CALGARY -- Heads turned at a breakneck pace early Sunday morning near High River, Alta., when a parade of Ferraris and Lamborghinis raced by at speeds one witness pegged at well over 200 kilometres an hour - double the speed limit.
A few hours later, and not far away, residents of the town south of Calgary spied four more exotic sports cars moving fast and passing each other erratically.
By midday, the parking lot at the local RCMP detachment looked like an auto club meeting for high rollers. Five male drivers, all from the Calgary area, were questioned, but no charges were laid.
"They do bring attention to themselves," RCMP Sergeant Larry Marzinzik said yesterday. "Everybody's going to admire them because they are beautiful vehicles."
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But increasingly, according to police, they are also dangerous.
With its oil-industry workers who have money to burn and no shortage of straight, flat and little-used highways, southern Alberta is quickly becoming a hub for speeding. Mounties are in the middle of three dangerous-driving probes involving luxury automobiles, but they are having trouble keeping up.
"These are very difficult investigations because usually they're either gone or not doing the activity when the police are able to attend," Sgt. Marzinzik said. "We are really reliant on the public for information to help us."
The weekend incidents may be the latest example of well-heeled drivers with lead feet turning Alberta's secondary highways into speedways.
Police said they are also investigating a 7 minute 38 second video made last year that appears to show sports cars racing at speeds up to 339 km/h on roads that look suspiciously like the ones where rubber was burned on the weekend.
The video, dubbed Speed-run Challenge, has slick production values and has been viewed more than 125,000 times on YouTube.
According to the website, it is the creation of ZR Exotic Auto Sales, a Calgary-based car dealer that also arranges group road trips for sports car enthusiasts - events that regularly wow ordinary drivers and pedestrians.
"Under the stealth cover of an October night, the exotics make their journey to the locked-off private roadway," the voiceover announces as the speed trials begin.
A Lamborghini Gallardo allegedly hits 296 km/h, according to the video. Another Lamborghini is purported to clock in at 315 km/h. Viewers are told that the Enzo Ferrari, driven by ZR auto owner Zahir Rana, reached the top speed of 339 km/h.
"I could have done 350, but I ran out of road," Mr. Rana tells the camera.
Reached in his showroom yesterday, Mr. Rana declined comment on the video or the weekend incidents near High River.
"I don't want to talk about this," he said.
"I have nothing to say."
But he pointed out that his five-year-old company, which regularly deals in vehicles worth more than $300,000, is doing well in this energy-rich economy.
"It's a good business and a product that people like," Mr. Rana said.
Sgt. Marzinzik said the video doesn't prove anything illegal happened and could be merely "chest-thumping" and editing. But, he added, he's never heard of officials shutting down a public road for speed trials.
And so, the investigation continues into the seemingly growing need for speed.
"That's the reason we have the speed limits and the different rules of the road out there and that we have to enforce for the public safety," Sgt. Marzinzik said.
"We just want to do our best to avoid any tragedy. We have too many of them already where we have to deal with next of kin."
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