Ferrari Enzo crash in Malibu | Page 35 | FerrariChat

Ferrari Enzo crash in Malibu

Discussion in '288GTO/F40/F50/Enzo/LaFerrari/F80' started by YH8T, Feb 21, 2006.

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  1. jos

    jos Karting

    Jun 28, 2004
    230
    Belgium
    Full Name:
    /
    Three Enzo's have been totalled up till now, that I am quite certain of.
     
  2. jimm7y

    jimm7y Rookie

    Feb 6, 2006
    9
    Fairfield Ct
    So I talked to the guy selling on ebay the part from the crash and he has the press all over him to write articles. best part is no one was hurt so no B.S...

    "Item: Ferrari (8040875409)
    This message was sent while the listing was active.
    howardagency is the seller. I also have the Front page of the LA times with the feature article, and someone from a local paper interviewed me today. This all started as a joke, I'm sure you understand. It gets better. Daily news interviewed me today and sent a photog to my office. May be in the paper tomorrow. Reporter said they would try to make it out for the Saturday drive."


    http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8040875409&sspagename=ADME:L:RTQ:US:1
     
  3. CMY

    CMY F1 World Champ

    Oct 15, 2004
    10,142
    Redondo Beach, CA
    Full Name:
    Chris
    http://www.sierratowing.com/html/contactus.html

    My best guess.. it looked like their trucks at the scene (and I have had a vehicle impounded and held by them thanks to the Sheriff's dept). :)
     
  4. SrfCity

    SrfCity F1 World Champ

    Are you kidding? That would cut the member roster by about a third :)
     
  5. CMY

    CMY F1 World Champ

    Oct 15, 2004
    10,142
    Redondo Beach, CA
    Full Name:
    Chris
    I'm pretty sure he can speak for himself, he is on this board.. :)
     
  6. msdesignltd

    msdesignltd Two Time F1 World Champ
    Rossa Subscribed

    Nov 17, 2003
    20,661
    NYC. / E. Hampton
    Full Name:
    Michael
    95,000. Hits And we still are not sure who was driving, hickup, does this sound Familiar! Hickup.
     
  7. rockdad

    rockdad Karting

    Jan 3, 2006
    95
    OC, California
    Full Name:
    Mike
    That was no photog, that was Pellicano.
     
  8. Marcel Massini

    Marcel Massini Two Time F1 World Champ
    Honorary

    Mar 2, 2005
    25,032
    Stefan Eriksson, owner of the crashed Enzo, ran at the Le Mans 24 hours last year in a Ferrari 360 GTC, #2068, run by Cirtek Motorsport.
    Marcel Massini
     
  9. MaxN

    MaxN Rookie

    Feb 23, 2006
    20
    SoCal
    I would just like to say that given the performance of the new '248', I would guess that this is the only pole that Ferrari are likely to get this year.

    Sorry, I'll get my coat.......
     
  10. Senna1994

    Senna1994 F1 World Champ

    Nov 11, 2003
    13,204
    Orange County
    Full Name:
    Anthony T
    Jimmy what is the deal with that AVATAR anyway? When are you going to update your website with the Yellow 360 already?
     
  11. Wolfgang

    Wolfgang F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa

    Mar 8, 2003
    16,743
    Heidelberg, Germany
    Full Name:
    Wolfgang
    Thank you for this interesting & important info Marcel.
    So, he has an International Race Licence Kat. "C" with experience!
     
  12. Vertigo

    Vertigo Rookie

    Feb 16, 2006
    25
    Anaheim Hills, CA
    Full Name:
    Jonathan
    From the photos it looks like he must have crawled out of the passengers side of the car. Oh wait he was the passenger never mind!!! LOL
     
  13. Young

    Young Formula Junior

    Aug 24, 2005
    508
    Home Town Buffet
    Full Name:
    R U Mr Pininfarina?
    I know, I know. I did not do enough research before stating as a fact, at least I know for sure now. Thanks for the info :)
     
  14. SrfCity

    SrfCity F1 World Champ

    Here's another LA Times "update" article on this guy:

    Ferrari Owner Had Other 'Crash'

    http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ferrari23feb23,1,725523.story?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=1&cset=true

    Some interesting stuff:

    "on the eve of Gizmondo's U.S. launch last fall, Eriksson resigned from the firm while in Los Angeles to market the device. His resignation came days before a Swedish newspaper alleged that Eriksson had been convicted of counterfeiting in the Scandinavian country in the early 1990s."

