nice seeing some familiar cars out on track too, like Hirikoshi-san’s Exceed Moat Silvia, the unmistakable orange S14 capable of lapping Tsukuba in 56-seconds.
It’s always great seeing new cars, and the Ventiler Golf is one I noticed straight away, as it used its obvious weight advantage around the corners closing up quickly behind the more powerful Porsches and Alfa Romeos in its class.
The Roadster guys sure know a thing or two about lightening their cars, getting the best out of their suspension set-ups and attempting to find extra grip around the corners to shave off precious hundredths of a second…
…something that Nakai-san has been obviously busy doing with his new 993. Back in January when I met up with him and the other RWB guys at Moriya PA the car was looking a little different; now its boasting an even more extreme lightening of the interior and a different colored set of SSR SP1s, wrapped in massive Yokohama slicks.
The 993 was sporting some cool new stickers up front…
…and on the now silver end-plates of the wing-on-wing set up.
The alterations have called for a name change, so you can forget the Royal Montegobay 993; it’s now the TUNERHAUS!
I’m sure Nakai will continue to alter the 993 in the same way the Stella Artois evolved over the years. One thing is for certain, there isn’t one 993 in the world…
…that looks as mean as this thing! I wonder if he will cut the lower portion of the rear bumper away to give it a proper race car feel! Only time will tell I guess.
Here is something that just couldn’t possibly get more aggressive. I spotted Hirikoshi under the car fixing some gearbox-related issues later on in the day so it looked like he wasn’t having the best of outings.
There was only one GT-R present in the top class, this green beast built by Garage Kagotani, one of the fastest cars out there.
I met up with Pedey and Aaron from NZ Performance car who had come to the event as guests of Nakai-san. Pedey and his girlfriend Taryn are in Japan on a holiday right now and were simply gob smacked at the goodness they had found at Tsukuba.
Check out this Nismo 380RS. This particular model of the Z33 was only sold in Japan and equipped with the VQ38HR, a stroked 3.8L and twin intake version of the VQ35. Check out the ARC coolers popping out from under the bumper, one for the gearbox the other for the differential. This owner obviously spends a lot of time lapping race tracks!
AE86 as far as the eye could see…oh and a BNR32.
The RWB overfender and wing-on-wing treatment is obviously catching!
This Karmann Ghia has become as much an image of the idlers…
…as any of the Rauh Welt Porsches.
If you consider that there were well over 60 Porsches alone, plus the addition of the Z-car class and Roadster class this had to be one of the biggest idlers turnouts ever.
After looking at all of Nakai’s creations I think it becomes inevitable to start imagining what your very own RWB Porsche would look like.
I think that is exactly what Aaron was chatting about with Luke from Drift Colors here!
Non-overfendered simplicity works just as well at times.
What would your RWB Porsche look like? I’d personally leave that to Nakai-san to figure out, but the base car would definitely have to be a turbocharged GT2. Can you spot the turbo above?
Orange flavor looks very appetizing too.
The Super 7 class has some very interesting cars in it too. Most owners aren’t satisfied with the lightness of their cars, they try to boost power and like on the car above add homemade aerodynamic addenda. Front end grip is something you really need around Tsukuba, something the Advan semi-slicks obviously also contribute to.
Next up I’ll try and concentrate on the track action, mixing up coverage from all the different classes that participated. Stay tuned for Part 2.
-Dino Dalle Carbonare