Man blames 'Dietrich' after rare Ferrari wrecked in California

[He219]

February 23, 2006

MALIBU, Calif. -- Authorities are investigating a spectacular crash on Pacific Coast Highway that destroyed a rare Ferrari Enzo estimated to be worth $1.2 million.

The red Ferrari was going at least 100 mph when the driver lost control and struck a power pole, investigators said. The car -- one of only 400 made -- shattered, with its engine coming to rest on the highway and its wreckage scattered.

Sheriff's investigators identified the owner as Stefan Ericksson, 44, of Bel Air, who had only a cut lip.

''For $1 million, you get a very good passenger-safety system, and apparently in this case it did work,'' said Sgt. Philip Brooks.

Authorities said Ericksson told them he was a passenger and the driver was a German acquaintance he knew only as Dietrich, who he said ran into the nearby hills. A three-hour search failed to turn up anyone, and officials said they were skeptical of the account. Only the driver's side air bag deployed, Brooks said.

''He destroyed one of the finest cars on earth, maybe the finest,'' said Ferrari owner Chris Banning, a Beverly Hills writer who is finishing a book on the cult of sports car racing along winding Mulholland Drive.

''It's like taking a Van Gogh painting and burning it.'' AP

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/He219/Todays%20Pix/384d2c14.jpg
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A Los Angeles County sheriff inspects the wreckage of a rare Ferrari Enzo that crashed on the Pacific Coast Highway Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2006, in Malibu, Calif. The red Ferrari, estimated to be worth more than $1 million, was going at least 100 mph when the driver lost control and struck a power pole, investigators said. Sheriff's investigators identified the owner as Stefan Ericksson, 44, of Bel Air, who escaped the wreck with only a cut lip. The Los Angles Times reports that Stefan Eriksson was a top executive for a European video game firm that had developed a rival handheld game device to Sony's and Nintendo's models. Eriksson said after Tuesday's crash that he was a passenger in the million-dollar car, but a driver hasn't been found. (AP Photo/Hanz Laetz) (AP Photo/Hanz Laetz)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/He219/Todays%20Pix/e3947488.jpg
video (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-022106ferrari_apvid,1,1069524,asx.wmvfile)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/He219/Todays%20Pix/8863a0b8.jpg


A firefighter looks at the engine to the wrecked, million-dollar Enzo Ferrari that crashed on Pacific Coast Highway on Tuesday.
(Hans Laetz / Malibu Times)
Feb. 21, 2006

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/He219/Todays%20Pix/0624ad52.jpg


A telephone pole hangs hangs by a cable tv antenna after it was hit by Stefan Eriksson's Ferrari.
(Hans Laetz / Malibu Times)
Feb. 21, 2006

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/He219/Todays%20Pix/1f8f01c7.jpg


Swedish millionaire Stefan Eriksson, 44, of Bel-Air, talks to a deputy after his Ferrari crashed.
(Hans Laetz / Malibu Times)
Feb. 21, 2006

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/He219/Todays%20Pix/35cee065.jpg


Stefan Eriksson stands next to an ambulance following the wreck of his Ferrari on Tuesday.
(Hans Laetz / Malibu Times)
Feb. 21, 2006

[Greek soldier]

the driver was a German acquaintance he knew only as Dietrich

He219, was that you?? :D :D :D

[scrybe]

Damn. I saw one of the pics in the daily pics thread. The fact that the car seperated when it hit the pole probably saved him.

[Chuckie]

Gee lets hope they find this Deitrich fella. Hope he's okay ;)


I think everyone has a Deitrich that they use some point in their life when the $hit hits the fan, usually when you are a kid or early teen though. I came home one night when I was a teenager stinking of cigarette smoke and blamed it on an fictional friend called Eric. It's pretty sad though when you are almost in your 40's and still blaming stuff on an imaginary friend.

[2Sheds_Jackson]

I think the commentary that "for $1.2m you get a super-safe car" idea is probably poo. The #$%* windshield is barely cracked. It's nearly untouched from the firewall forward. It was a freak accident, with the thing sailing through the air and the pole hitting it just right, behind the passenger compartment. Even idiots get lucky.

I hereby issue a challenge - take your $1.2m Enzo, get up to 120mph,and hit the very same pole head on, and we'll take a look at it. Oh and I get to keep the V-12, once the driver's DNA is washed off of it. :)

[He219]

"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.

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.

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"

LA Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ferrari23feb23,1,725523.story)

[Holstein]

ive heard of this guy befor hes a cu*t.



And a swedish cu*t

[He219]

http://www.latimes.com/images/icons/audioicon.gif Audio
Automotive columnist Dan Neil explains why the Ferrari crash wasn't worse. (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ferraridanneil-022306-mp3,0,5088940.mp3file)
(MP3 audio)

[Macs.]

