Legendary Wangan Midnight cars: Blackbird Porsche 911 and Devil Z from real-life club to manga and movie. • Atelier Eau Rouge (2024)

The original Wangan Midnight manga series and the cars Blackbird Porsche and Devil Z are inspired by the famous Mid Night Club, which is a group of racers from Japan. They raced on the Bayshore Route known as the “Wangan” and gained their notoriety there as the fastest team. They raced tuned cars like the Porsche 911, Mazda RX-7, Nissan GT-R and Z cars, plus they even had Ferraris and Lamborghinis. Their stories, cars and members were the basis for the manga plot written by Michiharu Kusunoki who knew members of Mid Night.

Table Of Contents

  1. The Blackbird Porsche 911
  2. The Real Devil Z
  3. Testarossa and R32 Cars
  4. Wangan Midnight Movies
  5. computer games

The Blackbird Porsche 911

The Blackbird Porsche is directly inspired by Yoshida’s 930 Turbo which was also black when he got it and later painted it to a dark purple color. Yoshida, who was also the leader of Mid Night raced the car on Wangan and was unbeaten, he was regarded as one of the top runners. The car’s top speed was way over 300km/h. It was thoroughly modified by Porsche in Germany and was built with race parts.

Legendary Wangan Midnight cars: Blackbird Porsche 911 and Devil Z from real-life club to manga and movie. • Atelier Eau Rouge (1)

The Porsche in the manga looks to be a 930 (at least from the bumper) like the real-life club’s car but some sources say it was a 964. Who owned the Blackbird? Tatsuya Shima owned the Blackbird, he is an experienced surgeon but likes to race his 911 at night. He also modifies its specs extensively and spends most of his money on the car. He is known as the “King of Wangan”, which you could also say about Yoshida from Mid Night Club. The name “Blackbird” comes from Lockheed SR-71, which was a military aircraft made by the US that was capable of speeds over mach 3. It was in fact so fast, that it could just accelerate and fly away from any missile launched at it.

Legendary Wangan Midnight cars: Blackbird Porsche 911 and Devil Z from real-life club to manga and movie. • Atelier Eau Rouge (2)

Before the events of the manga, Tatsuya raced on the wangan and witnessed his rival die in a car crash. The car was the Devil Z and he originally wanted to destroy the car as a sign of respect for his rival. Tatsuya’s girlfriend is Eriko Asakura, who was the sister of the deceased rival and she tried to get rid of the car as well by ditching it into the seat in Yokohama but was subsequently stopped by Tatsuya himself.

Legendary Wangan Midnight cars: Blackbird Porsche 911 and Devil Z from real-life club to manga and movie. • Atelier Eau Rouge (3)
Legendary Wangan Midnight cars: Blackbird Porsche 911 and Devil Z from real-life club to manga and movie. • Atelier Eau Rouge (4)

The Real Devil Z

The S130Z of Mid Night Club was the inspiration for Devil Z. The car had multiple owners in the club and is still owned by a member. Its ABR tune was done when Toshi (who also owns multiple other Z cars) owned the car, he went to Masaru Hosoki who owned ABR (Air Breathing Research) and he modified it extensively. It was a 1978 model and was tuned to 600HP and achieved a top speed of over 300km/h (186mp/h+). The L28E engine was upgraded with forged pistons, camshafts, rods and cams. The turbo system consisted of IHI RHC-6 VX55 compressors and 3P-13 turbines. All of that power was handled by a 5-speed manual transmission. Hugging the tarmac were Panasport wheels (16inch) together with Bridgestone RE71 tires and the calipers were taken from an R32 Skyline and the rotors from a Supra.

Legendary Wangan Midnight cars: Blackbird Porsche 911 and Devil Z from real-life club to manga and movie. • Atelier Eau Rouge (5)

But the legend status of the S130Z and Yoshida’s Turbo doesn’t come from their looks or even their tune but from the fact that they were ruthlessly driven from night to night, wearing scars of battle from the accumulated miles and races. Yes, they were beautiful cars but they weren’t pretty demo cars.

The Devil Z was driven by high school student Akio Asakura. Before the “Devil” he had a Z31 Fairlady but he lost a battle on the Bayshore route to the Blackbird. After that he wanted a faster car, he went to a junkyard after his friend said there was another Fairlady there with performance parts. He was surprised when he saw the car since he had seen the exact car 2 years before and decided a car like that should be driven. He asked the junkyard owner if he can buy it, the seller warned him that the car is cursed. Its previous owner had asked to destroy it because it’s dangerous to drive. Hence the name, Devil Z.

Legendary Wangan Midnight cars: Blackbird Porsche 911 and Devil Z from real-life club to manga and movie. • Atelier Eau Rouge (6)

Akio went ahead and got the car. The specs of Devil Z were monster. Twin turbos, powerful 3.1L L28 engine, triple carburetors, and gorgeous dark blue paint. In fact, so monster that one of the previous owners was killed. And he had the exact name as Akio. The Akio who was killed also had a sister who was the girlfriend of Tatsuya. The plot of the manga revolves around their battles on the Wangan, which Akio takes very seriously even though he is still a student. He skips school so much that he has to repeat a grade.

