It has been exactly one month since LUFT TOKYO came to an end. Even now, looking back, it was truly something remarkable. I imagine that for many of you who were there, something of that day is still living quietly inside you. Once again, I feel genuinely honored to have been able to create LUFT TOKYO — that legendary day — together with all of you. Thank you so much. Thanks to Takada-san and the production team, the LUFT TOKYO Official Event Recap video is now available, and I hope you will take a moment to watch it.
I remember it was a few years ago that Takada-san first mentioned to me that the luftgekühlt team had a wish to hold an event in Japan. For me personally, the KK Line — running from the Kandabashi exit through the Yaesu Tunnel and merging onto the C1 outer loop at Shiodome — had always been a place to practice my cornering, particularly hard braking. When word came that Tokyo Expressway's KK Line would close on April 5, 2025, ending 60 years of operation as a motorway, and that the KK Line might be available to use — and that timing happened to coincide with a serious request coming in from the US side about holding the event in Japan — the concept of LUFT TOKYO KK LINE suddenly started gaining momentum all at once.
Negotiations and contracts with Tokyo Expressway were handled by Takada-san and San'ei (formerly San-ei Shobo), so the formal approach to LOOPWHEELER and to me came on July 10, 2025 — a date I will never forget. I still remember the feeling that came over me in that moment. From there, I poured everything I had into making LUFT TOKYO KK LINE a reality.
On October 21, 2025, Patrick, the representative of luftgekühlt, came to Japan for our first meeting. We went up onto the KK Line in the rain to survey the site and began shaping an overall concept. LOOPWHEELER was given the important role of producing the crew uniforms. There was a great deal that happened which I cannot write about here, but in the end, with the involvement of Yoichiro Uchida, I think something genuinely cool came together in the form of those sweatshirts. On December 17 and 18, we went up onto the KK Line in a Porsche to shoot for the website, and on the 19th there was the first meeting between Uchida-kun and Kazuo Ohashi. Around this time we also posted the first public announcement on Instagram on the 27th, then on the 30th there was a meeting between Neighborhood's Takizawa-san and Takada-san. Into the new year, on January 8 we made the second announcement, and from the 9th to the 11th during Tokyo Auto Salon I had conversations with several key people — that was the first major peak of activity. With LOOPWHEELER work continuing alongside all of this, the only real rest I felt was on the 31st and the 1st.
Then on February 4, 2026, Jeff came to Japan and drew up the four layout diagrams shown above in a single night. Jeff is apparently 70 years old, and it was a long time since I had encountered someone older than me with such an intense depth of knowledge and physical energy. I am grateful to the Porsche gods for the chance to meet and learn from someone so genuinely worthy of respect. After Jeff arrived, the schedule was intense: Jeff flew back on the 7th; car entries that had been open since January 22 closed on February 6; from February 7 to 13 we reviewed all applications (especially on the 7th and 8th, when four of our crew gathered at the office and worked in lockdown), and on Valentine's Day, February 14, we sent out acceptances and rejections. In between, on February 9 and 10, I travelled to MADLANE in Maniwa with Uchida-kun and Takada-san for a meeting with Kazuo Ohashi-kun about the live painting on the 935ML — that was the second major peak. Looking back, the Saturday and Sunday of February 7 and 8, when Takada-san, Iso-kun, Kenta-kun, and I gathered at what we called LUFT TOKYO HQ — that might have been the most enjoyable meeting of all. I really wish we had recorded it.
From there: on March 23, a public holiday, there was a meeting at LUFT TOKYO HQ to finalize the area layout for the entered Porsches; on March 2, Ted and the team from Type7 came to Japan; from March 10, the LUFT US team arrived in Japan; and on the KK Line we worked through the final Porsche layout with Jeff day by day, building toward the event on the 14th through an extraordinary stretch of days. Even now, thinking back on those four days, I feel something remarkable was happening. The layout that you all saw feels almost like a miracle to me. And I think the biggest reason that miracle was possible was that the entrants who came up onto the KK Line from early on the morning of the 14th were so cooperative in positioning their cars.
Having LOOPWHEELER's name be part of this feels genuinely meaningful, and I think it matters. I hope that one day I will be able to share the story of LUFT TOKYO KK LINE with everyone in person. There are so many stories from behind the scenes — ones that moved me deeply, and ones that made my eyes well up. And there is the passion of the crew who worked behind the scenes, and their love for Porsche. And the all-in spirit that Kohei Takada brought — it reached everyone on the crew, and together with the feelings of the entrants and the gallery, it came together into what felt like a miraculous day. I also believe, without any doubt, that the Porsche gods smiled down on us in the form of that sunshine. March 14, 2026 — I think it has become a legendary day in the history of air-cooled Porsche. Thank you. @Satoshi Suzuki