Weds Racing Forg, Japan’s first forged 3-piece wheel reissued

In 1977 the Weds Racing Forg made history as Japan’s first 3-piece forged wheel. It immediately became popular among touring car race teams. To commemorate Weds’ 60th anniversary in 2024, the wheel company is remaking the Racing Forg in three variations.

The original Racing Forg (pronounced “forge”) was a mainstay of competitions like the Fuji Freshman Race. Each of the three pieces were die-forged, or pressed between two molds, before being welded together. The new version was created by 3D scanning the originals, but were slightly modified to meet today’s durability standards.

On the new Racing Forg wheels, only the disc is forged. The rim is cast and stretched by spinning, also known as rolling. Weds says that this improves strength, which is necessary to keep up with the immense grip of modern racing slicks.

There are three designs. The Racing Forg FG consists of a gold disc punctuated by eight holes. The Racing Forg NG and NR feature a 4-spoke design in either gold (NG) or red (NR). The FG has been updated with weight-saving cut-outs around the circumference that are not visible when the wheels are assembled.

The NG and NR have cleaner cuts, which takes away some of the chunky charm of the original (above, left). In the originals, you can see a slight lip around the entire brim of the hub and spokes. The spokes have more curvature and depth, and the edges of the indentations are not quite as crisp. Overall, the discs have a bit more texture due to older forging techniques.

The new ones also have sharper bolt bases for the holes attaching the disc to the rim. They’re beveled rather than square, made possible by improved cutting technology. Additionally, the lug holes now have steel bushings in order to reduce galling, or when bits of material transfer from one metal surface to another from being in close contact under stress (in this case the wheel and lug bolts). Each wheel says “Race Use Only” on the face, something that wasn’t there on the originals.

At the Tokyo Auto Salon, Weds showed a prototype of the reissue. The display car was a replica of the Torii B110 Nissan Sunny that competed in 1970s Touring Car races wearing Racing Forg’s classic red and blue stripe livery. It was no coincidence that the owner of this car is the son of the original Torii Sunny’s driver.

Currently the Racing Forg wheels are only available in 13-inch sizes, with either 8.0J or 9.0J widths in minus offset and and 4×114.3 PCD. Prices are ¥93,500 ($620 USD) for the 8.0J and ¥96,800 ($645 USD) for the 9.0J. In other words, they’re perfect for TS Cup-spec Sunnys. However, Weds says that 14- and 15-inch sizes are coming soon.

They might not be exact replicas, but you wouldn’t exactly want to be racing on a wheel made exactly like it was 47 years ago. The updates make them more useable in modern situations while retaining 95 percent of the classic look of a very important wheel in Japan’s racing history.