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i dont know wat would make me more upset:

 

1. totalling a kick ass car like that

2. getting caught after running away and possibly being charged with one hell of a DUI

3. losing that race

 

...i mean damn. dont u guys think the ferrari could have wiped out the maclaren??

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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fe...-home-headlines

 

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

 

 

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.

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I'm amazed that light of a car broke an electric pole. We see cars hit these things constantly at work and most of the poles survive, they just have stories to tell. It had to hit it high, I don't think there is much to those cars, just motor, aluminum, titanium and Jackasses wrapped in plastic.

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i actually heard it was a Mercedes SLR not a Mclaren

478510[/snapback]

 

There exists a race F-1 team named "McLaren Mercedes". I think the two may be one and same in some form or if not one, they are definately combining forces on the F-1 circuit. Anyone know if Mercedes bought McLaren or if they merged in some manner?

 

The specs I can find on the McLaren F-1 and Enzo are a toss-up. There is never a news helicopter when you need one. I think it would have made big money on PPV... :clap:

 

This web site is not necessarily authoritative, but the first I found that had specifications for both cars:

 

http://www.fantasycars.com/McLaren_F1/McLa..._technical.html

 

http://www.fantasycars.com/derek/cars/enzo.html

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  • 1 month later...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060418/od_nm/...HNlYwN5bmNhdA--

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Swedish former video game executive who destroyed a $1 million Ferrari Enzo in a 160 mile per hour crash was charged Monday with stealing that Ferrari and another one plus a rare Mercedes worth a total of nearly $4 million.

 

The Los Angeles District Attorney's office charged Bo Stefan M. Eriksson with nine criminal counts including drunk driving, embezzlement, grand theft auto, and possession of a firearm. If convicted he faces 14 years in prison.

 

Eriksson, 44, was an executive for European video game company Gizmondo, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year with more than $200 million in debt.

 

Authorities said Eriksson was drunk at the time of the February crash and that he had imported his sports car collection to the United States in violation of a lease agreement with British financial institutions.

 

The Ferrari Enzo wrecked in the crash was one in only 400 ever made and was going well over 160 miles per hour when it smashed into a power pole on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu on February 21. The crash ripped the car apart but nobody was injured seriously.

 

Eriksson was arrested in April and is currently in jail while immigration officials conduct a separate inquiry.

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