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This green Lamborghini and a red Ferrari were racing at 160km/h when they crashed. Photo: SCMP Pictures
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New | Life (and death) in the fast lane in China: high-speed jaunts in high performance cars that ended badly

SCMP Reporter
SCMP Reporter
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Chinese police raided a car park in Beijing’s largest shopping mall last week as a group of luxury car owners held a party there.

Officers seized vehicles that had undergone illegal modifications and fined more than 20 car owners.

The raid was part of a larger crackdown across the country on illegal road racing, which threatens public safety.

We look at some high-profile cases of street racing in China in recent years.

Lamborghini, Ferrari wrecked in 160km/h Beijing road race crash

In April last year, illegal road racers wrecked a Lamborghini and Ferrari along the streets of Beijing.

The cars, which were travelling at more than 160km/h, collided and spun out of control in a tunnel in Chaoyang district near the National Stadium. The speed limit in the area was just 60km/h.

The drivers of the multimillion-yuan cars – Tang Wentian and Yu Muchun – escaped the crash unharmed, but a woman passenger in the Lamborghini suffered a fractured lumbar vertebra.

Tang and Yu, in their early 20s, were unemployed. Tang was a former national pool champion, according to media reports.
The pair were jailed between four and five months and fined a total of 18,000 yuan (HK$21,600) in May.

READ MORE: Fast and Furious: US$650,000 Lamborghini and Ferrari wrecked in 160km/h Beijing road race crash

The cars that were impounded in Shenzhen included Ferraris, Lamborghinis and McLarens. Photo: SCMP Pictures

13 Hong Kong drivers arrested in China’s ‘biggest street-racing case’

In February last year, 13 Hong Kong permanent residents were arrested in Shenzhen in a case dubbed China’s “biggest street-racing case”.

“We couldn’t help speeding as the highway is so flat, wide and straight,” one of the drivers said.

The highway’s speed limit is 100km/h, but authorities said they recorded the cars travelling at a speed of up to 275km/h.

The luxury car owners, aged 38 to 62, were sentenced to suspended jail terms and fined up to 40,000 yuan each for dangerous driving in an illegal race on the highway linking Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

Their cars were impounded and sent back to Hong Kong.

READ MORE: Hong Kong luxury car owners arrested in Shenzhen in China’s ‘biggest street-racing case’

Son’s death in high-speed car crash leads to political star’s downfall

In March 2012, Ling Gu, the only son of then rising political star Ling Jihua, was killed when his Ferrari crashed in Beijing.

The black Ferrari 458 Spider, which was speeding, had smashed into a wall, rebounded and crushed a railing on the opposite side of the North Fourth Ring Road.

Ling Gu, who was pulled out of the car half naked, died instantly. Two young women – one naked and the other semi-naked – were seriously injured; one later died.

Ling Jihua, previously an aide to former president Hu Jintao , was sidelined from politics over an attempted cover-up of the crash. He was later expelled from the Communist Party and charged with corruption and abuse of power.

READ MORE: How son’s death in a high-speed car crash led to powerful Chinese official’s fall from grace

The street race that was busted in Urumqi, Xinjiang, last May involved more than 10 luxury cars. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Dozens held over illegal road race in Xinjiang

More than 40 young people were arrested for illegal street racing in Urumqi in the Xinjiang region last May.

The 38 vehicles involved in the races included more than 10 luxury cars, such as Porsche Cayennes and Land Rovers valued at more than a million yuan each, police said.

READ MORE: Dozens held over illegal road racing in China’s Xinjiang region

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