Drunk Idiot Destroys Enzo

[Threshold]

Ferrari should include a clause in all of the cars they sell saying "driving any Ferrari while drunk will result in a perma ban from the companies buyer list, and that any other ferraries owened by that person will be confiscated and donated to charity." If you don't agree to this, you should not be allowed to own a Ferrari.

Idiot people who buy cars they can't drive...

 

[Mt. Lynx]

Ferrari should include a clause in all of the cars they sell saying "driving any Ferrari while drunk will result in a perma ban from the companies buyer list, and that any other ferraries owened by that person will be confiscated and donated to charity." If you don't agree to this, you should not be allowed to own a Ferrari.

Idiot people who buy cars they can't drive...

That should go for all car companies. Or why not have an alcolock in all new cars? If you have to make a breathingtest for alcohole before you can even start your car, drunk driving should be minimized. At least in new cars.

This is truly a shame. Not only for the driver/passenger, but for his company, and for Ferrari as well. Sure, they can´t account for all their buyers, but I´m pretty sure they see this as a case of poor judgement from their side.

 

[Z32]

pch has varies greatly in both slow sweeping long straights and fun twisties. also after ferrari hand picks the buyers, im pretty sure each buyer has the right to sell it to whoever they wish as the car is no longer ferrari's property

 

[Carl.]

Update: he now loses his McLaren SLR.

This guy is definitely my hero.

Can't deny he has good taste in rims though.

 

[DeLoreanBrown]

'

Lovely, two questions;

Where is the second Ferrari said to be 'imported' by Eriksson?

Did his wife use the 'third passenger' excuse?

Also; it seems that you can 'borrow' anything whatsoever from a financial institution if you're a Hollywood resident.

 

[Sting]

LMAO!!! Oh man this guy is s**t outta luck.

 

[TheCracker]

Ferrari should include a clause in all of the cars they sell saying "driving any Ferrari while drunk will result in a perma ban from the companies buyer list, and that any other ferraries owened by that person will be confiscated and donated to charity." If you don't agree to this, you should not be allowed to own a Ferrari.

Why ban stupid people from buying your car,s when you can charge them a fortune to buy the car in the first place, then charge them a similar fortune to re-build the same car every time they **** up? - sounds like a good financial strategy to me!

 

[Wolfe]

Why ban stupid people from buying your car,s when you can charge them a fortune to buy the car in the first place, then charge them a similar fortune to re-build the same car every time they **** up? - sounds like a good financial strategy to me!

Yeah, but not so much with a limited-production model like the Enzo.

Also, Ferrari already chooses their customers based on qualification -- you can't buy certain cars (like the Enzo) until you've been a customer for X number of years and own X number of Ferraris.

 

[McLaren]

Wth is wrong with this dude?
Wait a second....

Isn't this the guy who was speeding in a silver SLR in Europe and crashed head-on or something into a smaller car?

 

[Jay]

Isn't this the guy who was speeding in a silver SLR in Europe and crashed head-on or something into a smaller car?

I thought that was some boxer (professional fighter)?

 

[amp88]

I thought that was some boxer (professional fighter)?

Indeed. Prince Naseem Ahmed.

http://www.islam4you.co.uk/news/articles/99/1/Prince-Naseem-arrested-over-crash

 

[DeLoreanBrown]

'

islam4you.co.uk has the pretty pictures, i had a toss up about ten years ago; go see Prince Naseem vs Someone-less-hype box at the point or go see Bjork at the same venue the day before.

we plumped for Bjork.

 

[TheCracker]

Yeah, but not so much with a limited-production model like the Enzo.

I would have thought more so with a limited run model, they always charge so much more for the spares on these cars because they are made in linited numbers and don't need to keep many in stock.

Also, Ferrari already chooses their customers based on qualification -- you can't buy certain cars (like the Enzo) until you've been a customer for X number of years and own X number of Ferraris.

Yes, but any rich idiot can buy one second-hand or new (delivery mileage) from a speculator


I see Naseem almost daily, his personal gym is round the corner from where i work, the guys a (fat little) idiot who keeps the website 'wrecked exotics' going by himself!

 

[xcsti]

'

islam4you.co.uk has the pretty pictures, i had a toss up about ten years ago; go see Prince Naseem vs Someone-less-hype box at the point or go see Bjork at the same venue the day before.

we plumped for Bjork.

Eww, bjork is the lesser or two evils.

 

[Zardoz]

Update:

And now he's in the slammer -

(I'll paste the text version because L.A. Times stories usually go behind a paywall after a day or so.)

