This could be the plot for a movie, "Fast and Furious Canada," or maybe "Fast and Furious, the Young and the Rich."
Police in British Columbia say they impounded $2 million worth of high-end vehicles this week after witnesses reported the 13 cars racing on a metro Vancouver highway at speeds of 125 mph (200 kph).
The high-end race cars included a Ferrari, Lamborghinis, Maseratis, an Audi, an Aston Martin, Nissans and a Mercedes, according to a Royal Canadian Mounted Police press release.
Two of the racers would run side-by-side to block other traffic going in their direction on the highway while the others cars would take off in a race, witnesses told the RCMP.
"These drivers seemed to be looking for attention. Well, they definitely got the attention of police," Cpl. Holly Marks, spokesperson for the Lower Mainland District Regional Police Service, said in the press release.
What the racers, who police said are all under age 21, won't get is harsh punishment.
"Each driver will be charged with Driving without Reasonable Consideration and receive a violation ticket with a specified penalty of $196. Additionally, these drivers will be responsible for all associated towing and storage charges," according to the RCMP press release.
That's because police didn't actually catch them in the act and acted only on witness accounts. They weren't caught on radar, video or seen by a police officer, Superintendent Norm Gaumont, RCMP officer in charge of traffic enforcement for the Lower Mainland, told the Surrey Now newspaper.
"I know there's a lot of disappointment, wondering why we only charged them with an offence of $196. They fact of the matter is, we have to look at all the evidence we have and what we're able to prove," Surrey Now quoted Gaumont as saying. "That's why we've charged them with driving without due consideration for the public."
If police were able to charge the 13 drivers with more severe offenses, they could have faced forfeiture of their vehicles, according to a Vancouver Sun report.
The RCMP said most of the drivers were operating their vehicles on "N" class licenses, which means they had not yet attained full driving privileges. Only one of the drivers was the registered owner of the car they were driving, Gaumont told Surrey Now.
The drivers included 12 men and one woman, according to Surrey Now. Gaumont told the paper they were on their way to have a meal when they decided to race.
According to the Sun, the vehicles were:
Street racing in Vancouver is very common – the registered owner of the $140K Lamborgini is 18 years old. This is not surprising if you live in Vancouver where the average 2 bedroom bungalow costs approximately $800K. Many kids here have very priviledged lives – the parking lots at UBC are always full of beautiful cars.
These kids are here to go to schools, and usually Mom and Dad are back in Asia. They are VERY wealthy, and are just sent lots and lots of money to do what they please with. Even if these cars were taken from them, chances are they would just buy another. This is very common here, and you would be amazed how much money these kids have!
FYI...Vancouver isn't arctic!! They have the same weather as Seattle...
That sounds awesome to me!
I actually taught one of the idiots involved in this stunt. He, along with the other drivers, is asian and I can guarantee you is living in Vancouver or Richmond while mom and dad are busy making millions back home. There are steady streams of wealthy kids coming from, for the most part, China to learn English and take advantage of our superior educational system. I really have no problem with this; however when you are given seemingly unlimited funds, zero parental supervision and you truly believe you are better than people because of your family's money, there will continue to be moronic stunts like this. The only way mom and dad ever find out they're being useless is when they hurt themselves, hurt someone else or run out of cash and even then it's never their fault.
Exactly! The parking lots at UBC are full of gorgeous import cars. Even many non immigrant children living in Vancouver primarily the west side or west Vancouver, live very priviledged lives. This is not news in Vancouver (kids with lots of money).
Well, because of the age range, the kids must be obtaining help with financing from the parents..The parents should be required to attend courses along with the kids..and held somewhat accountable..And with out being racist,The Asian families that come to united states or Canada, are pretty wealthy in CHINA before they can afford to leave China...otherwise, they would not be able to leave. I known someone for a long time that had moved here from China, he said that only the wealthy in China could move out to another country.. the government would not allow it otherwise..he wanted out of China because of the communism.
All crap cars. Now, give me one of those sporty Russian or Chinese cars. That would be a real race.
You're going to call those "crap" cars while you grip the keys to a busted '97 Camry or riced out civic.
Gotta love internet bon vivant know it alls.
Mike!! Don't you know or understand sarcasm? What a non bon vivant you are.
Got just the ticket for you! How about a 1984 Lada 1300? Got wipers on the headlights so it's legal in Sweden too!
It was in response to whataJokester who said sports cars couldnt perform in freezing weather, LOL
British Columbia is hardly freezing in August or July. What planet do you live on?
i think that my dad's ferrari can beat all those other cars. he has a magnum pi testerosa. lmao.
You're a choad. Stop bragging about what your daddy has.
So your Dad drives a Ferari. What have YOU done? That's what counts.
Magnum PI had a 308 GTSi, not a Testarosa.
I love those old 308-328's. the sad thing is, the current incarnations of most domestic family sedans have a faster 0-60 than the Magnum P.I.- era exotics.
Oh yeah? Well, my dad can beat up your dad!
Magnum had 3 – '79 308, '81 308 GTSi, and an '84 308 GTS QV... While his car WAS rosso, it was not a Testarossa... They started making those in 1984 and they were 512s (512 TR and F512 M to be precise...
Whomever said their dads Magnum PI ferrari would beat all of these cars is an idiot. Your daddy's Ferrari would not hold up against any of these cars.
dude if thats all they got, im getting in on this next one, 2012 audi with 3500 under the hood and around 1250 in maitnense... peace
Audi's suck....
It's "Eh" not "Aaay"
You hoser.
I wish they would race more often they blocked off the highway seems fairly safe
if i get enough money for a porche.....
French porch... OOOhhhh, you mean Porsche!
out of all the cars; not a single American CAR! lol
What I really wanted to know is which car was winning!
So....who won?
It was Han!