RWB: The Legend of Wide Body 911s with a Touch of Japanese Excess

Porsche purists hate him for this one simple trick. This enigmatic Japanese outfit took one of the most iconic German cars ever and went absolutely overboard with over fenders. You either love or hate the wide body 911s with gigantic wings and weird names. RWB, short for Revozeta Wide Body (RWB), has become a legend throughout the world for their unmistakable and sometimes quite controversial aesthetics.

Not to mention, completely unownable for 99% of us. But now you have the chance to at least own a piece of an RWB. That's because Rec Watches has collaborated with legendary Japanese car tuner Akira Nakai, founder of RWB, creating the limited edition 901 RWB watch.

Each version of the limited edition watch contains an actual piece of metal from Akira's personal RWB Porsche 911s, the Stella Artois or the Rotana. Rec Watches has incorporated the extreme wide body kit and RWB sticker decal into the design of the 901 Stella and 901 Rotana time pieces just to mention one of the many design elements they pay homage to.

To own a dope time piece and an actual piece of an RWB, check out the RWB collection in the description. And get 15% off the RWB pieces using the code .

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en(engine revving)- Porsche purists hate himfor this one simple trick.This enigmatic Japanese outfittook one of the mosticonic German cars everand went absolutelyoverboard with over fenders.You either love or hate the wide body 911swith gigantic wings and weird names.You've seen a ton of RWBvideos on the internet.This one is different.This is everything you need to knowto get up to speed on RWB.(8bit music)We have a very fittingsponsor for today's episode.Rec Watches.Now RWB has become alegend throughout the worldfor their unmistakableand sometimes quitecontroversial aesthetics.And not to mention completelyunownable for 99% of us.But now you have thechance to at least owna piece of an RWB.That's because RecWatches has collaboratedwith legendary Japanesecar tuner Akira Nakai,founder of RWB,creating the limitededition 901 RWB watch.Each version of the limited edition watchcontains an actual piece of metalfrom Akira's personal RWB Porsche 911s,the Stella Artois or the Rotana.Rec Watches has incorporatedthe extreme wide body kitand RWB sticker decal into the design ofthe 901 Stella and 901 Rotana time piecesjust to mention one ofthe many design elementsthey pay homage to.To own a dope time piece andan actual piece of an RWBcheck out the RWB collectionin the descriptionand get 15% off the RWB piecesusing the code "15-OFF-DONUT"."Up To Speed".If you're watching this channel,you've probably seen videos of Nakai-sansitting in his armchair,smoking cigarettes, and drinking Cokesas he shreds people'sprecious Porsches by hand.And if you haven't seen those videos,when you're done watching this videoyou should go watch those videos,because that is not what this video is.Today we're gonna meet the real Nakai-san,we're gonna look atsome of the sickest carsthat he has built,and we're gonna hear fromsome of our own friends--- What's up, Donut?- What Brian Scotto here from Hoonigan.- Who own some of his cars.Chapter one, Rough World.Rated PG-13.Akira Nakai has gained worldwide famewith his work on Porsche's.But before he even touched a 911,he had his hands all over a different car.The AE86.(tires screeching)Back in the early 90sNakai was part of a group of enthusiastscalled the Rough World.This gang of ragtag car tuners --dropped them on their bellies,slapped on some big old wings,and added so much negative camberthat people called them oni'kyan,which translates to "devil camber"!Summer 2006,ripped my heart outand you threw it on theground of the bathroom floor.Devil camber!Devil camber!(yelling) Devil camber!These dudes took their AE86s driftingon windy -- around Mount Tsukuba,just up the road from theworld famous Tsukuba Circuit.The Rough World drift crewgained a name for themselvesas some of the baddest dudes around,and Nakai was their leader.By the mid 90s Akira and his crewstarted appearing in Japanese car magsalongside their drift cars.The Rough World crew'sAE86s looked differentthan other cars they weresharing the spotlight with.These cars looked aggressive yet elegant.Their mismatched wheels, big old wings,and of coursethe digital Rough Worldsticker on the windshield.They really did look more roughthan the cars that they weresharing the spotlight with,but what really set RoughWorld apart from the otherswere how wide they werewith fenders extending waypast the stock body lines.These fender flares were an homageto the race proven touringcar shapes of the early 90s.Even the 205 millimeter wide tireswere considered really wide back then.I mean a stock 2020Corolla has 225s right nowso they're not that wide,but back then they were wide.Nakai-san loved wrenchingon these JDM classics,turned them into driftmissiles and -- cars.But there was one thingthat really stuck withhim since his childhood.And that was his love for Porsches.You guys probably couldhave guessed that though.Despite coming of age in Japanduring what is undoubtedlythe golden era of JDM cars,Nakai had a bit of a wandering eyewhen it came to European carswith engines in the wrong place.Ever since he was a child Nakaihad been a fan of Porsches.So it was quite serendipitouswhen a damaged 911 showed up at his shop.Little did he know this would be the carthat would make him andRough World world famous.Chapter two, can I get a Stella Artois?You want a Stella?Two Stellas, can I get a two,just one Stella, one Stella Artois,one Stella Artois.If there's one car thatcompletely sums up Nakai-sanit's this car.