SPEED DEMONS
Inside deadly world of ‘speed tourism’ where drivers clock 260mph & total £200k supercars on German autobahns
GERMANY is famed for having NO speed limits on its notorious autobahn motorways - and idiot petrol heads waste no time exploiting them for deadly stunts.
A paradise for adrenaline junkies, the highways have a dark reality as maniac motorists total their flashy £200,000 supercars after hitting speeds of up to 260mph.
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Shocking pictures show the smoldering wreckages of glam motors and even buses crashed at superspeeds as Germany's motorway network makes Britain's 70mph limit seem sedate.
In one horror clip, a driver can be seen veering off an autobahn while whizzing along at 205mph in a Lamborghini Huracán - which retail at more than £164,400.
Pictures show the expensive sports car reduced to a burnt pile of debris after careering off the highway.
In another incident, German reality TV star Julia Jasmin Ruehle was left with extensive injuries after smashing into the central barrier after she lost control of her supercar on the A11 autobahn in the district of Barnim.
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The influencer's Porsche 718 Cayman - which has a top speed of more than 188mph - lost three tyres as it rolled several times, leaving the highway littered with debris.
Police said the car hit the barrier at such speed that it was completely destroyed in the incident last summer.
Extraordinarily - despite the glitzy vehicle being smashed to pieces and her injuries - Ruehle, the star of TV show Berlin: Day and Night, was reportedly able to free herself from the wreckage.
With drivers allowed to zoom about as fast as they please - one clip shows a motorist achieving 62miles in just 26 minutes in a Volkswagon Golf GTI while other footage shows a BMW 840d chasing Lamborghini Huracan Performante Spyder at more than 155mph.
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But while racing other motorists serves as an adrenaline rush for some, others have been left counting the costs.
On one stretch of an autobahn in the region of Kirchheim, three supercars smashed at high speed within hours of each other.
A Dodge Viper ACR crashed into the central barrier after swerving across three lanes after the driver lost control.
Shortly after, the rainy day in 2012 claimed its second victim as a Chevrolet Corvette pounded into a guard rail before a McLaren MP4-12C - which had been on the road for just two months - also crashed, leaving it crushed beyond repair.
Just this month, a tycoon who sparked fury when he drove his Bugatti supercar at 259mph on a German motorway dodged jail over lack of evidence.
More than 10 million people viewed a clip of the Czech investment chief Radim Passer, 58, hitting 259mph on the A2 autobahn in July last year.
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Prosecutors investigated whether a prohibited race had taken place in the millionaire’s £2million vehicle on the A2 between Berlin and Hanover.
By law they had to prove whether the driver has moved “recklessly” through traffic in order to reach the “highest possible speed".
But Passer's speed was deemed to be less than 2mph below the sports car's limited top speed, set at 261mph because the vehicle's tyres could burst if it went faster.
The public prosecutor's office also said the motorway was nearly empty, noting good visibility and weather conditions.
They therefore ruled no one was endangered during the 4.50am stunt and Passer - the 33rd-richest Czech - was not charged.
Despite the case being dropped, it enraged safety campaigners and renewed calls to impose speed limits on Germany's autobahns - which famously have no restrictions outside urban areas.
Around an eighth of Germany's autobahn network has no speed limit, about a third has an 81mph restriction, while the remainder has a variable speed limit.
Most German manufacturers electronically cap motors at 154mph to allay environmental and safety concerns.
The Green party called for the 81mph recommendation to become law as part of efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
However, the proposal was ditched during talks to form the governing coalition with the SPD and the FDP.
In the so-called race, Passer did not break the all-time autobahn speed record, which is still standing after more than 80 years.
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It was set by racing driver Rudolf Caracciola who clocked an average of 268.7mph over two runs in a modified Mercedes Benz in 1938.
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Rival Bernd Rosemeyer was killed on his second run after clocking 268.9mph in an Auto Union after the public road was closed for the occasion.
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