Mario karting in Japan

"I can't believe this is legal," are words usually uttered by Kid Rock or F1 drivers doing doughnuts on the road… but not this time.

They are the words of Bradley, a 32-year-old professional just after speeding through the streets of Tokyo in a two-stroke go-kart.

At night.

Dressed as a dinosaur.

Japan has a reputation for the wacky, and this is almost on level pegging with the Tokyo Shock Boys tricks with liquid nitrogen.

You're unlikely to see something like this getting the green light in Australia – although rumour has it a non-binding plebiscite for new road rules is on the cards – but as Bradley explains, it's as entertaining as the predictive text on a ribald Google search string.

"It's probably one of the best ways to see Tokyo because you stop at all the landmarks," revealed Bradley, a car enthusiast and former Subaru WRX owner, who observed that Japanese drivers are not as aggressive as Aussie drivers.

"When we went through a merge the car drivers would mix with our string of cars. No aggression, just polite Japanese drivers. We were just as fast so they couldn’t really speed in front of us either," he explained.

If you haven't heard of the MariCAR go-kart tour company, it's a small tour company which allows keen drivers to belt around on public roads dressed as superheroes.

It will come as no surprise legal challenges from Nintendo (owner of Mario Kart) regarding copyright are ongoing.

So what's involved?

"There's no helmets, no safety briefings, just you versus Tokyo traffic," states Bradley matter-of-factly. He reckons the only red tape requirement was an International Drivers Licence.

It's been said before and it'll be said again: Only in Japan…

"It was bitterly cold at night, we paid our $90 for the three-hour tour, which includes a suit – you get to pick the suit and your character – and if you want a moustache or some props that costs extra. There's a Bluetooth speaker you can add to your kart if you want, for driving music," he explained.

We're thinking Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins would be boss. Or maybe Highway Star by Deep Purple. How about Drive by Incubus? Then there's Shut Up and Drive by Rihanna. Yelling out "waaah-hooo" sporadically is also encouraged, and you can borrow face masks, sunglasses and even LED shoes and a GoPro camera from the tour HQ.

With enough juice to go for three hours without refuelling, the go-karts are fitted with LED headlights, mirrors, brake lights and indicators, the latter operated via controls on the steering wheel.

Road legal go-karts. It's like cheese and vegemite mushed together; impossible to dislike.

"Max speed limit is supposedly 60km/h, but we did about 75km/h,” Bradley let-on.

"We started in safe suburban streets and before long we're on the actual freeway, being passed by B-double trucks and traffic, before we jumped off and headed into central Tokyo. On the freeway we were passed by two immaculate Honda NSXs."

Make some noise, Tokyo
The two-stroke go-karts are powered by a 49cc single-cylinder air-cooled engine which develops just over 4hp, or around 3kW. Weighing just 95kg, the power-to-weight ratio of the single-seater karts ain't too bad.

Peak power hits at 6800rpm, 4.4Nm of torque is available from 6000rpm, and you gotta keep it in the power band to really hustle. They make a bit of noise and come with a speedometer to ensure limits are adhered to. Well that’s the theory.

The carburetted karts have a reverse gear - as required to legally drive on the road - and use drum brakes to decelerate. Bradley noted the steering was "go-kart responsive" and the brakes were good.

If you're in Tokyo, should you do it?

There's a lovely quote which goes along the lines of: "One is not old until regrets take the place of dreams." To put it another way: the MariCAR experience is highly cherished by most who have done it.

With an impressive 5-star rating on TripAdvisor, from almost 900 reviews, there's very little bad publicity around the go-kart tour, despite the company still facing a lawsuit from Nintendo.

Although Bradley explained there were a few brown-undies moments (and it was so cold he expected to turn into an ice block any moment) overall it was an incredible experience.

"Driving a go-kart on the freeway was the coldest that we ever were. We just came out of city streets, we were initially overwhelmed with excitement but then it got real pretty quick.

"There was mild concern that we weren't in the sight line of most traffic. These things are pretty low to the ground!" he revealed.

Would Bradley do it again? "Definitely. The three hours sounds long but it went quickly. It was one of the most memorable things I've done."

Images: Supplied and Mari Kart