(engine starting)This 1985 Porsche 911started its second lifewhen it rolled into the shopthat Nakai was working at badly damaged.Now rather than fix it upNakai bought it from the ownerto use as a track car.This wasn't his firstexperience with a Porsche.His involvement withthe Stuttgart Stallionshad been building throughout the nineties,but this was the firstone that he ever owned,the first one that he had free reignto make whatever he wanted.Now a lot of classic911s, especially nowadays.live in heated garageswith frickin' moisturecontrol or whatever,and they're only drivento cars and coffees,then they're washed andput back in the garage.Now Nakai wasn't interested in that.No, he wanted a car thathe could take to the trackand beat the ever loving hell out of!So he did what he does best.He took what he knewabout tuning Japanese carsand applied it to his new Porsche.He installed Aragosta coiloversand dropped it down a ton.He installed massive Endless brakesthat were stuffed behind 18inch Work Meister wheels.This is like the creme dela creme of Japanese partsthat he's thrown at this German car.He looked to his friends over at Promodet,a shop at a neighboring prefecture,to help build the engine out.The Porsche flat six was tuned to make360 buff just shiny Japanese stallionswith a red line of 8,500 RPM.(engine idling)(engine revving)To be a force on the track,Nakai went about stripping everything downin order to cut weight.The dash, gone, the roof, gone,the doors, gone, replacedwith carbon fiber.He even went so far as toreplace the stock transmissionwith a five speed from a Porsche 915because it saves weight and space.By the end he had cut 800 pounds of weightfrom the already light car,making it an incredible 2,100 pounds.In his heyday, Nolancould dead lift this car.But if it weren't for thework that he did on the body,I probably wouldn't bemaking a video about the guy right now.In a move that would give aPorsche purist a heart attack,Nakai cut into thefenders with an air saw.Not only that,he chose to forego conventionalfabrication techniquesand did it by hand.Nakai put on massive customcarbon fiber fenders,mimicking the 993 GT2 race cars of the 90swith his own personal touch,hand spaced rivets.Then he threw on a custom made wing.That is cartoonishly big,but somehow it works.Now he thought thatthe Rough World stickerthat had adorned his cars in the pastmight seem a little outof place on this car.So he translated Rough World to German,and that's how it became RAUH-Welt.Some people would rack their brainscoming up with a sick name for their card.Nakai, although very opinionated,you can see that in all thoseother videos with him in itI was talking about,is a quiet man with simple tastes.He chose to name his carafter his favorite beer,Stella Artois,one that he discovered on atrip to Belgium as a young man.Now this started out as apassion project for Nakai-san.but what he would learn lateris that this is the only advertisinghe would ever have to dofor what became a hugelysuccessful business.Chapter three, coming to America.By the mid 2000sNakai was making a namefor himself and his brandoutside of his home in Chiba, Japan.Despite not marketing the company,which was now officially namedRWB or RAUH-Welt Begriff,German for "rough world understanding",which is the coolestfricking name I've ever heardand this is like the 153rdepisode of this show.Thanks to articleslike the ones writtenby Dino at Speed Huntersand websites like Fatlace and Auto Otaku,the world was exposed tothese insane Porsche builds.Nowadays Nakai,along with people likeMagnus Walker and Rod Emory,have made the outlawPorsche style mainstream.But at this time desecratingan air cooled Porschewas seen as blasphemous.Whether the press was good or bad,it was working for Nakai.Word of RWB kept spreadingand eventually reached entrepreneursand Porsche enthusiasts MarkArsenal and Brian Scotto.Mark was running Fatlace and Illestand Brian, you may know himas the co founder of Hoonigan,but back then he was runninga magazine called "0-60".So it was quite serendipitous,that's the second topyou've used that word.Did you just learn it or something?Thank you for noticing, yes.My girlfriend got me aword of the day calendarand it is quite flossenosenhelipenicious.What I'm saying is it was good timingthat RWB was looking to branch offand do work outside of Japan.So RWB rep ToshiyaIchiraku got Nakai to agreeto come build a few cars in America.Nakai traveled to Mark's shop in San Mateonamed the Fatlace Paddock,which would end up beingthe official US distributor for RWB.Scotto ended up beingthe only one who couldmake it that weekend.So him and Nakai went about figuring outwhat they were gonna do with his 964.