    "The investigation has also centered on exactly how the Enzo got into the United States and how Eriksson came to possess it, Brooks said."

    Seems like everything the guy does is fishy
     
  15. Jimmy540i

    Jimmy540i Formula 3
    BANNED

    Jan 11, 2004
    2,494
    Los Angeles / NYC
    Full Name:
    www.Jimmy540i.com
    lol.. that's what i supposed to look like

    yes, its in process :)
     
  16. Francesco_Baracca

    Francesco_Baracca Formula Junior

    May 18, 2005
    367
    #866 Francesco_Baracca, Feb 23, 2006
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  17. turboSRT527

    turboSRT527 Rookie

    Feb 15, 2006
    17
    Alabama
    Full Name:
    Bryan
  18. CMY

    CMY F1 World Champ

    Oct 15, 2004
    10,142
    Redondo Beach, CA
    Full Name:
    Chris
    #868 CMY, Feb 23, 2006
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  19. nocturne1

    nocturne1 Formula 3

    Sep 8, 2004
    2,095
    Foothill Ranch, CA
    Full Name:
    Jay
    Shouldn't it be "Remember, friends don't let imaginary friends drive their Enzos"? :D
     
  20. ClassicFerrari

    ClassicFerrari F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa

    Jan 7, 2004
    16,798
    Toronto
    Full Name:
    Vasco
    #870 ClassicFerrari, Feb 23, 2006
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  21. rockdad

    rockdad Karting

    Jan 3, 2006
    95
    OC, California
    Full Name:
    Mike
    Here's the entire story from today's LA Times:

    Ferrari Owner Had Other 'Crash'
    Stefan Eriksson, whose $1-million car was totaled in Malibu, had been a top executive of a video game system maker that flamed out.
    By Richard Winton and David Pierson
    Times Staff Writers

    February 23, 2006

    Stefan Eriksson had hoped that millions of video gamers would experience the thrill of street racing on a hand-held device he helped develop. But then Eriksson's $1-million Ferrari was totaled, an accident that gamers around the world may see as a cruel metaphor for the collapse of the portable console company.

    Eriksson was a top executive for Gizmondo, a European video game system maker that two years ago garnered international headlines by challenging Sony and Nintendo with its own PSP-like device.

    Eriksson received a $100,000 car allowance from the firm, according to records from the Securities and Exchange Commission, and drove in Le Mans, the famous French motor race, in a Ferrari plastered with Gizmondo signs.

    The game company launched last year with a gala in London that included a performance by the pop star Sting. One of the firm's games, Chicane, involved exotic car racing.

    But on the eve of Gizmondo's U.S. launch last fall, Eriksson resigned from the firm while in Los Angeles to market the device. His resignation came days before a Swedish newspaper alleged that Eriksson had been convicted of counterfeiting in the Scandinavian country in the early 1990s.

    The company quickly collapsed, unable to sell enough devices to justify to game makers that they should supply more titles for the Gizmondo format. Loans could not be repaid, and the company incurred net losses exceeding $100 million, according to the SEC records.

    The company's name is now a synonym for hubris in the game world, which was enrapt Wednesday with the news that Eriksson's lavish Italian sports car had been wrecked.

    "The Gizmondo was bad enough but now this?" wrote one reader on the electronic game website gamespot.com.

    "And you wonder why they went bankrupt," another gamer wrote.

    Eriksson, 44, declined to be interviewed Wednesday, according to a security officer posted in front of his gated Bel-Air mansion.

    But he had told authorities that he was a passenger in the car driven by a mysterious German man whom he knew only as Dietrich when the Ferrari Enzo lost control and crashed Tuesday on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. He said Dietrich fled on foot up a canyon and disappeared.

    But detectives are skeptical of that explanation and said Wednesday that they were going to re-interview Eriksson. Witnesses told detectives the Ferrari was drag racing with a Mercedes-Benz SLR.

    "His story has inconsistencies that need to be cleared up," Sheriff's Sgt. Phillip Brooks said.

    The investigation has also centered on exactly how the Enzo got into the United States and how Eriksson came to possess it, Brooks said.