Los Angeles Times, April 10, 2006

Arrest Is Made in Ferrari Accident

Stefan Eriksson, held on suspicion of grand theft, hadn't made payments on the Enzo wrecked in Malibu or on two other cars, authorities say.

By Richard Winton and David Pierson, Times Staff Writers


Sheriff's deputies have arrested the Swedish video game executive who crashed in a rare Ferrari in Malibu in February, alleging that he didn't own that car and others in his $3.5-million exotic car collection, authorities said Sunday.

Stefan Eriksson faces grand theft charges after detectives raided his gated Bel-Air estate Friday night, spent six hours searching it and then took him into custody Saturday night.

Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said detectives concluded that the wrecked Ferrari, a red Enzo — as well as a rare Mercedes and a second, black Enzo — were owned by British financial institutions.

The cars were purchased in Britain last year when Eriksson lived there. He apparently brought them to Los Angeles when he moved here. But financial institutions that held titles to the cars informed detectives that payments had lapsed, Whitmore said.

The arrest underscores that what started as a curious auto accident on Pacific Coast Highway has expanded into a multi-pronged investigation, he said. The search was conducted by the sheriff's emergency operations bureau, part of the county's Homeland Security division.

"This is the beginning of the investigation," Whitmore said. "All three cars have now been confiscated."

Although no one was seriously injured in the crash, the investigation has generated significant attention because of the strange circumstances surrounding it and the fact that it destroyed one of only 400 Enzos ever built. Authorities believe the car was going 162 mph when it smashed into a power pole.

Eriksson told deputies who arrived at the scene that he was not the driver and that a man named Dietrich had been behind the wheel.

Eriksson said Dietrich fled the scene, but detectives have been openly skeptical of this story.

Investigators took a swab of Eriksson's saliva in order to match his DNA against blood found on the Ferrari's driver-side air bag. The comparison results are back, but detectives won't release the findings.

A blood-alcohol test on Eriksson at the time showed him to be above the legal limit for driving in California, so he could face several other charges if he's found to be the driver.

Eriksson also told deputies that he was deputy commissioner of the police department of a tiny transit agency in the San Gabriel Valley.

A few minutes after the crash, two men arrived at the scene, identified themselves as Homeland Security officers and spoke to Eriksson at length before leaving.

Detectives are investigating any connection Eriksson may have had to the agency.

Eriksson, 44, was booked into the Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles. He is being held without bail because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has put a hold him, though it is unclear why. His attorney could not be reached for comment.

Eriksson was an executive with Gizmondo, a European video game company that filed for bankruptcy earlier this year with more than $200 million in debt. According to Swedish authorities, he served prison time in the early 1990s after being convicted of counterfeiting.

During the search at Eriksson's Bel-Air home, detectives found the black Enzo, worth more than $1 million, Whitmore said.

His Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, worth $600,000, was seized last month when his wife was stopped in Beverly Hills on suspicion of driving without a license. That car had been reported stolen to London's Scotland Yard.

The case has been the talk of exotic car groups since the accident. On Sunday, some Ferrari aficionados expressed hope that the episode might finally be over.

"The Ferrari community is very upstanding and a very serious group of people," said Gil Lucero, Pacific region president of the Ferrari Club of America. "It's unfortunate folks with more money than sense get into these things."


I smell a made-for-TV movie script here! This is perfect for one of those.

 

[amp88]

Interesting article, Zardoz. A 162mph impact with a power pole and walking away is a very impressive crash statistic. I wonder how many accidents people have survived at or above that speed in production cars before.

 

[Master_Yoda]

Interesting article, Zardoz. A 162mph impact with a power pole and walking away is a very impressive crash statistic. I wonder how many accidents people have survived at or above that speed in production cars before.

Didn't some famous race car driver survive a crash at 230mph on Le Mans, if i remember correctly it was 230, could be somthing elese.

 

[amp88]

Didn't some famous race car driver survive a crash at 230mph on Le Mans, if i remember correctly it was 230, could be somthing elese.

I was talking about production cars, I don't know what the quickest racing crash survived was (though Craig Breedlove had a 400mph (IIRC) accident when he was trying to break the land speed record).

 

[BMWteamPTG]

what a dumb a**hole...i dont believe people...sure if i owned a ferrari, id drive it fast and hard, but not to the point where id completely wreck it...moron

 

[opendriver]

what a dumb a**hole...i dont believe people...sure if i owned a ferrari, id drive it fast and hard, but not to the point where id completely wreck it...moron

Exactly-if you have a ferrari, take it to the track and rae it hard there. you might not hit a power pole:idea:

 

[Famine]

I was talking about production cars, I don't know what the quickest racing crash survived was (though Craig Breedlove had a 400mph (IIRC) accident when he was trying to break the land speed record).