- What's up, Brian Scottohere from Hoonigan.And this, my RWB.This car was built in late 2011.It is one of the firsttwo RWBs built in America.I was working at a magazine called "0-60".During that time we did afeature story on RAUH-Welt.It was one of the first feature storiesdone in the United States.Actually, I think it was the first.So when Ken Block and I wereabout to launch Hoonigan,we were thinking what would bea cool project to put together,something that was separatefrom what Ken was doing,And I already had a 1991 911 Turbo.We built this car.Mark built a signal green C4.They were first two carsbuilt here in the US.Nakai ended up dubbing this look and styleafter we built it street style.What street style waswas having less aggressivekind of front lip.So on the other onesit was an add on rubberflap that goes here.The double stacked sideskirts didn't have those.So VWs, especially like MarkIIIs,you know I'm talking about Pumphrey,MarkIIIs of course,always had lower skirts painted blackwith the Euro trim,and it was one of the thingsthat I always liked about the car.So that was the first little piece.And then the secondVolkswagen homage are these.No one in the Volkswagenworld has cross hairs.My buddy Mike Campbellhelped me make these.A little nod to my Volkswagen days.This is actually an original turbo car.An -- turbo car,which for some purists was a huge bummerthat I cut this car up tomake an RWB, but whatever.It's kind of crazy to ownone of the early RWBs.What RWBs were and whatthey meant to me in 2011,when this car was builtis probably a lot differentthan what a lot of people see RWBs as now.There weren't really any show car RWBs,there was the guys racing in Japan.and then there were these cars.Almost 10 years later still love the car,still happy that I built it.Still a fun car to drive.(engine revving)(tires screeching)- By the end of the weekendNakai had completed hisfirst two 911 buildsoutside of Japan.He named Scotto's Turbo 964 Hooniganto coincide with the launch of Hoonigan.And he named Mark Arsenal's 911after his new favorite internetradio station Pandora One.And once again,Nakai son knocked it out of the park!Up until now RWB hadbeen a bit of a secret,an underground tuner that made carsthat looked like 90srace cars for the street.Things were about to change for Nakai.It was this exposure plusanother unforeseen factorthat would bring RAUH-WeltBegriff to the world stage.Chapter four, the Akira Nakai experience.Now around the mid to late 2000s,the value of air cooledPorsches dropped drastically.Now you can barely find agood 911 for under $50,000,but then they could bebought for dirt cheap.What, like $1,500, $2,500 bucks?What are we talking here?Nah, more like 15, 25,000.We need to work on yourdefinition of cheap, my friend.Up to speed.You guys remember on a "Hi Lo"when we started a club Boost Creeps?Well, now I'm so excitedthat I can finally rep my setwith this Boost Creeps sticker pack.Go to donutmedia.com to get yourself some.You might've noticed I have it on a carthat doesn't even have a turbo.That's because you don't needa turbo to be a boost creep.You just got to have heartbecause heart is the turbo of the body.The brain is the engine.The feet are the tires.Butt hole is the exhaust.Up to speed.My point isthe people that would neverbe able to buy these carssuddenly could afford to buy these cars.And some of those peoplewere my kind of people,the kind of people that wanteda race car looking wide boy Porsche.JPEGs and .movs of the white Hoonigan 911and greed Pandora Onebecame hugely popularas they were shared acrosscar forums and blogsand eventually social media.Younger enthusiasts who had grown upwith the JDM cars ofthe 90s, AKA most of us,loved the look of these cars.The first time I saw an RWBPorsche was on Speed Hunters.And I was like,"What the friggin' frig is that?"I knew that there were gonna to bea bunch of guys who did not like this,and that made me love itbecause pissing off guyslike my dad has justkind of been my go to my entire life.But there was one groupthat absolutely hated RWBs.Porsche purists.Old, rich, mayonnaise-y guysdenounced the work Nakai was doingto the dwindling stock of air cooled 911s."I hate your air cooledPorsches," they protested.In their mindsit was better to buythese classic sports carsand keep them hidden away in a garagein frickin' Rancho PalosVerdes or somethinguntil they see a returnon their investment,officially driving up the price.But in Nakai's mind these were carsthat should be drivenand raced and enjoyed,and his modifications helpthem drive better than ever.Whether purists want to admit it or not.A widened wheelbase alongwith super fat tiresmade these cars handlebetter than the originals.Ask anyone who drives an RWB.It's an experience unlike any other.Speaking of experience,we can't do a video on RWBwithout talking aboutNakai-san's modification process.You've probably seen a millionvideos of this process,I know that I have,but that doesn't take awayfrom how amazing Nakai's skillwith a pneumatic air saw is.He lines it up with his eyes,marks it out, and just starts cutting.Other people might take hours or even daysto properly make sure thattheir cuts are precise,but Nakai takes about 10 minutes."I trust my eye and I cut," he says.Now you may have heardin order to get Nakai tomake you one of these cars,you need to provide acarton of cigarettes,a case of Mexican Coke,and a leather armchairfor the