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:
Why can't my parents get me a Gallardo? I'm moving to Canada.
@ omg r u serious...c'mon now, everyone hates Canada and you know it.
Well with the economy like it is, the "Little Rich Kids" didn't have the desire to create any new jobs so they decided to have their own Daytona 500 while us poor folks sit and dream about having gas to burn..
Hey, genius hobbit, do you think ANY of these punks earned the money for these cars from jobs? If any of them were responsible enough (and smart enough) to make that kind of money at 21, they probably would not be racing them on public roads - they'd be paying track fees and doing it where it's supposed to be done. Your kind of poster is the worst: angry and ignorant.
So it's their fault that their parents are rich and can afford to buy them these cars??? Blame your parents for being poor instead.
id race the hell out of it if you have it y not race it as long its a safe race and they had two cars blcoking traffic theyre good in my book
Unfortunately Vancouver has a gang issue and most of these gangs are involved in the BC BUD trade. The area where they were driving is just south of Richmond and towards South Surrey. The population has a majority of Asian descent in this area. They were all Asian and that was reported here in the local media. Most of these individuals are well off because of Canada's Immigration Policy in the 1990's was to allow people from Hong Kong prior to the handove to China from the UK to buy their way into Canada. If you had over $100000.00 to invest in Canda for each member of your family then by all means WELCOME TO CANADA. 60 minutes had once done a report from here and called Vancouver Hongcover. So it is not racist to acknowledge that yes they were Asian and yes they are unsupervised by parents living in their home country and yes they are reckless and driving at speeds that could kill themselves and others. Mostly people who have these types of vehicles in the Vancouver area tend to have gotten their fortunes by ill begotten means. The RACE card in Canada is not the same like the RACE card in the USA. Our laws do not allow us to spew hatred of another race, but they do allow us to state the facts. We do not have 1st Amendment protection in Canada, to spew hatred. The point is they were just irresponsible and endangered many people other than themselves and the law protects them foolishly.
In Ontario, they are called "Satellite Kids" because they are left in Canada while moms & dads go back to Asia to take care of the family business. Lots of these kids get into trouble because they are unsupervised & some even die in horrible accidents while driving the family car which is usually a very high end model. It's very sad.
At least the law seems to apply to the rich in Canada. Too bad America doesn't feel the same way.
This is some kind of joke right? These people have Hundred Thousand Dollar cars and they are being fined about $200 each plus towing and storage. So each is getting off with at most with a $1000 headache? Need I repeat, HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLAR CARS? Police of British Columbia, you just gave them all the ability to race some other day with just a delay. This is more of an embarrassment than a headline.
I watched as the RCMP impounded those vehicles in White Rock B.C. They were all chinese with an average age of 20 years old. One of them didn,t have a Canadian drivers license. They were all laughing and joking and talking on their cell phones when they were stopped. one car had an MSRP of $ 345,000.00. There are many wealthy chinese coming in everyday to British Columbia to get their money out of China. They have been driving our real estate market through the roof as price is no object to them. They fly into Vancouver and charter busses and helicopters to buy our real estate by the droves. They could go to the U.S. , but they prfer our medical and health benefits and our other social programs over the American system. It,s not unusual to see 16 year old asian kids to get $ 300,000 cars here. Could be just a birthday present , or maybe they kept their rooms clean for a couple of weeks.
I think ya'll are missing the point. who cares what they were driving, and who needs to know how they can afford to drive those cars. that fact is they were driving dangerously on city streets, and should be charged accordingly. any fool in any crap car can still go fast enough to kill someone. these kids need to have their vehicles permanently siezed, and their right to drive revoked for at least 10 years.
99% of comments on this board can be summed up as : "waah waaah, they're rich and I'm not so they deserve punishment. they have maseratis and i eat tv dinners and shop for groceries at dollar general."
Pathetic. Kids that age shouldn't be driving cars like that. They have no idea what the real world is like.
That being said...The GT-R is the best car there...and the cheapest 😛
The inherit problem with the young having things that are considered the higher end of a successful career is the youth has no idea of the work involved in both obtaining it and taking care of it. This article easily shows that part of the equation. Brats is not the name of a small plastic toy.
punk
That is an amazing list of cars. I would loved to seen all them together! Why buy a lambo and not drive it fast. They were on a highway aleast.
What's called a highway in B.C. would be considered a goat trail most other places.
WHICH CAR WON?
The one that got away...the Z06.
Z06 that got away = Gold.
By the way I'm sure someone's pointed out that it's the Maserati Gran Turismo...not just the word Turismo.
Way to be hard Canada.
Not hard enough by a long shot.
The Nissan Skyline doesn't belong there. Any company can make a fast car, but it's really about the class of the BRAND and the style of the car. Same reason I wouldn't add Corvette to that list. Every car there except the GT-R's are beautiful pieces of art AND fast.
Yes, you're very cool with your elitism, we're all in awe.
a gt-r is not a skyline. know what you're talking about before you give your opinion.
The ZR! Corvette definitely belongs on that list. Believe it or not, it's a better performance vehicle. Proof is in this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans GTE Pro Class...
Really Freddie? How picky you gonna get? the GT-R is the successor to the skyline. No skyline means no GT-R.. Get a life pal...
You obviously get your "super car" expertise from playing Need For Speed or some such simulation. I'll run my 010 Z06 with any ride on that list anywhere anytime. Oh, and take a GT-R out once then come back and say it doesn't belong.
The 2012 GT-R outperforms the Bugatti Veyron at less than a 10th of the cost...
At just under $100k the GT-R is more well built than most of that list, and would destroy all of those cars on the toughest tracks (proven at Nurburgring).