The afterparty is at all times the place it’s at, and after the great crowds skilled at Tokyo Auto Salon final Friday (after which proper throughout all the weekend), hanging out on a chilly and windy rooftop carpark in Tokyo with a bunch of automobile nerds was a breath of contemporary air in additional methods than one.
Final 12 months’s Underground Tokyo Meet was a heady buzz of vehicles and fanatics from throughout the globe. The occasion identify could have had you pondering it was absolutely underground within the sense of being secret, like a techno rave in an deserted quarry, however in actuality it was actually held in an underground carpark. Round 40 or 50 vehicles rocked up by invite solely, with tons of of spectators there to examine them out.
I don’t typically get complications, however spending an prolonged period of time in a poorly-ventilated underground carpark as vehicles constantly cruised by way of had my eyes watering from the fumes and my head throbbing till mattress time. This time round although, the Underground Tokyo crew teamed up with NVRFUKNSUC and automotive way of life model Peaches to ramp issues up a notch.
A brand new location on a rooftop carpark in Tokyo’s Koto Metropolis ward was secured. There was loads of house and, most significantly, breathable air.
Having spent all the day at Makuhari Messe, Rick and I arrived fairly late to the get together, lacking a particular look from the Nissan Hyper Drive GT-R idea and in addition Nissan’s Skyline Tremendous Silhouette race automobile. Bummer. Nonetheless, there was a lot to see – form of.
The rooftop location would have been additional superb if the parking space had overhead lighting, however sadly it didn’t. The organisers introduced alongside a couple of giant moveable lights, though they had been by no means going to light up the complete website. A few individuals had torches and there was the odd videographer round with an LED mild unit, however should you got here unprepared, you might need been wishing you’d eaten extra carrots the week prior.
Annoyingly, Rick appears to be uncannily steady along with his digicam and may shoot proper all the way down to a 1-second publicity and nonetheless have his photos pin-sharp. I attempted my finest, however I may solely efficiently get all the way down to half a second. Nonetheless, I felt a way of satisfaction because it was a lot better than my regular 1/twentieth of a second go-to shutter velocity for night time capturing.
A smorgasbord of 911s, GT-Rs, Evos (together with the unique reference automobile for The Quick And The Livid: Tokyo Drift Evo), Imprezas, RX-7s and all the pieces in between lined the rows of what would usually be parking for grocery-getters and minivans. 108 invited visitors in complete. Fairly particular.
The bustle of the gang, the chilly winter air and the nice and cozy under-glow of tuner vehicles was an actual vibe.
The coated parking ranges under the rooftop had been stuffed with spectator vehicles, and we discovered some beauties down there too. An actual blended bag.
All good issues should come to an finish although, and with simply 20 minutes left to run within the occasion the police confirmed as much as politely ask individuals to depart, which they did.
Not that it actually mattered, as a result of the next night there was one other meet to take a look at. Keep tuned for that as our protection from Tokyo Auto Salon 2024 and all the opposite TAS week actions in Tokyo continues.
Toby Thyer
Instagram: _tobinsta_
tobythyer.co.uk
Extra Images by Rick Muda
Instagram: ardskellig
Tokyo Auto Salon Week 2024 on Speedhunters