master to sit in.Now that's all been blown wayout of proportion apparently.In reality those are justthings that Nakai likes.If you want to get them thenthat's called being nice.Since there's been so manyvideos about his process,like this one from Poison Studio,this legend just kept getting perpetuated.He doesn't require any of those thingsto be there when he starts working.But if you're hosting himyou might want to give Nakaithings that make him happy,and most things are Cokes and smokes.And another mythis that Nakai does whathe wants to your Porscheand you don't have a say.In reality he's open to most things,but you don't really pay foran RWB to not get an RWB.You can basically getwhatever you want now.Just listening to mygood friend Rutledge Woodon this really, reallypoorly filmed self tape.- Don't make fun of mycamera work, all right.I'm doing the best Ican, I'm on an iPhone.What's up, Donut.It's your buddy Rutledge Wood.Pardon my hair, y'all.Quarantine here is pretty serious.This is my RWB!I was so excited that youguys asked me to show it off,so this is it.It started life as a 1986 Carerra,had the 3.2 in there.We pull the 3.2 out, sold that,called Summit Racing,got a 525 horse LS3that we put in the back.Ordered the kit and everything from Japan.The way that he builds everythingis that you have a conversation with him,which is exactly liketell me what you want,how do you want to build this.We made this look like a 73 RSR,was kind of our goal.911 headlights,Lee made these incrediblebi led headlights.I did these custom forge line wheelswhich have a center lock on them.Big Brembo brakes behindthere, KW suspension.I assume this is whaty'all want to see though.This is the Summit Racing GM performance525 horse crate motor LS3.It's got Magnaflow headers on therewhich are pointed towardsthe front of the car,and then Richard Waitas from Magnaflowbuilt this awesome bi-modal exhaust.Typically the waiting listends up being about a year,the parts get sent toyou, all the body parts,and you paint them and the car.And then Nakai shows upand he assembles the whole carin front of you in two days.Nakai showed up with his suitcase of toolsand in four minuteshad cut 70% of this fiberglass piece offand had already mounted the light,in what would have taken me days.He's just that connected with the car.It was such a cool thing to be a part of.I love this sort ofcommunity that RWB has made.The process was wildand it felt like it tooka long time in some areasand in other times that two daybuild and went by like that.But I know that I havea one of one bespoke carthat's mine forever and it's insane.If you checked out the build video we did,it's on YouTube.It's also on my Instagram.For me the coolest part wasI used to play with carslike this when I was a kidwith Hot Wheelsand now I own a real life Hot Wheels car.Big thanks to all the RWB USAfamily that made it happen,Mark Arsenal, Scotto for putting it in,"0-60" back in the day,and ultimately Nakai-san too.I can't believe this is my car.That's crazy.Donut, thanks for having me.I love you guys.- RWB has influenced a newgeneration of render artistswho take the world widebody to an insane level.But Nakai was the first to be like,guys, this is possible.So now that they're notthe most offbeat car builds out there,what does the futurehave in store for RWB?Chapter five, RAUH-Welt future.After their initial success in the 2010sand the subsequent controversysurrounding their builds,car enthusiasts around theglobe have come to agreethat the cars RWB modifiesare fricking sick.And I say cars becausethey're not just Porsches.RWB has branched offfrom 930s, 964s, and 993sto build a few Mercedes and an old Beetleand a new beetle formy friend Tanner Faust.(jazzy music)After all Porsche's are just Beetleswith two more cylinders.RWB cars have appeared in video gameslike "Need For Speed" and "CSR 2".RWB races are now held regularly in Japannamed after the fake tire companythat Nakai spray paintson all RWB builds, Idlers.Yes, that is a fake companybut it's cool as hell.I love that he made upa fake tire company.And Nakai-san rarely misses a race.You might find him there in his new build,a ridiculous wide body 993 named Rotanawith an insane double wingand a big old turbo hanging out the back.The RAUH-Welt crew is busier than ever.Nowadays they're building40 to 50 cars a year,most within a weekend.Some people might find them polarizingbut the wait list toget one of these builtis over a year long.So some people have to love them.I love them.These cars were builtbecause one quiet guy who loves Porsche'swanted his car to look cool and go fast.And that's what they'vebeen doing ever since.Thanks Nakai.And thank you guysfor watching thisepisode of "Up To Speed".I hope we got all the info right.I know I didn't say all the words right.This episode is sponsored byour friends at Rec Watches.They have a really cool collabwith RWB going on right now.Get one of two watches,both based on Nakai's personal 911s,and both of them have a pieceof those cars inside of them.They're really, really cool.This one is based on Rotana.You can see it's purple.If this is your first Donutvideo, welcome aboard.If this is your first carvideo, welcome aboard.Hit that Subscribe button if you liked itand that notification bell.I love you.