Beast from the East

Japanese car manufacturers have a long tradition of producing outstanding sports and performance cars. Sometimes they are extreme versions of core models, such as the Honda Civic Type-R and Nissan Sunny GTI-R, and sometimes out-and-out purpose-designed sporting classics, such as the Datsun 240Z/260Z and Mazda MX-5. There has been steadily growing interest in the Japanese car scene in recent years, with grey imports of performance models having become particularly popular, and a whole industry has grown up to support the interest in modifying Japanese cars.