Simple "Cage"-Design at work. Saved alot of lifes in Racing Sport, and on roads.

But, of course, if you hit for example a tree frontal... you are ****ed.

[Greek soldier]

I think the commentary that "for $1.2m you get a super-safe car" idea is probably poo. The #$%* windshield is barely cracked. It's nearly untouched from the firewall forward. It was a freak accident, with the thing sailing through the air and the pole hitting it just right, behind the passenger compartment. Even idiots get lucky.

I hereby issue a challenge - take your $1.2m Enzo, get up to 120mph,and hit the very same pole head on, and we'll take a look at it. Oh and I get to keep the V-12, once the driver's DNA is washed off of it. :)

Agree.

No, see what happened to a guy in Italy with his Enzo.

"With 256 kms/h you get killed in a Ferrari Enzo too"

"Getting out from a road with 256 kms/hour to a secondary road [its speed limit was 40 kms/hour], not even the most sophisticated carbon-fibre chassis is enough to save its brave driver [from death]"

http://www.autoblog.it/post/1957/a-256-kmh-si-muore-anche-sulla-ferrari-enzo

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/1038/enzodistrutta5ry.th.jpg (http://img522.imageshack.us/my.php?image=enzodistrutta5ry.jpg)

[Digital Marine]

Ouch, thats a shame.... but his own fault...

[He219]

Doesn't Shumi himself present the Enzo to a buyer if picked up in Maranello?

[Macs.]

Doesn't Shumi himself present the Enzo to a buyer if picked up in Maranello?

No. (The Enzo isn't in production, anymore.)

Its said that he worked on the Enzo himself, but I am not sure if that is just a PR Stunt. (He did numerous test drives with it, thats sure.)

Schumis Manager lives not far from where I live, and he has a Enzo, too. But he never ever drives it, its just rotting in his garage.

[He219]

Gotta have money to burn to drive one of those.

Just think of the mileage depreciation and cost of insurance alone ...

[Rantanplan]

Thats funney. A guy called Dietrich slept with the girlfriend of my best friend.

[Greek soldier]

Gotta have money to burn to drive one of those.

Just think of the mileage depreciation and cost of insurance alone ...

Are you serious?? Of course he has the money to hold this car!

I guess his annual revenues exceed $10,000,000...p-)

[Macs.]

Gotta have money to burn to drive one of those.

Just think of the mileage depreciation and cost of insurance alone ...

You don't get insurance for such cars. :)


BTW, here another Super-Car crash, a Carrera GT got crashed in Holland some weeks ago.

The driver was a woman, and made it 1 Kilometer with the car before she crashed it. p-)

http://www.brandweertubbergen.nl/uitruk/fotos/140106ongeval1.jpg

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http://www.brandweertubbergen.nl/uitruk/fotos/140106ongeval10.jpg

[Cabbage]

No. (The Enzo isn't in production, anymore.)

Its said that he worked on the Enzo himself, but I am not sure if that is just a PR Stunt. (He did numerous test drives with it, thats sure.)

Schumis Manager lives not far from where I live, and he has a Enzo, too. But he never ever drives it, its just rotting in his garage.

Of course...a Porsche is better. :)

By the way: useless trivia coming up.

3 Enzos were shipped to Britain.

1 Yellow went to Eric Clapton (now sold)
1 Black went to J-Kay from Jamiroquai
1 Red (not disclosed who had this one)

I'm sure there are many more now over here...that was from the original batch.



http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/8497/ferrarienzoblack3zu.jpg



Jay-k's car when he went to pick it up in Italy. This was for Evo magazine, I believe.




http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/3119/enzoyellow3sm19ek.jpg


http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/4326/enzosilver1sm5tc.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/2126/dscn15140bp.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


I wonder how many are left.....

[He219]

We got two Enzos and two new Carerra GTs driving around in Newport.
Don't know who owns them, just see them on occasion ..
;)

Usually see them at the Crystal Cove Promenade lot on weekends.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/He219/Todays%20Pix/6bd596bc.jpg
Ferrari EnzoNewport Beach, California1/14/2006


"There's nothing like Crystal Cove – nothing in the world that happens every Saturday," said Paul Edalat, who piloted a yellow 1991 Lamborghini Diablo. "It's probably the only place where you can see three Enzo Ferraris parked next to each other. You've got to come early to get behind the cones." Super cars star at weekly gathering (http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_969272.php)

[Eat a bullet]

There's one in my town. I'm gonna see if they'll let me borrow it.

[Cabbage]

The Enzo is a work of art...love that car. woot If you think a red one is worth over a million, imagine how much a yellow or silver one is worth. And these things don't depreciate either...

[He219]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/He219/Todays%20Pix/70f1a31d.jpg

This (http://www.pbase.com/xl1ken/scf) is what you can see here on any given Saturday ...
p-)

[Cabbage]

Hey...we forgot one. The FXX...

