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.
Denne historien er fra April 2023-utgaven av Top Gear.
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Denne historien er fra April 2023-utgaven av Top Gear.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
INEOS GRENADIER
\"It looks like it could batter its way through anything\"
The 1,000bhp P1 drift car is finished (on the outside] and doesn't it look sensational?
WHAT IS IT? A McLaren racecar carbon tub clothed in P1 GTR panels with the full drift car treatment. Consider us well and truly intrigued
HEAD TO HEAD SUPER SALOONS
This should just be your usual, regular, ultra fast, four door battle. But after what AMG has done to one of our very favourite speed machines, it's anything but. It's AMG C63 vs Alfa QF...
REAR OF THE YEAR
What happens when you cross Zagato with Alpine? An A110 that can change its clothes...
SAVE THE WHALES
Since a Californian startup began reimagining 15 years ago, the popularity of restomod Porsches has exploded. Does Singer still do it best? We'll let its latest-turbocharged - creation answer that one...
...sell on Monday
Driving to Pikes Peak in Ford's Mustang Mach-E Rally on the path least trodden, arriving in time to see its F-150 SuperTruck take on the hillclimb. What could go wrong?
GO WITH THE FLOW
The most aerodynamic car Audi has ever made... is a great big executive barge. And when the smoke clears, you'll see it's been a long time coming...
SCRAMBLED SEGG
The Koenigsegg Chimera is a one-off mashup of Agera RS, Jesko and, CC850 - potent, but what exactly is the point?
SIMPLIFLY AND ADD LIGHTNESS
At the peak of Lotus's powers, boss Colin Chapman bought himself the coolest aircraft in motorsport history... 45 years later, TopGear's on a mission to find it again
CANNON BULL
Adrian Newey's RB17 hybrid V10 hypercar is at long last (almost) ready Track car, perfection or pointless?