RACING REFUGEES

Racecars don't really work outside the racetrack, so why are the Japanese so obsessed with making 'em road cars?

- MARK RICCIONI

Back in 2009, Kelly Ann Walz of Pennsylvania met her untimely demise while cleaning her beloved pet, a 160kg black bear named Teddy. For Indonesian Deasy Tuwo, keeping a freshwater crocodile against its will yielded a similar result. As did hoarding 75 species of exotic snake, something New Yorker Aleta Stacy realised while handling her pet black mamba. Whose bite kills within 20 minutes.

The loss of human life is always tragic. But these examples are slightly marred by the five words you'll be thinking right now - what exactly were they expecting? Unsurprisingly, apex predators don't take kindly to being coerced into becoming pets. And we humans are a substantial meal. Most individuals are happy to settle with a Labrador, the doggo equivalent of a VW Golf. It's a safe bet after all - you shouldn't end up dead while doing basic tasks like cleaning, and if you do end up on the six o'clock news it'll be for something genuinely quite surprising.

What about the other side of the fence? Like the world of exotic pets, there's a growing number of enthusiasts who refuse to settle for the safe choice. People who look at TopGear's consumer advice and do the exact opposite. Buy a track-inspired road car? Absolutely not, only a racer with a numberplate will cut the mustard here. A mountain lion with a retractable lead round its neck. What could possibly go wrong?

Road-legal racers aren't a new idea. Many are based on actual road cars after all, and in cases like the WRC they're required to be 'legal' to compete. But there's one country taking this approach that little bit further. A country brimming with car culture that borders on the obsessive. Get your Gulf-liveried kimono ready, we're off to Japan.