OT - Crashed Ferrari -- story not adding up
Kris Baker
world's most expensive car. And don't have the driver "disappear" after
you've left your blood on the driver's air bag.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-022206ferrari_lat,0,1938469.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Police Have More Questions for Ferrari 'Passenger'
By Richard Winton and Bob Pool, Times Staff Writers
Investigators intend to again interrogate the man who said he was a
passenger - not the driver - of the $1 million Ferrari that crashed into a
power pole in Malibu and was cut in half, authorities said today.
The man, Stefan Eriksson, told investigators the driver also survived the
120mph crash with minor injuries and fled the scene on foot Tuesday morning
before paramedics arrived.
"We're investigating as to who was actually driving," said Sgt. Philip
Brooks of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department today. "His
(Eriksson's) story has inconsistencies that need to be cleared up.
"We will reinterview him to try and clarify," Brooks said this afternoon.
Brooks said witnesses will testify that the Ferrari was racing another car
along Pacific Coast Highway.
The investigation has also centered on the ownership of the sports car,
Brooks said. "We have quite a few new leads on that."
The red Ferrari Enzo - one of only 400 ever made and worth more than $1
million - broke apart Tuesday when it crested a hill on PCH going 120 mph
and slammed into a power pole.
The crash did not result in serious injuries. But it sent shockwaves through
both the tabloid and exotic car worlds as one group wondered whether the
driver was a celebrity and the other mourned the loss of a hand-built car
revered by many as a work of art.
Eriksson, 44, is a Bel-Air resident. Officials are trying to determine
whether he is the noted Swedish game designer whose firm, perhaps not
surprisingly, was involved with car-racing themed video games.
Authorities said Eriksson said he was a passenger in the Ferrari, which he
said was being driven by a German acquaintance he knew only as Dietrich.
One witness told deputies that the Ferrari appeared to be racing with a
Mercedes-Benz SLR northbound along the coastal highway when the accident
occurred about 6 a.m. west of Decker Road.
Eriksson told authorities that "Dietrich" ran up a hill toward the canyon
road and disappeared. Brooks said detectives are far from convinced they
have the whole story.
Eriksson "had a .09 blood-alcohol level, but if he's a passenger, that's
OK," Brooks said. "But he had a bloody lip, and only the air bag on the
driver's side had blood on it. The passenger-side air bag did not. My
Scooby-Doo detectives are looking closely into that.
"Maybe the 'driver' had a friend who picked him up. Maybe he thumbed a
ride," the sergeant added. "Maybe he was a ghost."
The crash left Ferrari fans anguished.
"I'm not surprised the driver ran away. He'd have been strangled by the
owner," said Tex Otto, a Santa Monica graphic artist who edits two magazines
for Ferrari owners.
"This will have a big impact on the local Ferrari community. This was not a
car. It was a rolling art form."
Ferrari owner Chris Banning, a Beverly Hills writer who is finishing a book
called the "Mulholland Experience" that will touch on the cult of sports car
racing on that mountain roadway, characterized the Enzo's destruction as "a
tremendous loss" to the automotive world.
"He destroyed one of the finest cars on Earth, maybe the finest. It's like
taking a Van Gogh painting and burning it," said Banning, who is a leader of
the Ferrari Owners Club.
Gil Lucero, a Mountain View telecommunications company executive who is
president and Pacific region chairman of the Ferrari Club of America, said
only 399 Enzos were at first scheduled to be assembled at the factory
between 2002 and 2004, each priced at $670,000.
"We're investigating as to who was actually driving," said Sgt. Philip
Brooks of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department today. "His
(Eriksson's) story has inconsistencies that need to be cleared up.
"We will reinterview him to try and clarify," Brooks said this afternoon.
Brooks said witnesses will testify that the Ferrari was racing another car
along Pacific Coast Highway.
The investigation has also centered on the ownership of the sports car,
Brooks said. "We have quite a few new leads on that."
The red Ferrari Enzo - one of only 400 ever made and worth more than $1
million - broke apart Tuesday when it crested a hill on PCH going 120 mph
and slammed into a power pole.
