Night Runner | Souki's Nissan Skyline Kaido Racer [With 2 Videos]
Words & Photography Luke Ray
This article first appeared in Fuel Magazine issue 25
The Car
Monday morning, Speed & Custom was done and dusted and Chris Cooper and I were on a Shinkansen back up to Tokyo for what was probably my most anticipated shoot of the trip. I’d been following Souki online, in awe of his projects, including a slammed, wide-body Lamborghini Diablo (for which he was making his own body additions by hand) and in particular a radical Nissan Skyline built in the Kaido Racer style. As you will have seen already, it’s an area that I was keen to probe into, so when Souki replied to my enquiries and invited Chris and I to join him on the streets of Tokyo with the car, I was pumped for what might lie ahead.
Souki’s not one to do anything by halves and he’s a true showman at heart. As well as being a car-nut, Souki is part of a Japanese EDM music duo called Rude Playerz. I think you can already get an idea for how much Souki likes to enjoy his waking hours. Chris and I got our first idea for Souki’s showmanship when he sent through a message telling us where he wanted to meet… in the centre of Shibuya at one of Tokyo’s busiest traffic and pedestrian junctions. No, not ‘that’ crossing in Shinjuku, but probably a close second. So there we were, right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, and Souki pulls up in the Skyline. He wanted to be seen and seen we most definitely were.
In our previous conversations, Souki had asked if we wanted to shoot the car in a busy Tokyo street. I decided not to take that approach but settled instead for a mix of Souki’s basement car park and a quieter spot at the side of the road a little out of the hectic central streets. This is by far one of the most radical cars that I’ve had the pleasure of shooting, and it certainly attracts plenty of attention. For that reason, driving during daylight hours was kept to a minimum and it’s after dark where Souki and his friends have the most fun. But, more of that later…
LR: Who are you and where are you from?
S: My name is Souki, I currently live in Shibuya, Tokyo.
What is this car and how did you come by it?
This is an ‘80s Japanese model Skyline. The car was originally driven by a relative of mine and I got it from him. It had been left untouched for some time. I started working on it two or three years ago, progressing little by little. I always liked Skylines, particularly Japanese models ever since I was a child, so I was happy to be able to obtain it.
From where did you get your inspiration for this build?
I dreamed about the Kaido Racer style of cars when I was a child, so I wanted to make a car in this style but add my own contributions to the look. I also like lowriders, so that was an influence. I get inspiration from old magazines but try to incorporate current trends. I did not want to create a car the same as others, so I implemented some western-style elements such as candy and flaked paint. I like America, I am hoping to create my work to get attention from overseas.
What modifications have you done?
This style of old vehicle tends to have graphics with layers of unevenness, so I scraped and polished the bodywork until it became flat and shining like a lowrider. The candy paint was re-decorated many times to produce this particular orange. In addition, the wheels are all polished and the rear wing was made without showing any visible bolts or fixings. At the front, I re-chromed the grille and light bezels to refine the look thoroughly.
The engine is mostly original, aside from Solex carburettors and a Takoashi exhaust manifold. I want to refine and tune up the engine from now on, as it is too slow and I cannot keep up with others.
The only thing remaining is the interior, I haven’t touched it as yet. I am going to work on it from now on to improve it.
The Cruise
Mind. Blown. Those are the two words that Chris and I can find to sum up the experience of the evening that followed the shoot with Souki. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. The only arrangements that we had made with Souki were that we were going to “catch up” with a few of his friends. But as it got closer to the dark of night, I was starting to wonder exactly what we were going to see. After a short drive out of the city, we arrived at a small, discreet workshop where one of Souki’s friends was working on a couple of projects behind closed doors. The guys chatted about a couple of small issues that Souki was having with the Skyline and it was time to move on and congregate with a few others.
As we disembarked, the owner of the workshop appeared in his ‘night toy’; a Datsun as visually extreme as Souki’s Skyline. Extreme body kit, check. Wild paint, check. Random flashing coloured lights, check. As we cruised to a truck-stop meeting point there were more… a Toyota Supra complete with a foot-long chin spoiler and moulded-in upswept rear wing and a slammed midnight-blue 240Z sporting wheel arch extensions and a sinister, but more discreet (in comparison), front and rear kit.
Ok, this was good, really good. Our good friend and Fuel Magazine supporter Hiroaki Kageyama showed up in his Toyota 86 support car and we were good to go. Go where, I wasn’t exactly sure, but after a bite to eat at the truck stop, we set off and that’s when things took an unexpected turn. I got a hint of what was to come when Kage-san translated for me something that one of the group said: “When we’re driving, we don’t have to stay in one line, do we? Because we don’t like driving like that.”
For the next hour, we witnessed a side of Japanese car culture that I had only seen on YouTube videos. Once we were out on the road, all bets were off. Souki and his friends were in their element. This was less of a cruise and more of an automotive dance. The cars were revving and moving around between lanes like a choreographed performance. This was definitely a show and we had front row seats.
I was in with Kage-san in the camera car, looking on and filming what I could. But Chris was right in the middle of it. He was in Souki’s spare seat, shooting from the inside-out. I kind of got the idea that he was having a good time when I saw him lean out of the window with Souki at full throttle, fist-punching the air with a look on his face somewhere between disbelief and pure joy.
The drive-dance went on for the best part of an hour, but it seemed like less than half that. It was such an exhilarating experience, it’s even hard to remember the full hour. It culminated in a meeting at the infamous Daikoku parking area in Yokohama. We cruised down the spiral ramp to the car park at the base of the junction where enthusiasts congregate pretty much every night of the week.
Seeing a group of Kaido racers descend on a Monday night gathering is a rarity, so it’s fair to say that Souki and his friends stood out somewhat amongst the more timid customisations that filled the site. We hung around for around an hour and then it was all over. With handshakes done, Chris and I squeezed into Kage-san’s 86 and Souki & Co. set sail off into the Tokyo night.
It was one of those experiences that’s hard to describe. The sounds, the movements, the cars. I tried to catch it all on film and I am in the process of putting it all together for the Fuel Tank TV YouTube channel, but even that can’t get close to what it was actually like to be a part of the Tokyo Kaido Racer night-runners.