I believe he was nearer the 500mph mark and, in the process, left the longest skidmarks ever recorded.

On the driving surface, I mean, obviously. Though if you crashed at 500mph, I bet you'd leave a pretty long one too.

Edit:

Breedlove returned to Bonneville with Spirit and pushed the record over 500 mph (800 km/h), setting it at 526.277 mph (846.961 km/h) on October 15, a record that stood for almost two weeks. In setting the new record, at the end of his second run, the Spirit lost its parachute brakes, skidded for five miles (8 km), through a row of telephone poles and crashed into a brine pond at around 200 mph (300 km/h). Breedlove was uninjured. This feat earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for longest skid marks. The Spirit was recovered and taken by the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago as an exhibit.

 

[300zxfairman]

If I'm not mistaken, Enzo's are actually leased from the factory. Fiat/Ferrari own them, and decide how much they are worth to "borrow". They wanted to make sure they were driven, rather than collect dust, and so that buyers wouldn't try to jack up the price of a limited-run supercar.


Except the driver was drunk. Sigh.

Let's face it, not many drivers can survive a 120+ mph accident on a public road. Hats off to Ferrari for putting F1-quality safety into a production-built, road-going car.

For $800g or how ever it cost it better come with F1-quality safety!!!

 

[TheCracker]

Interesting article, Zardoz. A 162mph impact with a power pole and walking away is a very impressive crash statistic. I wonder how many accidents people have survived at or above that speed in production cars before.

In 1938 Bernd Rosemeyer, driving a Auto-Union, crashed at 270mph attempting to regain his top speed record from Rudi Caracciola who had just taken the record at 268.3mph (this still stands as the highest top speed ever recorded on a public highway). Rosemeyer lost control in a cross wind and crashed into a concreate bridge support. He didn't survive it though, so i suppose this post is slightly irrelavant

 

[Sleek Stratos]

Just wondering, do the speedometer and tachometer needles stay frozen in place if you crash your car? Particularly when going at high speed. I was just looking at some pics of a wrecked Audi and the needles apparently didn't move much. The guy might've been doing 100+ I suppose.

Anyways, it truly is sad to hear about all the Enzos, Lamborghinis and Ford GTs getting thrashed, half the time not even by the owners themselves.

 

[McLaren]

I'm just guessing, but perhaps the wires that move the needles were disconnected and caused the needles to stay where they were?

 

[Pupik]

Just wondering, do the speedometer and tachometer needles stay frozen in place if you crash your car?

I've always thought it's more urban myth than reality. Unless you crash into a frozen pond, or you crash with really awful results for you or your car.

However, we have "black boxes" on our loaner cars, so we can tell how fast people are going when they crash our loaner cars; two years ago, someone flipped an ES 330 loaner going 91 mph. He hasn't shown his face at our dealership since doing so.

 

[ImprezaAddict]

I feel worse for the Enzo than for the douche who was driving it.

Me too. just a stupid guy driving a nice car

 

[DeLoreanBrown]

'

It disturbs me greatly that he had a BLACK ENZO (bit like jay kay's) sorta stashed. When there was mention of a 2nd ferrar i had pictured a 355 or so, the red one must have been test fodder, why the duplicate, this guy has some profound new disorder or no love for ferraris. prob both.

 

[exigeracer]

The guy's out of jail and deportOWNED!

Stefan 'Fat Steffe' Eriksson, the former boss of bankrupt videogame gadget outfit Gizmondo, is set to be booted out of the US having served his time in the Big House.

Swedish newspapers say Eriksson has been released early and is waiting at a deportation centre outside Los Angeles to be put on a flight home. The US Swedish embassy has smoothed over some passport issues, it's reported.
ferrari enzo crash

Fat Steffe was arrested by sheriffs in April 2006 following a little prang in a Ferrari Enzo (aftermath pictured) near Malibu.

He had claimed a mysterious German known only as "Dietrich" had been driving at the time of the 162mph smash, but DNA testing on steering wheel blood pointed the finger at Fat Steffe.

It transpired the Ferrari was one of several supercars apparently belonging to a British leasing firm and shipped to the US after he quit Gizmondo. Swedish press reports had revealed his mid-1990s financial convictions and Gizmondo went titsup soon after.

In November 2006, he pleaded no contest to charges of embezzlement and to being a felon in possession of a firearm

Those unfamiliar with the entertaining Fat Steffe saga should check out our related stories below.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/23/fat_steffe_gizmondo_release/