It’s truthful to mention that Tokyo Auto Salon is the basis of maximum automobile tourism in Japan, and the ensuing meets surrounding it in January surely make for a hectic, but thrilling month.

First up this 12 months was once RAUH-Welt Begriff’s annual New 12 months Celebration – or extra in particular the RWB Automobile Assembly that precedes it – held on the Arduous Rock Cafe in Roppongi on Thursday night earlier than TAS 2024 kicked off.

You could have spotted lately that the Porsche 911 has reputedly re-established itself as a pop-culture icon. 964s are being utilized in type ads or even the new 992 GT3 is making its means into conversations with buddies you didn’t even know had been into automobiles. I’m positive that’s in part the explanation why the crowd at this 12 months’s RWB meet was once unfathomably massive; the opposite is the truth a lot of persons are on the town for TAS.

I’ve attended this match for a few years now and it’s at all times breathtaking seeing such a lot of wide-bodied 911s in a single position, and almost about the whole thing from early-model G-body coupes to 997 cabriolets.

Because the years press on, we’re beginning to see slightly a couple of RWB 997s – a moderately new providing from Nakai-san – within the combine. Whether or not you prefer them or now not, they’re surely a refreshing addition to the RAUH-Welt Begriff lineage. There have been a couple of flavours at this assembly.

I used to be overjoyed to peer a few slender physique 911s among the group too, gorgeous in their very own proper however serving as a evident reminder of ways large those RWB Porsches proceed to get.

And naturally, it wouldn’t be a central Tokyo automobile meet with out some roughly police presence. While the group persevered to develop, a number of officials noticed from afar, sarcastically taking part in into the well-established RWB outlaw tradition.

With reputedly no clarification, this truck was once sitting out at the primary highway – a fascinating sight taking into consideration this 997 has license plates and the ethos of this assembly – coaxing RWB homeowners into riding their automobiles out within the wild.

RWB 911s are identified for dividing teams of fans, however regardless of which means you have a look at them, they’ll at all times be very polarising automobiles. Having observed a number of of those assault the Motegi Dual-Ring circuit is evidence sufficient that a minimum of a handful of them get pushed the way in which their aero suggests they will have to be.

Up to I do benefit from the RWB assembly, it was once a easy, white AE86 that made me the happiest to peer. Again in January 2019, I visited Japan and this RWB meet for the primary time, taking a photograph of this actual Levin, on this actual location. Rapid ahead 5 years, I’m again, in my own AE86 along the similar white automobile. This was once perhaps essentially the most full-circle and rewarding second of my time in Japan up to now.

Any other nice 12 months of RWBs in Tokyo, or even higher to be again on the Arduous Rock Cafe in Roppongi after a short time away. If this meet will get any larger, possibly subsequent 12 months a good larger venue could also be a need despite the fact that.

Alec Pender
Instagram: noplansco