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/7618/xinsrc222060222145925314852360.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

LOL...He219...that's where all the Ferrari's are.... p-)...wow, orange! first time I've seen that...

[He219]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/He219/Todays%20Pix/8e9d901a.jpg
No crap either; I'll buy a cup of coffee at Pacific Whey for any forum member that want's to see the show Saturday mornings!

[Macs.]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/He219/Todays%20Pix/8e9d901a.jpg
No crap either; I'll buy a cup of coffee at Pacific Whey for any forum member that want's to see the show Saturday mornings!

Good to know ! :)

[He219]

Bitte, eine Tasse Kaffe?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/He219/Todays%20Pix/b0b2dbb6.jpg

Too bad they don't have a 'Dietrich' Coffee at Crystal Cove ..
;)

[JoaMei]

If some Dietrich guy comes and wants to drive my Ferrari Im warned now. p-)

[He219]

My first reaction upon reading the thread title was that Stefan Ericksson was blaming the crash on being juiced up on Dietrich [coffee] ..
p-)

[Seraphim]

Before selling these cars to people...I think they should administer a IQ test.

[zonk]

i'd drive an m3 before i drove on of those

[BLACKHORSE]

The people who really get to have fun with exotic cars are the Guys that work on them. woot

[California Joe]

"Gizmondo" nice name. Sounds like a pocket pussy.

The dude destroyed a million dollars. That makes him a dumbass.

[Enigma]

"Gizmondo" nice name. Sounds like a pocket pussy.

The dude destroyed a million dollars. That makes him a dumbass.

What a Punk!

Just imagine how many people you could feed or the number of vaccines you could buy with o n e m i l l i o n d o l l a r s

There are still about 29,000 children dying around the world of preventable diseaes such as pneumonia and malaria! And according to Unicef about 10.6 million children die yearly due to lack of medical aid!

Oye that's so S A D! :(

[FallenAngel]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/He219/Todays%20Pix/8e9d901a.jpg
No crap either; I'll buy a cup of coffee at Pacific Whey for any forum member that want's to see the show Saturday mornings!

Done. March 4th. I like mine with Sugar and cream :D

[Thor]

"Gizmondo" nice name. Sounds like a pocket pussy.

The dude destroyed a million dollars. That makes him a dumbass.
This guy is a well-known violent criminal. In 1993 he was sentenced to 10,5 years. Back then he was the leader of a crime syndicate, now he's into some kind of semi-legal business.

[deagle]

definition of "OWNED" !!
someone needs to photoshop it !!

[Seraphim]

What a Punk!

Just imagine how many people you could feed or the number of vaccines you could buy with o n e m i l l i o n d o l l a r s

There are still about 29,000 children dying around the world of preventable diseaes such as pneumonia and malaria! And according to Unicef about 10.6 million children die yearly due to lack of medical aid!

Oye that's so S A D! :(

If you have an issue...heres a tissue.

[<Gypsum Fantastic>]

What a Punk!

Just imagine how many people you could feed or the number of vaccines you could buy with o n e m i l l i o n d o l l a r s

There are still about 29,000 children dying around the world of preventable diseaes such as pneumonia and malaria! And according to Unicef about 10.6 million children die yearly due to lack of medical aid!

Oye that's so S A D! :(

You're right, that is a problem. I tell you what, i'll finish off those 29,000 children in exchange for a Ferrari Enzo.

Everyone's a winner.

[Thor]

You're right, that is a problem. I tell you what, i'll finish off those 29,000 children in exchange for a Ferrari Enzo.

Everyone's a winner.
I'd do it for the front half of it. p-)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/He219/Todays%20Pix/0b3cb1ec.jpg

[Violet Fashion by Mindy]

This is a bit of a mud marine. I made the news post last week

[Greek soldier]

http://www.italiaspeed.com/2006/cars/ferrari/02/enzo_crash/2602.html

[Macs.]

What a Punk!

Just imagine how many people you could feed or the number of vaccines you could buy with o n e m i l l i o n d o l l a r s

There are still about 29,000 children dying around the world of preventable diseaes such as pneumonia and malaria! And according to Unicef about 10.6 million children die yearly due to lack of medical aid!

Oye that's so S A D! :(

So why don't you go and sell your Computer and cancel your Internet Access and save some children ?

Thank you.

[Thor]

For any of you trying to get hold of what went on around this guy, here's a somewhat complicated flow chart. :)

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/6879/flowchart4lv.th.gif (http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=flowchart4lv.gif)

And a link
http://www.gamerevolution.com/static/index.php?section=feature&sub=gizmondo&page=index

[He219]

This story just stays interesting:

Mar 27, 2006 7:46 pm US/Pacific
Ferrari Owner's Wife Has Car Trouble Of Her Own

(CBS) BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. A Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren driven by the wife of the man accused of destroying a rare $1 million Ferrari in a Malibu crash was impounded after questions arose over its ownership, police said Monday.

