It’s been so hectic at VAD the last few months and we’ve all been on such an adrenalin rush and only now are we starting to come down from our RWB overdose.
The most important part we had was find the right car, and believe me that’s not an easy thing, especially when we had a time limit and Nakai-san was due to the uk at the end of October so it was a four week rush and the last thing we wanted to work on was a car that needs tons of work, that’s not what we as a company are about, so although every Porsche purist will hate us we found a one owner low mileage 993 Carrera 2 and yes tiptronic, not to everyone’s taste and again we will have haters, but we like to go against the grain and all RWB conversions are about their owners, and let’s face it we are never going to please everyone.
We basically stripped the car to its bare bones, and to say the car was clean is an understatement it’s a credit to its former owner, we then prepped and painted the car and the kit ready for Nakai-san arrival and the interior was treated to a full alcantara retrim with Porsche GT2 Carbon fibre seats sourced and installed, again I think the interior may well go against the grain with some diehard RWB fans, but it’s a great place to sit.
September the 27th the afternoon Nakai-san arrives at VAD create and design centre, and I was a little nervous, the guy is a legend and so well respected and known, I have seen pictures and videos but nothing can prepare you and then your mind starts to wonder, is the car right, is the colour ok, will he be pleased with our work, our first afternoon was spent assessing the car and checking the aero parts, and we get a first thumbs up from the man so time to hit Frankie and bennys for food and the odd Stella Artois.
The next few days just flew by as Nakai-san just went into creation mode and you could sense he was pleased to be in England and he was so pleased with the car, he then threw the odd name about for the car which I can honestly say I was hoping he wouldn’t stick with, but to watch and assist is simply awesome, Nakai is a craftsman and I felt privilege watching and assisting him create our first RWB project on European soil.
The car came together very quickly and Nakai-san was immensely pleased with how the car looked, the interior he loved, he said it’s the first RWB to have the full interior, the paint finish and the colour he said was remarkable, now when you get positive comments coming from the man himself you soon forget the worry of what the world will think, and when he decides on the name of “NUMBER ONE” that when you know you hard work and vision have paid off.
After many evenings eating drinking and talking all we can say is Nakai-san is one hell of a guy and nothing like we expected, they way he conducts himself and speaks its awe-inspiring and it’s amazing to know we share the same vision.
We ended the week at Silverstone where we showcase the car to get a general reaction as we knew it would be full of petrol heads and supercars from all different manufactures and the car certainly drew the crowds with some amazing comments and people happy to meet and catch up with Nakai-san on uk soil.
The week will forever be in our memory and we have a lot of RWB goodness happening over the coming months, first of all our own RWB Branded Forged light weight wheel, The SSR are a beautiful wheel, but require a large spacer to fill that acres of rear arch and our aim is a wheel that’s not only light weight but also a direct fit, but also look as good, all will be revealed towards the end of October.
At this point we would also have to thank Toshi-san form RWB Japan, without Toshi-san our dream would not of come true, upon first contact we hit it off straight away we discussed what we wanted to do with the RWB brand and amazingly he and RWB wanted the same.
Seeing what RWB have on the drawing board for 2012 is a mouth watering prospect to be involved with and we also have an exclusive RWB+VAD collaboration that’s set to get the world talking.
Thank you all from RBW Europe team for following the blog and the RBW build page, its been a fantastic journey, but its about to get a whole lot better.
Posted by: Nick Moutrie