I noticed this as well. At first glance, having not read the article at that point yet, I thought it was some AI generated car with distortion knowing typical HN articles. After reading the extensively long article, I realized it was likely distorted maybe out of an abundance of caution against potential identification from modern law enforcement tech? Given the highly illegal nature of the sport/challenge, and the likelihood of the characters of the article to reuse their vehicles for such activities, this was the best explanation that came to my mind.