The tuning was done by Jun Kitami, who was known as the “Tuner from hell”, his real-life reference would be Masaur Hosoki (who was the first to cross 300km/h in Japan). Jun also tuned the Blackbird. He was known for making cars “too powerful”, so that they become dangerous and impossible to control.

Legendary Wangan Midnight cars: Blackbird Porsche 911 and Devil Z from real-life club to manga and movie. • Atelier Eau Rouge (7)

Testarossa and R32 Cars

Other notable cars are the Ferrari Testarossa with what looks to be a Koenig body kit. The car is driven by a photographer Yoshiaki Ishida, who is interested in the story of Devil Z and tracks down the car with Reina. He also wants to make his Ferrari faster than the Z and gets it extensively tuned for 100k$ by Jun Kitami. One time when he was racing the Z he spun out and crashes against a truck. After that he goes to the hospital and learns he has cancer and that’s why he was also previously cough blood.

Legendary Wangan Midnight cars: Blackbird Porsche 911 and Devil Z from real-life club to manga and movie. • Atelier Eau Rouge (8)
Legendary Wangan Midnight cars: Blackbird Porsche 911 and Devil Z from real-life club to manga and movie. • Atelier Eau Rouge (9)

Reina Akikawa drives a Nissan R32 which is painted white, grey and black on different occasions. The R32 is tuned by Kazuhiko Yamamoto and fitted with a rollcage. At one point she crashed her car into a guardrail. Reina is a model and TV personality who works alongside Koichi Kijima who is a rival of Akio. She loves to drive her car on the Wangan as a way to escape her problems. She is unhappy about having achieved fame but not having good relationships. Reina occasionally takes part in races and even steals the Devil Z one time to drive it, she also developed feelings for Akio.

Legendary Wangan Midnight cars: Blackbird Porsche 911 and Devil Z from real-life club to manga and movie. • Atelier Eau Rouge (10)
Legendary Wangan Midnight cars: Blackbird Porsche 911 and Devil Z from real-life club to manga and movie. • Atelier Eau Rouge (11)

Wangan Midnight Movies

Before the manga got turned into Anime, it was actually made into multiple movies. The first time in 1991 and later In 2009 it again made its way to the screen. The films are awesome to watch because of the cars. The screenplay and editing can be “slow” at times but it is expected as they are not Hollywood action movies.

Legendary Wangan Midnight cars: Blackbird Porsche 911 and Devil Z from real-life club to manga and movie. • Atelier Eau Rouge (12)
Legendary Wangan Midnight cars: Blackbird Porsche 911 and Devil Z from real-life club to manga and movie. • Atelier Eau Rouge (13)
Legendary Wangan Midnight cars: Blackbird Porsche 911 and Devil Z from real-life club to manga and movie. • Atelier Eau Rouge (14)

computer games

The game series Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune is based on the manga series and features 11 games so far, it is developed by Namco. The goal of the game is to beat the rival racers on the Bayshore route.

Legendary Wangan Midnight cars: Blackbird Porsche 911 and Devil Z from real-life club to manga and movie. • Atelier Eau Rouge (15)
Legendary Wangan Midnight cars: Blackbird Porsche 911 and Devil Z from real-life club to manga and movie. • Atelier Eau Rouge (16)

Midnight Club is another video game series focusing on open-world racing against rivals directly inspired by the Racing Team. The stories of the game take place in various cities around the world like Tokyo, Paris, Los Angeles, etc.

Legendary Wangan Midnight cars: Blackbird Porsche 911 and Devil Z from real-life club to manga and movie. • Atelier Eau Rouge (17)
Legendary Wangan Midnight cars: Blackbird Porsche 911 and Devil Z from real-life club to manga and movie. • Atelier Eau Rouge (2024)

FAQs

Was Wangan Midnight real? ›

The Midnight Club series was inspired by the real life Japanese street racing group (hashiriya), known as the Mid Night Club, that hosted illegal street races on the Bayshore Route (known natively as the Wangan) of the Shuto Expressway in the Greater Tokyo Area.

Does Wangan Midnight have a Season 2? ›

A second series, titled Wangan Midnight: C1 Runner, was serialized in Weekly Young Magazine from August 4, 2008, to July 9, 2012.

What car is the Blackbird in Wangan? ›

About. In the manga/anime, it is based on an early 1986 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.3 (930). In the games, it is based on multiple cars: In the PS2 version of Wangan Midnight, it was based on Ruf RCT, a Ruf sports car with less power than CTR despite having bigger engine (3.6 liters instead of 3.3 liters)

Who is the owner of Blackbird car? ›

Who owned the Blackbird? Tatsuya Shima owned the Blackbird, he is an experienced surgeon but likes to race his 911 at night. He also modifies its specs extensively and spends most of his money on the car. He is known as the “King of Wangan”, which you could also say about Yoshida from Mid Night Club.

