The Mid Night Club was an underground racing fantasy come to life

The ‘Middo Naito Kurabu’ (Mid Night Club) was an underground and exclusive Japanese street racing gang formed in 1987.

They were highly respected around the world and known for their very strict policy on safety considering they were racing at speeds of 300km/h+ on public roads.

To even be considered for membership your car had to be capable of going over and maintaining speeds of 250 km/h.

Meet-ups took place at public car parks, advertised by clandestine means.

The races would take place on the Shuto Expressway on the outskirts of Tokyo and could run for up to 15 minutes with the average speed being above 300 km/h. As these speeds were supercar standard or above, it attracted the tuning culture that Japanese cars are now renowned for.

Once you have proved that not only your car but yourself as a driver can handle and maintain these extreme racing conditions in a safe manner you will be accepted into the club for one year as apprentice. Once an apprentice, the members then had to attend every single meeting / race for one year until they were eligible to become an official member.

Just a casual 305km/h...

There was an average of 30 active members at any given time and peaked at around 70-75 members. Members would get official bumper stickers and windshield banners to be identified.

This club was prestigious and very serious about who was in it. People replicating Mid Night stickers and putting them on their cars would have their cars vandalised and in some cases burnt down.

To this day, it's probably safer not to stick a 'Mid Night Club' sticker on your car.

The rules in the club were extremely strict. Some of the rules included never talking about the club, never talking about the cars or how you funded the car.

Some say millions were spent on some cars.

Rumours say some members spent millions of dollars. Yes, millions of dollars on their cars. The famous Porsche 930 ‘Black Bird’ is touted to be one example.

Surprisingly, honour and safety were key to the gang's operation.

The most important rule of all was about never endangering innocent drivers or civilians. In 1999 an accident killed 2 people and hospitalized 6 others. The accident wasn’t directly caused by the Mid Night members, a rival Bōsōzoku gang who was waiting for them on the expressway diverted the street racers into heavy traffic, which caused a multicar collision. The club was disbanded immediately after the incident. Unlike western gangs, honour remains core to the Japanese and despite the illegality of the racing, rules were rules.

All members were sworn to secrecy and will never talk about Mid Night Club. People who have been suspected to be involved with the club have refused to acknowledge it.

The legacy today? Well, you can always watch Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift which incorporates themes of the club, or play the Midnight Club series of PlayStation games. Sadly that's probably the closest you'll get.

Do you ever wish you could street-race at night, or is the whole thing just madness - a disaster waiting to happen? Tell us what you think in the comments.