Art Racing: Japan’s Wildest Classic Car Replicas

Could Japan be home to a place where your most outlandish motoring fantasies become real? Not that sort of place. This is the kind where the car on your drive can look as glorious as a 250 Testa Rossa while offering Honda Accord reliability. “Impossible,” you say: the ultimate automotive contradiction, the holy grail, utter nonsense. My answer is simple: have you heard of Art Racing?

Picture yourself driving a Le Mans icon, the GT40, but without brakes that fade into uselessness, because beneath that costly-looking body sits a Toyota MR2. Fancy pulling on a Harrington jacket and cable-knit jumper before taking Steve McQueen’s Jaguar XKSS for a run? There is no need to sell your children on the black market, as those voluptuous panels actually conceal an MX-5.

Perhaps you would prefer something a touch more understated. Art Racing’s MkI Austin Healey Sprite could be the answer, combining its classic look with the lively power and handling of a turbocharged Suzuki Cappuccino. Seeing the theme yet? Art Racing takes dependable Japanese favourites and gives them the evocative body shapes, chrome trim and rivets of rare classics from another era.

Words & photography: Toby Thyer

Art Racing and Tomokazu Murate

So yes, you can have your sushi and eat it too; you simply need somebody exceptionally skilled and just a little unhinged to make it work. That person is Tomokazu Murate. Murate-san began constructing drag cars 40 years ago, establishing his reputation at venues including Motegi and Central Circuit during the 1980s and 1990s. His Nissan Sunny van, perched on a workshop shelf, and his yellow Hakosuka were fan favourites in their day, completing quarter miles in 8.4 and 9.2 seconds respectively.

Around 20 years ago, he moved into custom builds and replicas. Today, his workshop glows like a fairground. As we tour the collection, he flits from one car to another, his face brightening as he recounts the outrageous commissions from famous customers and the remarkable machines they produced.

The replicas I have come to inspect retain standard OEM mechanicals beneath their fresh bodywork, though their chassis have been pulled and lengthened to meet the necessary proportions. I am told every car is road legal; that, as well as a lack of time, explains why there are no wild engine conversions or power upgrades.

On the road, these cars possess genuine presence, even if something feels slightly wrong. The GT40 wears twin centre-exit exhausts yet sounds a little anaemic, made more noticeable by the fact that its note is nothing like the sound expected from such an exotic-looking machine. Still, imagine one fitted with a properly built engine.

Art Racing is not solely about rebodied domestic cars and drag-racing nostalgia. Murate-san will also design and construct any concept handed to him on a café napkin, including ideas that could only have emerged from an especially vivid cheese dream.

Recent projects include an apocalyptic safari Pantera for a well-known anime artist; the blacked-out Pantera parked alongside it displays an extraordinarily wide rear end that clearly reflects his drag-racing past. There is also the 502 big-block Chevy-powered Boss Hoss trike, aptly called “King Snake”, whose bespoke aluminium tail mimics the lavish curves of a Shelby Cobra.

The Formula Vita-based 908, powered by a 4AGE engine, began life as a scale model that was enlarged into a full-size body. Murate-san shapes all of his work in aluminium before taking a fibreglass mould for the finished production car.

Classic looks, Japanese donor cars

For those after more personality, and more chances to savour the genuine highs and lows of imperfect classic-car ownership, the Corvette C5-based Shelby Cobra coupé or the Z4-based Ratel-an original design-may keep you company at the roadside while the recovery truck is on its way.

A browse through the Art Racing website suggests that parking an XKSS or GT40 on your drive for a fraction of the genuine article’s price is a compelling proposition, although naturally you receive only a fraction of the performance. Yet once you raise the GT40’s gullwing door and lower yourself into its unexpectedly stripped-back, race-car-like cabin, the humble MR2 is soon forgotten. No one stops to photograph your Toyota or enquire about its livery. Murate-san delivers the illusion of Broadway for Netflix money.

Murate san is kind of the Batman of the car industry, quietly building cars for many of Japan’s most well known names

The displayed cars are hugely enjoyable, but they represent only the visible edge of the operation. This is the entertaining side of Art Racing; there is also a more serious dimension to the work it produces.

Murate-san is, after all, something like the Batman of the automotive world, discreetly creating cars for many of Japan’s best-known names. These include Liberty Walk, most notably its wide-bodied Hurricane kit and Miura replica, which appeared at the 2020 Tokyo Auto Salon. Do you remember the Yamasa Raggio from Ridge Racer? Art Racing was commissioned by Samco to turn it into reality for display at the 2006 Tokyo Auto Salon.

Countless other marques and companies have called on Murate-san’s talents for prototype cars, show vehicles and even wheels, although confidentiality agreements mean they cannot be named. He appears both proud of that involvement and slightly frustrated that he cannot share the credit.

Despite his outgoing nature, he is content to watch Art Racing become what it is today: a workshop full of illusion and magic. He is declining corporate commissions to concentrate on customer projects, which is excellent news, as a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor ambulance in his yard is waiting for the Ghostbusters treatment.

Art Racing: greatest hits

What: Jaguar XKSS
Donor car: Mazda MX-5

Let’s be honest: you are not actually Steve McQueen, so does it truly matter that this is not genuinely a Jag?

What: Porsche 908
Donor car: Formula Vita chassis - 4AG engine

Enlarged from a model car, this 1969 works machine now needs only a 1:3 scale Nürburgring on which to play.

What: Porsche 356 Spider
Donor car: Daihatsu Copen

If the thought of cutting up a classic Porsche gives you nightmares, relax: none of Stuttgart’s finest were injured in creating this Outlaw-inspired Daihatsu.

What: Pantera Apocalyptic Dragster
Donor car: De Tomaso Pantera

It may not technically be a drag machine, but its rear tyres are wider than your house.

What: Ford GT40
Donor car: Toyota MR2

Ever wondered how a Toyota-built GT40 might appear? This could be the nearest we ever come.