The crash did not result in serious injuries. But it sent shockwaves through
both the tabloid and exotic car worlds as one group wondered whether the
driver was a celebrity and the other mourned the loss of a hand-built car
revered by many as a work of art.
Eriksson, 44, is a Bel-Air resident. Officials are trying to determine
whether he is the noted Swedish game designer whose firm, perhaps not
surprisingly, was involved with car-racing themed video games.
Authorities said Eriksson said he was a passenger in the Ferrari, which he
said was being driven by a German acquaintance he knew only as Dietrich.
One witness told deputies that the Ferrari appeared to be racing with a
Mercedes-Benz SLR northbound along the coastal highway when the accident
occurred about 6 a.m. west of Decker Road.
Eriksson told authorities that "Dietrich" ran up a hill toward the canyon
road and disappeared. Brooks said detectives are far from convinced they
have the whole story.
Eriksson "had a .09 blood-alcohol level, but if he's a passenger, that's
OK," Brooks said. "But he had a bloody lip, and only the air bag on the
driver's side had blood on it. The passenger-side air bag did not. My
Scooby-Doo detectives are looking closely into that.
"Maybe the 'driver' had a friend who picked him up. Maybe he thumbed a
ride," the sergeant added. "Maybe he was a ghost."
The crash left Ferrari fans anguished.
"I'm not surprised the driver ran away. He'd have been strangled by the
owner," said Tex Otto, a Santa Monica graphic artist who edits two magazines
for Ferrari owners.
"This will have a big impact on the local Ferrari community. This was not a
car. It was a rolling art form."
Ferrari owner Chris Banning, a Beverly Hills writer who is finishing a book
called the "Mulholland Experience" that will touch on the cult of sports car
racing on that mountain roadway, characterized the Enzo's destruction as "a
tremendous loss" to the automotive world.
"He destroyed one of the finest cars on Earth, maybe the finest. It's like
taking a Van Gogh painting and burning it," said Banning, who is a leader of
the Ferrari Owners Club.
Gil Lucero, a Mountain View telecommunications company executive who is
president and Pacific region chairman of the Ferrari Club of America, said
only 399 Enzos were at first scheduled to be assembled at the factory
between 2002 and 2004, each priced at $670,000.
Ferrari fan Wally Clark, a Villa Park insurance broker who owns two
Ferraris -- neither of which is an Enzo -- said used Enzos fetch between $1
million and $1.5 million.
"I think the price went up another $100,000 with today's crash," he said.
The Enzo model "is a very serious car" whose 660-horsepower V-12 engine can
accelerate from 0 to 65 mph in about four seconds, Clark said. It can exceed
217 mph.
"They'll burn rubber in every gear. You need to know what you're doing if
you drive them on the street. You can't be blowing past people at 180 miles
per hour on the freeway. You'll cause chain-reaction crashes behind you. I
don't know who the yahoos were in it. It's a damn good thing they weren't
killed."
Die-hard Ferrari aficionados who viewed TV news footage of the crash said
the Enzo's driver-safety system performed exactly as it was designed.
"The car has a carbon-fiber tub seating area. The driver's compartment is
made of this very tough, lightweight carbon composite and has tremendous
seats that really hold you in place," said Times automobile critic Dan Neil,
who drove an Enzo at Ferrari's plant in Italy.
"They're very unforgiving cars. High performance but merciless," Neil said.
Websites devoted to exotic cars followed crash developments breathlessly
through the day, even posting digital photos and eyewitness accounts sent in
by people who passed by the wreck.
Brooks said that no arrests had been made and that little was known about
Eriksson. Detectives were also trying to determine whether he was the Stefan
Eriksson who has raced Ferraris on European tracks.
Detectives are also trying to find the driver of the Mercedes that they
think was dueling the Enzo.
If their race theory is correct, it won't be the first time a Mercedes beat
a Ferrari.
Bo Raxo
"Kris Baker" <kris....@prodigyy.net> wrote in message
news:t_9Lf.16726$tb3....@newssvr24.news.prodigy.net...
