Top 10 Racetrack Refugees

10. Porsche 911 GT1 Straßenversion

Ever wondered why the hardcore GT3 and GT2 brothers in the 911 family miss out on the prime number? That's because it belongs to the most extreme 911 ever to wear numberplates. This 592bhp, 205mph monster was part of a ding-ding battle in the late Nineties between McLaren, Porsche and Mercedes for endurance supremacy, and gave Porsche its 16th Le Mans win in 1998. Porsche built 25 street-legal versions, but with only 537bhp and a 191mph top speed, they clearly suck compared to the racer. And can you believe a modern GT2RS is faster?

9. Mercedes CLK GTR

The very car that the GT1 fought was this crazy-styled Merc with the headlights from a grandad-spec coupe. It was replaced by the CLR...bad move, Merc...

The best thing about the road cars was that Mercedes built 6 convertibles. That's right - an open-top Le Mans car. Who says the Germans don't do humour? If you want one at auction, budget a cool £616,000 for a roadster, and a fiver for sun-tan lotion.

8. Maserati MC12

A bigger, uglier Ferrari Enzo, with less power and even worse visibility. What gives? Two things. Firstly, it's in a Fiddy Cent vid, which means all sorts of good taste and coolness.

Second, the MC12 road car keeps the racer's trick suspension, but its longer, more slippery body means it's actually more aerodynamic than its Enzo sister. Bet that had Ferrari pissed. And it's a targa top, so you can hear that 630bhp V12 howling away in the absence of a radio to play your 50 Cent collection on. I'd be like a kid in a Candy Shop with the keys to my own MC12.

7. Porsche 962

The 962 in Rothmans livery is one of the coolest racing cars ever. Remember, smoking isn't cool kids, but sexy paint jobs on racecars are. Anyhoo, Porsche would, for a small fee, sell you turnkey 962s for the road. That's right, no cocking about with fuel pumps and cut-off switches. Just twist the ignition and pretend you're on maximum quali attack wherever you like. Don't believe me? Here's the video proof that there are nutters out there willing to do just that.

6. BMW M3

It's the car that kicked off the M-division after the M1 supercar flopped. It's also one one the hardest car acts to follow there's ever been. Why did it even show up in the first place? Simple. BMW wanted to take its slab-sided old Three racing, but the rules stated you couldn't make anything so outrageous it'd be unusable in real life. To control that, car makers had to make road-going versions, called homologation. So, Beemer wanted a rear wing and boxy wheelarches, and that meant punting a few 'Motorsport 3s' to rich blokes who fancied pissing off supercar owners. Hooray for the rules!

5. Lancia S4 Stradale

World Rally might be a pretty tragic, forgotten affair these days, but just a few decades ago it was the highest octane sport on Earth. Group B monsters like the Audi Sport Quattro and Ford RS200 gave power a modern Ferrari 458 would struggle to match, but had Eighties-spec downforce and tyre tech. Shit the bed! The most extreme Group B car was the Lancia Delta S4. Forget the hatchback profile, this was an all-wheel drive missile with turbo and superchargers on board, dishing out 560bhp. Although WRC in those days was way more exciting, it was also way more tragic than today, for much different reasons. A crash that killed two Lancia team members in 1986 was the final straw in ending Group B, though not before 200 mid-engined street cars were sold, with a more manageable 250bhp. Two-fifty? That makes Alex's beloved M135i look suicidally pokey!

4. Mercedes CLK DTM AMG

With the recent AMG and Black Series hot Mercs we're spoiled with - each fitted with ever more silly flared wheelarches - it's easy to overlook the DTM-inspired car that set the template back in 2005. Okay, so it looks a bit West Coast Customs, but we raise you 582bhp V8, 200mph potential, and the fact that 80 convertibles were built after the 100 coupes. Add in the juicy detail that they're an F1 driver favourite (J-P Montoya had one, as did Mika Hakkinen, while Jenson Button and Kimi still do) and you know this is a motor with serious racing pedigree. If you've got a fetish for as many letters after you car's name as possible, take a cold shower after you see one.

3. Audi Sport Quattro

Alex thinks it's the best-looking car ever. And he can tell you why it's so wonderful better than I ever could (because I reckon the most beautiful car of all time is actually the Ferrari 288 GTO). So hit the link, read up Alex's reasoning, and lay down a controversial comment if you disagree. We dare you.

2. Bowler Nemesis

Fancy a bash at the Paris-Dakar, or a spot of hardcore green-laning in the UK? No? Perhaps you'd like to take on the Aussie outback in your V8 Range Rover-based weapon then? It's tempting, but the best idea is to stick a few of your lottery winnings on Nemesis with a tax disc, and set about terrifying real Range Rover Sport owners as they wait outside the school gates, and bounce off normal people's cars outside Waitrose. If all else fails, buy it for the name. "I'm on my way in the Nemesis". Tell me you don't like the sound of that with a straight face.

1. McLaren F1 LM

Cheeky, audacious, downright bloody rude. We all know McLaren as an F1 team, but when they built the world-beating F1 in 1994 it was designed to be the ultimate road car, and definitely not a racer. So how ridiculous is it that they managed to take on Ferrari, Mercedes and a whole field of dedicated endurance race teams and score 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans? How dare they? And the best part is that to homologate the F1 GTR's high-downforce body kit, Macca built 5 stripped-out road cars, all in bright orange that even a Focus ST would blush at. A road-going version of a Le Mans winning racer version of the world's ultimate driver's car? Yeah, we'll have some of that, thanks.