Does the Mid Night Club still exist? ›

The Midnight Club officially disbanded in 1999, following a horror crash that hospitalised six innocent motorists.

How old is Tatsuya Shima? ›

Shima's Intro in Chapter 20 up to Chapter 40 of Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune story mode.
...
Thor Love and Thunder - The Loop.
Tatsuya Shima
AgeMid 20's
OccupationDoctor/Surgeon
DrivesPorsche 911/964 Turbo
Voiced byShinichiro Miki
7 more rows

Why is it called the Devil Z? ›

If you're a fan of manga/anime and the Japanese car culture, you should recognize a series called Wangan Midnight. The story follows a young man, his friends, and his cursed Datsun 240Z as he creates his legend on the Wangan. His car earned the nickname, “the Devil Z,” because it killed its previous owner in a crash.

Who drives the Devil Z? ›

Known drivers: Akio Asakura (deceased); Akio Asakura (alive). Engine: L28, bored and stroked to 3.1 liters (600hp), twin-turbos, carburetors.

What model was the devil Z? ›

The Devil Z took inspiration from a specific Ferrari Testa Rossa Corsa red Nissan Z-car (from the following generation, the S130, as opposed to Wangan Midnight's S30) of Mid Night Racing Team fame.

What is the fastest car in Wangan Midnight 6? ›

Aventador LP700-4. The Lamborghini Aventador: the super sports car from the future. Its naturally aspirated 6.5 liter V12 mid-engine design delivers 700 horsepower with four-wheel drive.

What is the fastest car in Wangan Midnight anime? ›

Keiichiro's Toyota Supra RZ "Monster Machine" (JZA80)

It's highly tunable 2JZ-GTE engine sees about 600-hp at its introduction, but following multiple tuning sessions from Reina's tuner Yamamoto, as well as Akio, the Supra tops out at an insane 800-hp.

What rims does Blackbird have? ›

Blackbird Send Rim Specs
  • 6061 Aluminum.
  • Intended use: Mountain Biking.
  • Internal Rim Width: 35mm (both Send 1 and Send 2)
  • 5” Rim Weights: Send 1: 543g. Send 2: 590g.
  • 29” Rim weights: Send 1: 565g. Send 2: 625g.
  • 7‑year warranty.
  • Single Rim MSRP: $99.
  • Availability: Eventually (because, you know, supply chain)

How does Blackbird go faster than wind? ›

Blackbird is an experimental wind-powered vehicle, built in 2010 to demonstrate that it is possible for such a vehicle to go directly downwind faster than the wind. Blackbird employs a rotor connected to the wheels and does not have a motor, battery or flywheel.

Is Blackbird perpetual? ›

The Blackbird is not claiming to be a perpetual motion machine, it is using energy from the wind; if the wind stops so does Blackbird. They just seem to have figured out a way to turn the wind's energy into forward motion in a way that is more efficient than a parachute, tumbleweed or conventional sail or wing.”

How does Blackbird land yacht work? ›

The principle behind the upwind-configured Blackbird is similar to that of sailing. Blackbird's version of two large sails are its turbine blades, spinning around a common axis, moving forward as the cart sails into the wind and cross-wind as the blades turn around the axis.

Why did Mid Night Club end? ›

The club was reportedly disbanded in 1999 when a group of Bōsōzoku were waiting for the club to "play" with them as they were racing down the expressway, culminating in an accident in which six bikers ended up in the hospital and one was killed.

Why did Mid Night Club stop? ›

Rockstar San Diego (previously Angel Studios), the developer behind the Midnight Club games, were reportedly subject to a toxic work environment and long stretches of crunch, as wives of developers came together for a then-viral blog post.

What is the fastest car in Midnight Club: Los Angeles? ›

The Saleen S7 can reach speeds of over 210 mph. When it has been upgraded with maximum performance parts the Saleen S7 Twin Turbo can reach speeds of 259 mph (this is a speed cap with all cars) with nitrous or 245 mph without, making it the fastest vehicle in Midnight Club Los Angeles.

Is Wangan Midnight related to initial D? ›

The last pre-launch live stream for Initial D The Arcade revealed a surprising collaboration with Wangan Midnight. While the two Japanese racing manga series have have competing arcade games, this marks the first time ever a collaboration will be held between the two franchises.

Why is it called the Devil Z? ›

If you're a fan of manga/anime and the Japanese car culture, you should recognize a series called Wangan Midnight. The story follows a young man, his friends, and his cursed Datsun 240Z as he creates his legend on the Wangan. His car earned the nickname, “the Devil Z,” because it killed its previous owner in a crash.

What model was the devil Z? ›

The Devil Z took inspiration from a specific Ferrari Testa Rossa Corsa red Nissan Z-car (from the following generation, the S130, as opposed to Wangan Midnight's S30) of Mid Night Racing Team fame.

What Z was in Wangan Midnight? ›

Fairlady Z S30Z (Branded as Datsun in USSR and in the United States) is a car produced by Nissan Motor Corporation which was first introduced in Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune.

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