The Yoshida Specials 930 Turbo was the car owned by the chairman of the Mid Night Racing Team – Eichii Yoshida. The car has a nickname Blackbird Porsche from the Wangan Midnight. It was one of the fastest cars used in street racing in 1980s and 90s. It was unbeaten on the Bayshore route. The official top speed was 308km/h, but it went 320+ on the highways in japan and 340km/h in Germany. Mid Night Club had many members who were businessmen, doctors, lorry drivers etc. who were all car guys who liked to race and tune cars.
Read more about Mid Night Club or watch our YouTube video about them.
Yoshida specials 930 Turbo the Blackbird Porsche
The famous inspiration for the Wangan midnight Blackbird porsche. The car was tuned by Porsche Development Centre Weissach in Germany, which specializes in race cars. It was shipped there from Japan multiple times and Yoshida visited the factory as well. In Japan, the car was looked after by Midnight Porsche Works and a few other local shops and tuners. Top speed: 308km/h speed trials, 320km/h+ Wangan. It was seen as the ultimate road-going Porsche in Japan and was unbeaten in street races on the Wangan.
Porsche 911 930 Turbo (1979)
Engine: Air-cooled flat-six (610PS at 6200 RPM), turbo (KKK K33s), Mahle forged pistons, Porsche titanium race con rod, race exhaust, race intercooler, twin plug ignition. Max RPM 7500, 715 NM torque at 6600 RPM.
Transmission: 4 speed, clutch and flywheel from Porsche 956, 4.0 ratio
Suspension: Bilstein shock absorbers (Porsche 934 and 935)
Interior: roll cage, dry carbon shell racing seats in white leather (Porsche 959), racing harness, one-off tachometer, 350km/h speedometer (Porsche 959), rs steering wheel
Exterior: Midnight Porsche works front bumper, modified rear spoiler, NACA ducts instead of rear side windows. 17″ forged aluminum wheels with Denlok system (Porsche 956 and 962), ventilated 30cm⌀ brakes from Porsche 962
Some of the parts were kept secret and even Yoshida didn’t know about them.
The car saw continuous development for over 20 years. It was shipped to Porsche at least 3 times for upgrades borrowing parts from their racing division. Yoshida wanted to keep the car true to Porsche’s racing heritage, he was determined to tune the 930 even though it was starting to age, at times he also considered making it a twin-turbo spec but decided not as he didn’t want to change the originality of the Porsche. He had been running Porsche’s since the Tomei era in the late 70s and early 80s. The car wasn’t too reliable on speed trials and blew up on occasions, so the engine had to be rebuilt.
Option Magazine feature about Yoshida specials 930:
“No other car owner is as zealous. Nostalgic, Mid Night Porsche. Following the launch issue of Option, I set pages for this car. Unfortunately, I could not test drive it at that time due to engine failure. There are a lot of memories in this car. Aiming for over 340km/h, many times behind the wheel, I took part in the Yatabe fastest attack. Since the engine is in the rear, Porsche has an extremely low front load, the limit is 260km/h when rushing into the bank (Yatabe banked circuit). While fighting the fear that the front tires might run away I step on the accelerator and aim for 300km/h at the bank exit.
Naturally accelerating to top speed I’ve been promoting tuning for more power. Speaking of which, we booked Yatabe for testing just for Yoshida’s Porsche. Engine characteristics are typical for a big turbo spec, it goes instantly from 5000rpm to the rev limit of 7500rpm. Also because the engine displacement is 3.4L, running in the low-speed range is good.
Still not able to achieve the goal of over 340km/h I am surprised the owner’s enthusiasm for maximum velocity hasn’t declined. Rather than the latest model, it is meaningless unless it is this Porsche that has been brought along for 26 years. Honestly, the number 1 tuning fool in Japan. After a gap of 15 years, it seems Porsche’s head office in Germany needs to tweak it.”
Because of the popularity of the Yoshida specials 930, a lot of people wanted him to help tune their Porsche and he started Midnight Porsche Works (MPW), a dedicated tuning shop. which had a technical partnership with Porsche HQ. One of the shop’s demo cars was Yoshida’s personal BMW M5.
Blackbird Porsche in Wangan Midnight
Yoshida’s 930 was the inspiration behind Blackbird in the manga series Wangan Midnight. And the whole manga itself was inspired by Mid Night Club. Wangan Midnight tells the story of high-school student Akio, who drives a Fairlady Z (inspired by Mid Night’s red Z car), and Tatsuya, who is a doctor with a black Porsche (Blackbird).
Mid Night Club members cars: Top 4 Porsche builds
When the team was started, Porsche was the top choice for Mid Night Club members and it made up most of the roster and legendary cars have been built throughout the years.
1. Sato’s Approval/Promodet 964
It was at one point the fastest Porsche in Japan with a recorded top speed of 332km/h in 1997. Tuned by Komine and featured K28MOJ Turbo, a stainless manifold, 100⌀ stainless muffler, additional injector (550cc x2), motec racing wastegate, Zytek CPU system custom piping, and so on during one of its record runs (309km/h). It has since been further upgraded with new parts.
2. Abflug twin-turbo 930
The legendary pink Porsche is owned by Uwabo. He liked to track the car and was very knowledgeable about making the car perform well aerodynamically as well as making it powerful. It made 680-800PS in different trims and featured twin IHI RX6 turbos, intercooler by ARC, and many other upgrades. He only used domestic parts and it was seen as the opposite philosophy to Yoshida’s 930. On one occasion it was crashed on the Wangan and has been rebuilt since and has been constantly developed for 30 years.