The car -- whose 2006 model has a base price of $450,000 -- was driven by Nicole Persson, 33, the wife of Stefan Eriksson, who police say drove the Ferrari destroyed in the Malibu crash, according to Lt. Mitch McCann of the
Beverly Hills Police Department.

Officers spotted the McLaren with British plates at Wilshire Boulevard and Beverly Drive about 2:30 p.m. Sunday, McCann said

Persson, who did not have an appropriate driver's license, was cited and the car was impounded, McCann said.

"In a follow-up with Scotland Yard, we learned it may have been in fact improperly exported from the country," McCann said. "It had problems with ownership ... due to the fact it was the same kind of thing with the Ferrari dispute."

A bank in Scotland said it owned both the McLaren and Ferrari, according to reports.

Eriksson was an executive at a European video game manufacturer but left the company, which later went bankrupt, last fall after a Swedish newspaper printed allegations of his involvement in a counterfeiting operation.

Sheriff's Sgt. Phil Brooks told The Times that Swedish police have informed sheriff's investigators that Eriksson served five years in prison in the early 1990s for a counterfeiting-related crime.

Spyder Dobrosky, a 13-year-old who likes to photograph exotic cars, videotaped the McLaren after it was stopped by
police, he told reporters.

Dobrosky said he had photographed Eriksson in the destroyed Ferrari Enzo and recognized Persson from her getting out of that car. He said he just happened to be on Wilshire Boulevard when police stopped the car.

He said he first recognized the McLaren because of its British license plates. source (http://cbs2.com/local/local_story_086224625.html)



The Plot Thickens in Ferrari Crash

A gun's magazine found near the wreckage may be connected to the accident, and a Scottish bank says it might own the destroyed car.
By Richard Winton and David Pierson, Times Staff Writers
February 28, 2006

The mystery deepened Monday in the case of the puzzling crash last week of a $1-million Ferrari Enzo on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

Sheriff's detectives said Monday that they believe a gun's magazine discovered near the wreckage is connected to the crash, and they plan to interview an unnamed person who they believe was in the car with Swedish game machine entrepreneur Stefan Eriksson.

The crash has also garnered the attention of a leading Scottish bank, which has informed sheriff's investigators that it may own the destroyed car. At the same time, detectives are trying to figure out why another exotic car in Eriksson's extensive collection, a Mercedes SLR, was listed as stolen by Scotland Yard in London, said Sheriff's Sgt. Phil Brooks.
more (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ferrari28feb28,0,3986184.story?coll=la-home-headlines)



Mystery deepens in Malibu crash that destroyed rare Ferrari

By DAISY NGUYEN
Associated Press Writer

MALIBU, Calif. (AP) -- The plot continues to thicken as authorities try to unravel who was driving an exotic $1 million Ferrari that was traveling at an estimated 162 mph when it hit a power pole along Pacific Coast Highway and all but disintegrated.

Then there's the matter of a loaded gun clip found at the crash scene, a $14 million yacht listed as a home address and a pair of mysterious men who showed up after the crash and identified themselves as "homeland security" officers.

"It's like a James Bond story," Sgt. Philip Brooks of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said Thursday. "But I just want to find out who was driving the Ferrari." more (http://www.fox11.com/morestories/news/car_mystery.asp)

[KB]

LOS ANGELES - The Swedish video game entrepreneur involved in the 162-mph crash of a Ferrari has been arrested, accused of grand theft for an unauthorized collection of exotic cars, authorities said.

Detectives concluded that the wrecked Enzo Ferrari — one of only 400 made — along with a Mercedes and another Enzo Ferrari in Stefan Eriksson's collection were actually owned by British financial institutions, said Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.

Eriksson apparently brought the cars to Los Angeles when he moved from Britain last year, but the financial institutions that held the titles said his payments had lapsed. Authorities have said the $600,000 Mercedes had been reported stolen to London's Scotland Yard. The Ferrari was worth more than $1 million.

All three cars have been confiscated, and Eriksson, 44, was arrested at his Bel-Air home Saturday, Whitmore said.

He is being held without bail because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement put a hold him, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

The Ferrari crash spun into a web of mystery when Eriksson told authorities he was only a passenger in the car and that the driver was a German acquaintance he knew only as Dietrich. He said Dietrich ran into the hills, but a search by deputies turned up no one.

Officials have questioned Eriksson's story, noting that only the driver's side air bag had blood on it and Eriksson had a cut lip. The front of the red Ferrari crumpled when it slammed into a poll on the Pacific Coast Highway on Feb. 21.

Eriksson was an executive with Gizmondo, a European video game company that filed for bankruptcy.