    "We have quite a few new leads on that," Brooks said, but he declined to elaborate.

    The crash occurred about 6 a.m. west of Decker Road when the Ferrari, traveling at 120 mph in the northbound lane, crested a hill and slammed into a power pole.

    The car split in two, sending the engine flying and creating a 1,200-foot trail of debris, sheriff's deputies said.

    The power pole was snapped about halfway up and suspended by power lines like a half-chopped corn stalk.

    The Enzo is one of the most exclusive cars in the world, with only 400 ever made. Eriksson, who suffered only a bloody face and was seen walking about after the crash, was probably saved by the car's tough carbon composite compartment and seat that were designed to keep occupants in place. The compartment is also designed to absorb the impact of a crash to protect the occupants.

    The accident comes amid a tough period for Gizmondo. This fall, a court in London ordered its parent company, the Jacksonville, Fla.-based Tiger Telematics, to liquidate its assets in Europe. Calls to Tiger Telematics were not returned.

    The Financial Times reported Tuesday that a chestnut colt named Gizmondo was one of the first company-owned properties to be auctioned off. A trainer told the paper the animal is of "modest ability" and bids were beginning at $1,046.

    When the pebble-shaped Gizmondo hand-held device was unveiled at the 2004 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, it was the only one on the market that offered video-games, text messaging, music, movie clips, a digital camera and a global positioning system, known as GPS.

    Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles, described Gizmondo as an "interesting idea that was grossly undercapitalized."

    The company, he said, hoped that the GPS would make the user's location a draw for advertisers. The technology, Pachter said, delivered real-time ads that would allow paid advertisers to offer special incentives to Gizmondo owners who were near their businesses. A Gizmondo owner in Los Angeles, for example, could receive a 25% discount from a restaurant a couple of blocks of away.

    "The idea, I think, was brilliant," Pachter said. "But they faced a huge obstacle, which was getting people to purchase and carry these devices."

    Because few people owned Gizmondos, few video game publishers signed up to make games for the system, Pachter said. A robust selection of games is crucial for a hand-held device such as Gizmondo to succeed in the $10.5-billion U.S. video game industry because of the importance gamers place on software.

    "Without unique, compelling games, you'd basically have to be an idiot to pick one up," said Geoff Keighley, a host on G4, a cable channel devoted to video games.

    Despite all the hype, Gizmondo flamed out and is now considered an Edsel in game circles.

    Eriksson was executive director of Gizmondo and helped oversee its European launch. But his career at the company ended just as a leading Swedish newspaper linked him to a group of alleged counterfeiters operating out of a small city 80 miles north of Stockholm in the early 1990s, well before he joined the firm. The paper, Aftonbladet, reported that he was convicted and went to prison.

    The Gizmondo story is not over. Some creditors have filed suit alleging they were not paid by the firm.

    In Los Angeles, detectives said they are trying to learn everything they can about Eriksson but are not sure when their investigation will be completed. Brooks said they are examining his work with Gizmondo and his background in Sweden.

    Eriksson had a blood-alcohol level of 0.09% after Tuesday's crash, over the legal limit, but that would not be an issue if he was indeed the passenger in the car, Brooks said.

    As for the mysterious Dietrich, officials said they are not searching for the alleged driver.
     
  22. howard

    howard Karting

    Feb 21, 2006
    74
    Westlake Village, CA
    #872 howard, Feb 23, 2006
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  23. ^@#&

    ^@#& F1 World Champ
    BANNED

    Feb 27, 2005
    12,091
    well that is one way to do an out engine service... :D
     
  24. Rifledriver

    Rifledriver Three Time F1 World Champ

    Apr 29, 2004
    37,288
    Cowboy Capitol of the World
    Full Name:
    Brian Crall

    As he wipes the powdered sugar off his uniform shirt.
     
  25. rockdad

    rockdad Karting

    Jan 3, 2006
    95
    OC, California
    Full Name:
    Mike
    I got a ticket in a situation like this once, I was running a kart on the street.
    The cop in the photo just wrote up the Enzo for "No rear license plate, no rear license plate light, no rear turn signals, no brake lights, no backup lights, no 5MPH rear bumper, no catalytic converter, nonoperational brake system, littering".
     

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