Authorities in California are investigating a spectacular crash on a coastal highway that destroyed a rare Ferrari Enzo car estimated to be worth more than $1 million (almost €840,000).
The red Ferrari was doing at least 160 km/h when the driver lost control and struck a power pole on Pacific Coast Highway, investigators said.
The car - one of only 400 made - shattered, with its engine resting on the highway and its wreckage scattered.
Sheriff's investigators identified the owner as Stefan Ericksson, 44, of Bel Air, California, who escaped the wreck with 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 of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. 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 sceptical 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."
Ferrari owner Chris Banning, a Beverly Hills writer who is finishing a book on sports car racing in the California hills. "It's like taking a Van Gogh painting and burning it."