Exotics Turned Into Scrap Metal. The Story Behind the World's Most Expensive Car Crash

What was supposed to be a supercar celebration turned into a drama in an instant. It was a rainy December Sunday, with terrible driving conditions, when several ultra-expensive sports cars were traveling from Kyushu to an event in Hiroshima along the rain-soaked Chugoku Expressway. They were, indeed, a sight to behold, as you rarely get to see such exotics driving together in such large numbers.

According to the police reports of the time, the incident occurred at 10:15 AM local time, when the driver of one of the Ferraris, a 60-year-old businessman from the Fukuoka prefecture, owning a Ferrari 430 Scuderia, tried to overtake another car.

The moment he changed lanes, he lost control on the wet pavement and hit the outer guardrail, before rebounding through the central reservation and into the oncoming traffic. Other cars tried to avoid crashing into the Ferrari that was spinning out of control. But all they did was pile up in what looked like the world's most expensive car crash.

"The front car crashed into the left embankment and bounced off toward me," a driver involved in the astonishing multi-car crash told the media.

"I've never seen such a thing," a highway patrol lieutenant told AFP back then. According to the police, ten people – five men and five women, the majority of whom were foreign car enthusiasts – sustained light injuries, mostly just cuts and bruises.

They were taken to hospital as a precautionary measure. But most likely, their egos were badly hurt as they watched the prized possessions turning into scrap metal on what was supposed to be a nice day out with their supercars. Instead, it went down in history as the day the most expensive pile up took place.

All drivers involved were between 37 and 60. According to Business Insider, some of them did not even know the specifications of their cars or just how powerful their acceleration was.

A witness told TBS that the cars were traveling at speeds between 87 and 100 mph (140 and 160 kph). It all went south along a narrow stretch with no shoulder, where the speed limit was 60 mph (37 kph).

Traffic was closed for hours as police carried out an on-site investigation. Later that day, it took six hours until the motorway was freed of all the debris.

Video footage of the crash showed a massive pile of red Ferraris, all in pieces or severely crumpled, blocking the way, spread along hundreds of yards trail of crumpled metal and shattered glass.

Police never mentioned anything about the amount of damage as probably the wealthy owners of the cars wanted to keep things private. They did say, however, that some of the vehicles involved in the incident were beyond repair.

Later on, information surfaced: $28 million dollars in repairs. However, the Japanese press had a different approach on the damage, claiming that it would only take $4 million to put those cars back on the road. "A gathering of narcissists," police called the group.

There were eight Ferraris, three Mercedes-Benzes, a Lamborghini Diablo, and a Nissan GT-R Skyline among the cars that crashed that day out of a 20-car convoy speeding through the western Yamaguchi prefecture.

A Ferrari 348, a 360 Modena, a 360 Modena Challenge Stradale, and an F430 were supposedly among the cars that ended up totaled, but the information is contradictory. Other sources mention an F355, and an F512 present in the convoy that crashed.

The eight Ferraris involved in the crash were all registered in Kyushu, police informed the media at the time. A Mercedes-Benz CL600 traveling in the other direction was also declared a write-off.

A total of 14 cars were involved in the crash, with a less glamorous Toyota Prius being a collateral victim, which prompted people who watched the video of the aftermath to joke that the Prius driver was to blame.

The driver of one of the two trucks that came to clear the scene said on NTV that it was the most expensive crash site that he had ever seen.

Back then, Bloomberg reported that the man suspected of causing the accident could face up to three months in jail or a fine of as much as 100,000 yen, which was the equivalent of $1,300.

In 2013, the police announced that ten people were charged with reckless driving and overspending in the 2011 world's most expensive crash. Even though it happened 13 years ago, there wasn't a single crash that even came close to what happened that December morning in Japan.