Vicari’s exploration of Italy’s street-racing and customized-car scene depicts a relatively uncharted Roman subculture. At the heart of Maximum Velocity is the friendship that develops between a teenager and a thirty-something garage owner when the boy comes to live and work in Ostia. The youth’s remarkable talent with cars soon makes him a valuable asset in both the business and the nighttime street-racing contests, but the friendship is compromised by the older man’s romance with a restless young woman who, like the film’s protagonist, longs to escape the confines of the economically depressed region on the outskirts of Rome. The story revolves around themes of ambition, friendship, and betrayal that culminate in a climactic showdown and bittersweet conclusion.