THE young family were cruising down Rickenbacker Causeway in Miami when they heard the BMW’s engine. By the time that they saw the car, a deadly steel and plastic missile travelling at about 100mph, it was too late: it had clipped the family’s Toyota, causing it to turn over three times. They never saw the Porsche that had been following the BMW as it zigged- zagged down the highway.

Police say that the accident on Sunday, which seriously injured the three adults and two toddlers in the Toyota, was another example of a deadly illegal sport that is gripping America — drag racing, also known as street racing. And they are blaming drag racing’s popularity on a Hollywood film, 2 Fast 2 Furious, that opened in US cinemas on Friday, taking more than £30 million on its debut weekend.

The driver of the BMW, Victor Hernandez, 21, was charged yesterday with racing on a highway, while the driver of the Porsche, Sam Ohev- Zion, 24, was charged with leaving the scene of an accident. His new Porsche was pulled over by Miami police several miles away from the scene of the accident. Mr Hernandez insists that he was not racing and that a Corvette caused the crash.

Since last week police all over America seem to have been dealing with at least one racing-related crash every day. On Monday in Los Angeles — the city most seriously affected by the sport — a 23-year-old man who had just seen 2 Fast 2 Furious drove his Nissan Altima at up to 90mph through the Granada Hills, colliding head-on with a Toyota driven by Keiji Iko, 78. The Toyota driver was killed instantly and Vehan Shahenian faces possible manslaughter charges.

Yet the crashes began even before the film was released. Hours before its opening on Friday, one Los Angeles street racer killed a 15-year-old bystander, and another hit an electricity pole, knocking out the power to 1,300 homes in North Hollywood. Fearing an even greater number of crashes now that 2 Fast 2 Furious is in cinemas, Los Angeles police are to be given emergency powers to seize all cars used in suspected races.

The plots of 2 Fast 2 Furious and its predecessor, The Fast and the Furious, are based on illegal duels between souped-up cars — usually Nissans and Hondas with blacked-out windows, lowered suspension and amplified exhaust systems — often held at night near shopping centres or industrial parks. They attract crowds of cheering, beer-swilling spectators, many still in high school.

Police say that the films have also encouraged many young drivers to use nitrous oxide, an inexpensive fuel additive that can boost the power of an ordinary car by as much as 100 horsepower. Even the additive’s manufacturer, Holley Performance Products, boasts on its website that the fuel “defines a lifestyle — a lifestyle characterised by the movie The Fast and the Furious”.

Los Angeles authorities hope that new police powers will bring the phenomenon of street racing, first depicted by Hollywood in films such as 1955’s Rebel Without a Cause, to an end. “I want to send a message that if you drag race in the City of Los Angeles, you will lose your vehicle,” Wendy Greuel, the councillor who proposed the law, said.

Although Universal, the studio behind 2 Fast 2 Furious, has not commented on the recent deaths, it has put a disclaimer on the film’s website, saying: “The motor vehicle action sequences depicted in this film are dangerous. No attempts should be made to duplicate any action, driving or car play scenes herein portrayed.”

Some police officers, however, say that the message has done little good. “The movie glorifies illegal street racing,” Jeff Higbee, the head of a new street-racing task force, told the Los Angeles Times. “It makes it look safe and it gets their adrenaline going. They think they can go out and do it all night and nothing happens. Let me tell you from experience: stuff does happen. People die.”

'2 loud, 2 long'

Film critics have not responded to 2 Fast 2 Furious as well as young American drivers, calling it “2 dumb 2 worry about” and “2 loud and 2 long”. A.O. Scott, the redoubtable film reviewer for The New York Times, quipped: “Unfortunately, all of these vehicles come equipped with drivers, principally a pair of crash-test dummies played by Paul Walker and Tyrese Gibson, whose low-gear dialogue makes the whine of engines sound like the highest poetry.”

DEBATE

Are these films leading youngsters astray?

E-mail debate@thetimes.co.uk

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