When you have an exotic beast such as a Ferrari LaFerrari, the temptation to see what it can do is high.
Unfortunately for one (un)lucky driver in Beverly Hills, Calif., his fun behind the wheel of a yellow LaFerrari was cut short after only a few burnouts while stunting alongside a white Porsche 911 GT3. As shown in this amateur video clip, the Italian supercar’s starts smoking from the engine as the driver quickly careens for the driveway and Beverly Hills police show up.
This LaFerrari is one of only 499 made – and all spoken for – at retail price of a cool $1.69 million. It’s V-12 revs up to an insane 9,250 rpm, and there’s also a 120 kw electric motor board, part of Ferrari’s HY-KERS hybrid tech. The LaFerrari is a speed demon, of course, reaching 100 km/h in under 3 seconds and 200 km/h under 7 seconds.
As for the white Porsche 911 GT3 … it’s more prudish driver won by default.
UPDATE 9/15: The stunt featuring a Ferrari LaFerrari and a Porsche 911 GT3 racing in the streets of Beverly Hills has officially become a matter of international intrigue. With numerous videos of the race shot by onlookers going viral on YouTube, a local NBC affiliate has followed up with a story, Beverly Hills police started – and stalled – an investigation, and now the State Department is on the case as well.
Since police technically didn’t observe the actual races – which included running stoplights at excessive speed – building a case against the drivers is proving difficult. Further, officials have not been able to ID the LaFerrari driver.
The plot thickened when an unidentified man told police on the scene that he was the exotic cars’ owner and possesses diplomatic immunity. Now, with the LaFerrari bearing Qatar plates, speculations that this man may have ties to the Qatari Royal Family are starting to surface.
Jalopnik reports that Beverly Hills police have ID’d the Porsche driver but were not releasing his name and he was not facing any charges at this time. The LaFerrari driver has not yet been identified. The State Department has been contacted to further look into the diplomatic immunity claims and whether the cars were street-legal in the U.S.
We’ll update this story with new developments.
UPDATE 9/16: So much for that diplomatic immunity claim: No such thing, according to the State Department.
Beverly Hills police confirmed to Jalopnik that the drivers of the LaFerrari and the Porsche 911 GT3 are in the wind and can’t be prosecuted, despite the egregious video evidence.
The drivers and the owner — who threatened a journalist with death – have ditched the rented home where the exotics were last seen parked. Beverly Hills police have no idea where the ‘Fast and the Furious’ wannabes or their cars are.
Needless to say, this doesn’t bode too well for their investigation.
More on this story as it develops.