> Moral of this story: if you're going to drink and drive, don't drive the
> world's most expensive car.
The Enzo, the world's most expensive car? Not quite.
First, the most expensive cars in the world aren't even new. They're used.
An old Bugatti from the 30s, one of six made in that model, brought ten
million. A used car at the legendary Barret-Jackson auction recently
brought over 3 million.
But if we're talking new cars, the Enzo is up there in the top ten, but not
number 1. The Bugatti Veyron - one ugly batmobile-on-steroids of a car -
goes for $1.2 million. An Enzo is listed around $600K, although the
inability to get one can push the price closer to a mill.
Reports are this guy was racing an SLR - reporters, who don't know cars,
will call this a Mercedes since that's the badge it carries, but actually
it's a McLaren. At about $450K, it's a relative bargain since it can run
with any of the big boys. Better ground effects engineering than the Enzo,
I'm guessing, which is why it didn't catch air on a road that floats up and
down - it's the crests that will get you.
If you're going to race on California roads in a supercar, you need one
designed by someone who knows those roads. Saleen S7 would be my choice,
and if somebody wants to donate the $555,000 price I'll be glad to sacrifice
every point on my license in the pursuit of performance.
Bonus points: Half a mill and up for a car that will do 0-60 in three and a
half seconds. I've owned a vehicle that did the same thing and it only cost
me ten grand. That's the beauty of motorcycles, power to weight ratio is
surpassed only by the speed to dollar ratio.
Bo Raxo
Bo Raxo
"comadreja-t" <comad...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:comadreja-t-8886...@host170.octanews.net...
> In article <%AbLf.2116$F56....@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net>,
> "Bo Raxo" <invasio...@thepentagon.removethis.com> wrote:
>
> > Reports are this guy was racing an SLR - reporters, who don't know cars,
> > will call this a Mercedes since that's the badge it carries, but
actually
> > it's a McLaren. At about $450K, it's a relative bargain since it can
run
> > with any of the big boys. Better ground effects engineering than the
Enzo,
> > I'm guessing, which is why it didn't catch air on a road that floats up
and
> > down - it's the crests that will get you.
>
> front end) the two cars came off a hill, and it seems that like a
> hydroplane boat the Enzo became airbone. Right now, it may be not wet on
> the roads on PCH, but one gets some pretty strong winds off the ocean,
> and the Canyons help block it going due north, giving it alot of
> swirling in the are they were driving.
>
Excellent question. Given how close the pole he hit was to the highway, I'm
guessing he caught just enough air under the front wheels to lose
directional control, and then tripped on the curb. Five feet off the ground
is pretty high up, seems like too high for just catching air, more like the
result of something that trips the wheels and he's half way through a
rollover. There is a lot of cross-wind though, but I'm guessing that
wouldn't affect the ground effects - I mean, a 100 mph vector forward, a 30
mph gust sideways, not that much of a delta.
d~
<kris....@prodigyy.net> wrote:
>"We're investigating as to who was actually driving," said Sgt. Philip
>Brooks of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department today. "His
>(Eriksson's) story has inconsistencies that need to be cleared up.
>
{snip}
>Eriksson "had a .09 blood-alcohol level, but if he's a passenger, that's
>OK," Brooks said. "But he had a bloody lip, and only the air bag on the
>driver's side had blood on it. The passenger-side air bag did not. My
>Scooby-Doo detectives are looking closely into that.
What!? "My Scooby-Doo detectives"!?!
d~
--
* FYI: I don't check mail at this @ddy.
Samuel Sands
Rut Row!
Sam Sands
>
> d~
Kris Baker
"d~" <djo...@nospamhotmail.com> wrote in message
news:d09rv1dbc3ke7teoh...@4ax.com...
Must be a name they call themselves; kind of like "They think we'll
believe THAT stupid story? We'll show them."
Kris
Messalina
You're a didactic mo-fo, ain't you.
I don't know why the car fancier community is so up at arms about this.
sometimes people who buy expensive race cars get the urge to drive
fast.
Mez