3. Warm Bogner 930
This crazy-looking 911 was a demo car for the Warm Yokohama tuning shop. The top speed was 304km/h and it did 0-400m in 12.59 seconds. It had a single K27 Turbo and the engine produced 405PS thanks to the Kremer parts installed. But the most striking thing is the 935 influenced aero kit installed. Custom front spoiler, CIBIE fog lights, rear bumper, RUF aero style mirrors, front and read fenders, huge Le Mans style wing, Ferrari F40 inspired front lights
4. Takahashi’s 911
Takahashi was a member from early days and used to drive an S130Z. He was the owner of Auto Garage TBK (Takahashi jidosha Bankin Kogyo), a body shop in Yokohama specialized in sheet metal bodywork. They worked on multiple Mid Night members cars as well.
Mid Night Club Members cars
Mid Night Club’s members with Porsches in different speed trials. I didn’t include Kometani (Traction Master 930 Turbo) in this article but you can read about him in the main Mid Night Club article.
Mid Night Club Member: Chairman Tamura’s cars
Tamura has special(l) cars and is a remarkable member of Mid Night Club because he is the current chairman, second after Yoshida departed. As a youngster, he was seen as one of the most skillful drivers of the club and his rise through the ranks was inevitable.
His tuned cars have a distinctive style, with the most notable detail being the multi-louvered bonnet which a lot of his cars feature. He also has had some other cars not featured in this article, for example, an FC RX-7 or his former daily driver Nissan Micra.
Mazda RX-7 (FD)
Twin-turbo, rotary engine, metallic blue paint, louvered bonnet, and magnificent 17″ golden OZ shoes – top speed 293km/h. Tadao’s FD was definitely special. The car made 460bhp which is a hefty addition from the 237bhp stock car and it loves to rev up to 8000 screaming RPMs. The big boost comes from two Mitsubishi TD-05Z turbos at 1.3bar while the engine is kept mostly stock.
The bodywork is staggering as well. Headlights are F40 Le Mans inspired instead of the stock pop-ups. Which make sense since driving near 300km/h at midnight, aerodynamic lights would be appreciated. The side skirts and the spoiler is from Mazdaspeed and the front splitter, air-intakes, and bonnet are by RE Amemiya, oh and the mirrors are inspired by RUF. He also usually rocked a windscreen wiper delete as he didn’t use it in wet conditions (except when shooting for Max Power in 1996 when these pictures were made).
The interior is also definitely something to talk about, with the bright red leather seats, wheel, and the Samstag Abend shiny roll cage. RE Amemiya dials and additional gauges on the passenger side for exhaust and oil temperature and oil pressure. In total Tamura put over 40 grands into it which is a bit more than what the car costs itself.
Mid Night Club member: Tamuta’s Nissan R33 GT-R
This was Tamura’s flashiest car (and perhaps also Mid Night Club’s), a pink 1996 Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R which made headlines after it ended up in Russia after it was sold and was abandoned for a little while. Apparently, the first Russian owner used it for drifting and blew up the engine after which he started to sell it for parts.
Thankfully another enthusiast took matters into their own hands and bought the car. Instagram user @car_speciall (2nd picture) now has it and has since begun restoration.
It was listed for 4 900 000 Japanese yen which would be around $50 000 taking inflation into account. The original spec had most of the bodywork by TBK including the bonnet (with the louvers and a naca duct of course). Eye-catching Panasport wheels, Nismo front lip, and duct. The CPU, muffler, and oil cooler are by Move. The top speed was around 270-280km/h.
Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG owned by the Club member
The Mid Night Club‘s current chairman’s car is a beefy-looking C-class coupe with his trademark bonnet work. Specs are otherwise unclear. The stock car features a 6.2L V8 engine which makes 451 horses and accelerates to 100km/h in 4.4 seconds.
Mid Night Racing Team Cars: Nissan GT-R VS 911 rivalry
The main competitor for the Turbo Porsches were the GT-Rs. When the R32 was launched it quickly became one of the more popular models for street racers because it didn’t require too much tuning to go over 300km/h.
In Option magazine “Midnight SPL Talk” three perspectives are shared about the cars. Porsche through the eyes of a GT-R driver and vice versa as well as a third party opinion.
One of the differences that were brought up was the handling. The GT-R feels much more stable.
“However, the feeling of stability, BNR32 is much better than the 930 Turbo that I have now. No matter the situation, even if it is “Shit” the GT-R is mighty. On the other hand, the rear engine driven Porsche has a feeling of betrayal…”
On the other hand, the 911 is more fun to drive because of its layout, rear-engine & rear-wheel-drive.
“Certainly after switching to the 930 Turbo, that way of thinking changed. When I was running BNR32 I was looking for speed all the time but now driving is purely fun. Rear engine rear-wheel drive is quite formidable on the contrary I knew how much we rely on 4WD.”
Read the full article below:
Nissan was the popular local hero and Porsche was the foreign legend. But in the end, they were like the different sides of the same coin, different philosophies but the same goal – to build the ultimate sports car.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Wangan Midnight based on true story??
Yes. It is the Japanese manga comic series that is based on racing in Tokyos highways as done by the Mid Night Club and its members. Its characters and cars are inspired by many of the original team members like Yoshida and his 930 Turbo (Yoshida Specials) and the red Z car which inspired the Devil Z.
What do the stickers mean for the Mid Night Club?
The pink sticker in Mid Night Racing Team was given to new members during their trial period which lasted around 5 years. When a member achieved full membership they were given the silver sticker by the Chairman of the team.
How do you join the midnight racing team?
To join the team, racers needed to prove their skills of driving fast for a prolonged time. That meant going 100-300km/h on Tokyo highways for 10-40 minutes per race. If the senior members saw the potential in the apprentice, then they were accepted to the team.
