It’s been just over a month since Project 964 received its RAUH-Welt Begriff (RWB) transformation.
While the car sat for a few weeks over the holidays so the sealant laid down around the fenders and other areas could properly cure, I’ve been doing my best to drive it as much as possible ever since. But for this post, I want to focus specifically on the car’s first touge outing in RWB form. After all, these builds are all about the experience – and you can’t experience it if you’re not driving.
The 964’s new width, ride height, and RWB-specific alignment needed to be tested, not only so I could get a feel for how its dynamics had shifted, but to truly embrace them and, of course, have some fun.
But the first task of the day was to get lost in the RWB lines. I still can’t believe how different the car sits now, so I had to take every opportunity to grab shots with Alec along the roads that wind up through the mountain range at the center of the Izu Peninsula.
I love the car’s balance – the tightness of the fitment, its height off the ground, the chunky rear end, and most of all, the way the Turbo-inspired wing has completely transformed the 964’s presence and impact.
If I had any doubts about whether the RWB treatment was the right move or whether I’d chosen the right combination of parts, they were completely erased the moment I stepped out of the car at the first lay-by overlooking Mt. Fuji.
But honestly, there were never any regrets from the start. Project 964 was always destined for Akira Nakai’s custom touch, even before I found a donor car.
The few hours spent climbing the Hakone Turnpike and then diving onto the Izu Skyline – one of my favorite roads – did more than put a massive grin on my face. They taught me a lot. Everything I knew about the 964 and its dynamics had to be re-learned. I had to recalibrate: the grip, turn in, powering out. What impressed me the most, though, was the car’s mid-corner adjustability.
When I fitted the KW Variant 3s at Hashimoto Corporation last summer, along with the sticky Yokohama Advan Neova AD09s, the 964 gained a whole new level of composure. The grip was monumental, and the turn-in became pin-sharp. I won’t go too deep into the grip itself – since the tires on Nakai-san’s loaner wheels are so old they have chemically mutated into plastic at this point – but the handling? That’s a different story. Let me explain…
While the aging tires do wash wide through the tighter corners I do recall every RWB that I have driven having a safe level of understeer dialed in for safety. Through the sweeping second and third-gear corners the car feels planted and under braking and the quite decent downshifts the old-school torque converters do in manual mode the car tucks in and swings around the next set of apexes impressively smoothly. Despite the aging tires washing wide through tighter corners, every RWB I’ve driven has had a healthy dose of understeer dialed in for safety. On the wider, sweeping second- and third-gear corners, the car feels planted. Under braking, and with some very satisfying downshifts from the old-school torque converters in manual mode, the car tucks in and swings around the next set of apexes impressively smoothly.
In its current state, Project 964’s 180,000km-old, naturally-aspirated flat-six will never be a match for the grip of the rear end, but it’s torquey enough to carry some decent pace, and I came away quite impressed by the car’s overall character. Now that I think about it, this was probably the third time I’d pushed the car to its limits.
The real fun bit was rediscovering something I’d experienced years ago with the RWB 964s and 993s I drove at the idlers 12-hour race at Motegi. If you back off mid-corner, the weight transfer tightens the line in a way that you need to be ready to give a quarter- to half-a-wheel’s turn of countersteer to make full use of the progressive slide, not forgetting to get back on the power to accelerate smoothly out of the corner.
It turned into this satisfying dance, each turn feeling more in sync with the car as I drove through those beautiful stretches of blacktop.
It makes me want to head back again and relive that moment – when you reacquaint yourself with your car. It’s days like these that make all the work leading up to this so worth it.
While the RWB conversion may be done, there are still a few things to finalize with Project 964’s looks. First up: the wheels. They’ve been ordered, but I’m still about a month away from getting them. When they do arrive, I’ll need to refamiliarize myself with both the aesthetics and handling, since they’ll be paired with grippy modern tires, albeit slightly narrower, and Nakai-san may dial in a slightly more aggressive negative camber front and rear.
There’s still so much left to do with Project 964 – trust me, I’m barely getting started – I am finally close to wrapping up the aesthetics side of things.
I’ll continue to take you through each step, sharing both the wins and the setbacks along the way, as the latter seems to crop up more often with these cars.
Dino Dalle Carbonare
Instagram: dino_dalle_carbonare
dino@speedhunters.com
Photography by Alec Pender
Instagram: noplansco
