Japan, 1996.

You're 17 years old and you just rented a VHS tape from a shop that sells anime figurines and engine cleaner.

You pop the tape into your VCR. There's no intro music, no voiceover, just a bunch of men standing next to cars in a parking

lot.

They bow.

They talk car specs.

One of them adjust tire pressure.

At the moment you think, what did I just rent and go to turn off your TV?

You're on the Wangon, behind a shaky camera.

The sound of the wind drowns everything out.

There's no narrator telling you how dangerous this is because the video doesn't need one.

You can see the speed.

You can feel how close to disaster what you're watching really is.

Now, Asylvia is racing an Integra Type R, Impreza, and Nissan GTR at Tsukuba.

Then, you're screaming down a dark mountain pass.

Later, Maxerito and Kaichichichutschia slide their cars around a corner in the rain.

Then they're laughing and talking shit.

It was new, exciting, and maybe even the coolest thing you'd ever seen.

And with every new tape you watch, more of this once mysterious car culture is revealed.

This was happening in homes all across the country and was making this niche world more accessible than ever.

And in doing so, expanded and changed it in ways never thought possible.

What's up, everybody?

...