1. The First Film Featured Its Share Of Inaccuracies

The first street race scene is supposedly a quarter mile race, taking approximately 10 seconds. However, the race takes almost two minutes of screen time and shows the vehicles driving in excess of 150 mph, faster than even a 1,200 hp Bugatti Veyron can accomplish a quarter mile.

2. Vin Diesel Was Too Big For His First Car

Dominic's RX-7 was originally built with a roll cage in The Fast and the Furious. It had to be removed to accommodate Vin Diesel's big physique.

3. Driving Lessons Were Needed For Some Of The Actors

During the making of the first film, production had to set time aside to put Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster through driver's education classes to get their permits and licenses. Before the second film, Devon Aoki (Suki) had no driving experience whatsoever, and no license either.

4. Brian and Vince's Fight Scene Was Originally Very Different

Paul Walker (Brian O'Conner) and Matt Schulze (Vince) had carefully choreographed the fight scene outside the grocery store in The Fast and the Furious, but when it came time to shoot, it didn't feel right. In the end they just improvised.

5. Paul Walker Really Loved Cars

The first car you see Paul Walker drive in 2 Fast 2 Furious was actually his own racing car in real life. An adamant supporter and fan of street racing and car culture, he also personally handpicked the cars for the movie.

6. The Supra in 2 Fast 2 Furious Was Just a Modified Version of Brian's Supra From the First Film

Slap Jack's Toyota Supra was modified from the remaining versions of the orange Supra driven by Brian O'Conner in the first film. To make the car stand out from the rest, the production team designed a LEXAN panel on the center of the hood that made the engine visible while letting hot air out at the same time.

To save thousands of dollars, the engine of the "hero" car (the unit used mainly for principal photography, not for stunts) was photographed and sent to a local printing press in Miami, FL, where the image was blown up to actual size. The engine pictures were placed directly below the LEXAN panels of the stunt cars.

7. Universal Hired Screenwriters to Write Two Completely Different Versions of 2 Fast 2 Furious

Universal Studios had two different scripts commissioned. The first featured Vin Diesel's character while the second script did not, in case he decided not to return. Diesel elected not to appear in the second film, but he did have a cameo briefly in the third, He then returned for the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh films.

8. The Drifting in Tokyo Drift Was Real!

The drifting in the movie was not CGI; it was performed by professional drivers. Rhys Millen, his father Rod, and a handful of other famous rally and drift racers consistently performed amazing drift sequences for the movie. In fact The Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VIII, and two of the VW R32s, were converted from four-wheel drive to rear-wheel drive so they could drift properly.

9. The Fast And Furious Film You Never Knew About

Whilst shooting Fast and Furious 4 in 2009, Vin Diesel shot an 18 minute prequel titled "Los Bandoleros". In this short film, the crew reunites in the Dominican Republic to break Leo Tego out of prison and hijack gas shipments.

10. Not Even the Cast knew the Twist Ending to Fast Five Until They Saw the Film in Theaters

During an on-set interview for Fast & Furious 6, Michelle Rodriguez revealed that she didn't know about the "twist ending" to Fast Five (with Letty's photo landing up on Hobbs's desk) until she actually saw it herself in theaters.

Do you know any other interesting Fast & Furious facts? If so, let us know in the comments section below!

Photos: Universal Pictures / Fast and Furious movies