Some workshops look like hospitals. RAUH-Welt Begriff headquarters looks like the inside of someone's head: stairs stacked with parts, souvenirs from builds all over the world, a paint-spattered concrete floor and a Need for Speed oil drum in the corner. And on our trip to Japan, parked in the middle of it all, was the newest of the new: a white Porsche 911 from the 997 generation, already wearing the arches.
RWB in one paragraph
RWB is the brand of Akira Nakai, the man who has spent decades cutting the wings off Porsches and bolting wider ones on. Every car is built by Nakai himself, and every one is a one-off, named by its owner. He travels to build cars for customers around the world, and these days a pre-prepared car can be finished in as little as 22 hours of work. He has shown cars at SEMA and turned up as a character in a Need for Speed game, yet, as Speedhunters found, he doesn't own a computer and doesn't use social media. The cars do the talking.
Why a 997 matters
For most of RWB's history, the canvas was the air-cooled 911: the 964 and 993 above all. The 997 was the jump. When Speedhunters visited, Nakai told them he would build a 997 in 2017, the first water-cooled RWB ever. This car shows why the jump worked.
The 997 keeps its oval headlights, which suit the RWB look far better than the "fried egg" lamps of the 996 that came before it. The front wears a GT3-style bumper with the vent in the bonnet edge, a red pinstripe sweeps along its lower edge, and a deep splitter hangs just off the floor. Then come the arches: separate panels, bolted on, with the rivets left on show. Across the top of the windscreen is the banner RWB cars wear, Rough World, the English take on RAUH-Welt, the "world" of owners Nakai calls "good guys, cool style".
Source: Speedhunters: Master & Apprentice, an RWB Reborn.
Inside HQ
We won't give away where it is. The workshop sits in a quiet, residential part of Chiba, and it works for a living. What we can tell you is that it feels less like a factory and more like an artist's studio that happens to be full of Porsches. Every shelf has a story, the floor carries the paint of every car born on it, and the steel staircase is lined with wheels, coilover springs and boxes of parts waiting for the next build.
For a very different kind of Japanese tuning destination, see our visit to A PIT Autobacs Shinonome, Tokyo's giant parts store. And if you'd rather see what Japan's streets look like, start with eleven frames of Tokyo.
Why it matters
RWB took the most sacred shape in sports cars and made it a little rebellious. Moving onto the water-cooled 911 proves the brand isn't a museum piece: it's still changing, decades in, and Nakai is still the one holding the tools. If you're a Porsche person visiting Japan, a respectful visit to the RWB scene belongs on your list. Just don't touch the cars, and don't block the driveway.
Video stills: One Breath Pictures.
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