Speeding was identified as a possible cause of what is believed to be one of the world's most expensive ever road accidents

<p><div class="oneHalf gutter" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; float: left; width: 460px; color: #282828; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; background-color: #ffffff;"><div class="story" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-bottom-style: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; margin-bottom: 5px; padding-bottom: 5px; border-top-width: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: #666666; padding-top: 3px;"><div id="mainBodyArea"><div class="firstPar"><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;">Ferraris and a Lamborghini – plus a Toyota Prius – were among the vehicles involved in the crash, which witnesses said happened when a speeding car slid across a wet road surface.</p></div><div class="secondPar"><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;">Television footage showed mangled Ferraris – many of them racing red – and debris spread over some 400 metres of the eastbound side of the Chugoku Expressway, the main trunk road in southern Honshu.</p></div><div class="thirdPar"><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;"><img alt="" height="287" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02074/ferrari-2_2074940c.jpg" style="display: inline; border: 0px initial initial;" width="460" /></p></div><div class="fourthPar"><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;">A pack of about 20 supercars was<strong> <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/8934718/Astonishing-accident-involving-eight-Ferraris-worlds-most-expensive-car-crash.html" style="color: #234b7b; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: none;">travelling in convoy on Sunday morning on a stretch of wet highway</a></strong> when the leading Ferrari slid into a guardrail, police said.</p></div><div class="fifthPar"><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;">Those behind slammed on their brakes, but for many of them it was apparently too late.</p></div><div id="tmg-related-links" class="related_links_inline" style="background-color: #f4f4f0; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: #e5e5e5; margin-bottom: 8px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; width: 460px;"><div class="headerOne styleNine" style="background-image: url(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/template/ver1-0/i/grey_dots.gif); background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; 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"Ferraris rarely travel in such large numbers."</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;">Kamitani said 10 people – five men and five women – sustained slight injuries, in the accident. "It is highly possible that they were driving in couples."</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;">"Many of them were probably on their way to Hiroshima," some 130 kilometres (80 miles) to the east, for a gathering of supercars there, said Kamitani.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;">"Speeding was possible but we have yet to determine the exact cause," he added.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;"><img alt="" height="287" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02074/ferrari-3_2074941c.jpg" style="display: inline; border: 0px initial initial;" width="460" /></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;">The Prius and a second Toyota also caught up in the 14-car smash were not thought to be part of the supercar pack. The three other vehicles involved in the accident were all Mercedes-Benz.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;">An unidentified male eyewitness told the TBS network: "A group of cars was doing 140-160 kilometres (85-100 miles) per hour. One of them spun and they all ended up in this great mess."</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;">The speed limit on that section of the highway was 80 kilometres per hour (50mph).</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;"><img alt="" height="287" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02074/ferrari-1_2074943c.jpg" style="display: inline; border: 0px initial initial;" width="460" /></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;">"The front car crashed into the left embankment and bounced off toward me," another man told public broadcaster NHK.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;">The highway was closed for more than six hours while authorities removed the wrecked cars.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;">A 36-year-old self-employed man, who did not want to be named, described a scene of chaos as he was driving in the opposite lane at the time of the accident.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;">"Cars were making a tremendous noise," the man, from Kanzaki, Saga Prefecture,<a href="http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T111204004152.htm" style="color: #234b7b; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> <strong>told Japanese media</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;">One of the Ferraris was reported to be a F430 Scuderia, a model with a top speed of 320 kilometres per hour.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;"><img alt="" height="287" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02074/Expensive-Crash_2074844c.jpg" style="display: inline; border: 0px initial initial;" width="460" /></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;">Kamitani said the lead Ferrari was being driven by a 60-year-old self-employed man from Chikushino, near Fukuoka, on the southern island of Kyushu.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;"><strong><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/" style="color: #234b7b; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: none;">Japanese</a></strong> media said the total cost of the pile-up could run to 300 million yen ($3.8 million), with new Ferraris retailing at more than 20 million yen each and Lamborghinis costing anything up to 30 million yen.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;">Supercars are not necessarily owned by the super-rich in Japan. Many owners are young people who save up their earnings to satisfy their dream, according to media.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;"><img alt="" height="287" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02074/Expensive-Crash-SU_2074846c.jpg" style="display: inline; border: 0px initial initial;" width="460" /></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 0px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px;">No one has been yet been charged over the accident.</p></div></div></div></div><div class="oneSixth" style="float: left; width: 140px; color: #282828; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; background-color: #ffffff;"><div id="shareSide" class="shareFunctions" style="border-top-width: 2px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: #666666; height: 162px; padding-top: 5px;"><div class="storyFunc addThisStoryFunc" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: #cccccc; font-size: 1.2em; padding: 0px;"><ul class="shareThis" style="list-style-type: none; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><li class="shareThisShare" style="float: left; height: 24px; width: 140px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding: 0px;"><span class="shareLabel" style="color: #343434; float: left; font-weight: bold; padding-right: 10px;"><br /></span></li></ul></div></div></div></p>

Speeding was identified as a possible cause of what is believed to be one of the world's most expensive ever road accidents

Ferraris and a Lamborghini – plus a Toyota Prius – were among the vehicles involved in the crash, which witnesses said happened when a speed...

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