Ferrari split in two in crash; man killed

A man is dead and his passenger injured after a red Ferrari crashed into a light pole in Newport Beach, causing the vehicle to split in two. The violent crash occurred on Jamboree Road near Camelback Street just before 1 a.m. Wednesday and was reportedly witnessed by an officer in the area.

Police say the luxury Italian sports car crashed into a light pole, which toppled onto the car and split it in half. The driver was declared dead at the scene.  His identity is not yet known. His female passenger was ejected in the crash. She was hospitalized, and her condition is not known.

Hours after the crash, the front portion of the Ferrari could be seen resting against a hillside several feet away with its lights still functioning. The car appeared to be a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, an all-aluminum V12 with a top speed of 205 mph and a price tag of about $300,000.    It's not yet known how fast the driver was traveling at the time of the crash or what caused him to lose control.

-- KTLA News

Photo: Orange County coroner at the scene of a  fatal accident involving a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano in Newport Beach. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Rade]

Looks more like a 360 not a 599, at least from the headlights. I don't see the hood bulge like 599 has either but it could just be the angle.

[pitbullstew]

This the second time one of these cars has broekn up so badly, the other was in Malibu a few years ago when the car became airborne at high speed and disitegrated when it flipped.
What is going on with these cars where they come apart so completely?

[pitbullstew]

edmunds.com sez.................
Those two freckles
OK, so what's not to love about the otherwise stunning 599 GTB Fiorano? They're small complaints, but they may mean something to those few fortunate people (250 per year after November 2006) who will ever drive one.

First, the steering weight is out of whack with the rest of the car. At 160 mph on the autostrada, the steering wasn't nailed down tight like it would be in, say, a Porsche on the autobahn. If I'm going transcontinental, I don't want to be steering down a straightaway at triple digits with feather-light steering. There should be an exponential increase in the amount of resistance to errant input at that speed. Despite the 599 GTB's rather quick steering ratio (13.5:1), we found an unexpected amount of steering input was required to drive through tighter turns at Fiorano (turns 9 and 13); almost needing to un-hand the wheel and grab again. This understeering effect might be a result of the car's long-ish wheelbase, front axle weight, and relatively narrow-width of its 245mm front tires, compared to a similarly endowed car that comes to mind — the Corvette Z06. A possible solution to both idiosyncrasies would be to reduce the diameter of the steering wheel, making it physically harder to turn and more "flickable" in either direction.

The second blemish, and we blush to even call it that, is that the "RACE" mode on the manettino summons too much nannying, or control over the car through stability control and traction control. We had expected the F1-Trac and RACE-spec stability to be far more lenient than it was. Instead of coming on like a dimmer switch making minute adjustments/corrections, both the traction and stability controls behaved more like an on/off light switch. Sure, the RACE mode allows some oversteer out of a corner and even recognizes corrective countersteering input, but the safety systems intervene just at the point where a skilled driver could manage to pilot the car even quicker and more adeptly. Once we had moved the selector to CST (control of stability and traction) off, the car came to life as if it just had its lungs filled with oxygen. "Ah-ha!" I exclaimed to myself on the last lap of the day. The car was alive and managing to do exactly as I conducted it to do, and with confidence and authority.

If the "SPORT" settings were replaced with those from the "RACE" mode, and a decidedly more permissive set of parameters were written for "RACE," the top of the 599's performance envelope still would be secure while offering track-day participants room to play in relative safety. For the rest of the millionaires, the settings are appropriate to protect the quarter-million-dollar investment. There, that's it: light/slow steering and a somewhat conservative "RACE" mode. Hardly the kind of criticism the best Ferrari road car of all time deserves.

[Klang]

Cars come apart when they hit fixed objects at high speed. Ferrari's tend to be owned by rich males. Rich males tend to drive at speeds above their ability. Any automobile would come apart in such a collision.

[Timber]

The car _should_ come apart, to absorb the energy of the crash. The passenger compartment shouldn't break in half, though. In the Malibu Enzo Ferrari crash, the driver walked away from it. A Swedish mobster, the car was found to basically be stolen, and he was later jailed.

[dennisl59]

Humans driving cars must be banned!!!

For the sake of the Cars, Children, and Global Warming.

Project-X is on time and under budget. Thank You.

[typical]

good. glad he didn't kill any innocent, responsible, considerate people. so many men never evolve past adolescence.

[ndiggs]

Sorry guys, but it's definitely not a 599 Fiorano. You can see the front part of the car in the picture - does it look like there's room for a 6L V12 in there? The 599 has an engine in the front - the 360 and 430 have the engine behind the driver, as is clear in this picture. I'm a Ferrari enthusiast and I'm around these cars every day - that's a 430, and possible a Scuderia by the look of the wheels. Go ahead and search pictures. I see why the cops got it wrong because of their salaries and the way the car was destroyed, but they got it wrong for sure.

[Mg]

Judging by these comments, it seems like the dead car is of more value then the former life of the dead person.

[bobskis]

Dumb question:
Why do we continue to build, import and license vehicles that can not only far exceed speed limits but are designed to do so? Driven within the law they choke on their own carbon buildup and seldom get out of second gear. The German autobahns are almost the only roads in the world without speed limits. As I recall, the posted maximum on the Italian autostrada was 120 kph or about 75 mph.

[LG]

Agree, those are definetly 360 headlights.

[timjimlee]

Yes, I agree with dennis159. Ban humans from driving cars and replace them with trained chimpanzees (but only ones that won't bite people or spur poorly thought out political cartoons). That way, only an unimportant animal dies instead of a precious human (because, you see, the driver died but the passenger survived). Or just appropriate one of the Octomom kids once they are old enough to decently operate a motor vehicle. They're a dime a dozen. Also, thank you Mr. Clarkson for the automotive critique . . . very appropriately placed.

(for those of you who don't understand sarcasm, I am writing a sardonic parody of news stories and what people decide to care about) (and sorry about any typographical errors, I always try to use the proper spelling and grammar taught to me by my public school teachers - back before our education system was completely shafted by budget cuts)

Seriously though, my heart goes out the the friends and family members of the driver who are going to have to deal with the loss of their loved one.

[Eric]

It was an F430. Saw it on the way to work. Sad. Typicall news media getting details incorrect.

[Chris W.]

Final score:
- Idiots: 0
- Natural Selection: 1

[Lennon]

the car is not a 599 GTB,...looks like a 360 CS

[Fourth Generation]

Yeah ! ! ! ! One less on the road. I only can hope he did not have time to reproduce allowing his genes to die out with him :-)

[bill20]

That is NOT a Ferrari 599. It IS a 360 Modena. A little more research was needed before stats of the wrong car we made part of the story.

[SMG]

I agree that is not a Ferrarai 599. Wrong hood, fenders, and lights.

[jaechiney]

too bad. Orange County is notorious for these type of flashy cars. IMO, its just a matter of time before something like this happened. good thing no one else got hurt beside the genius that drove it. oh and the chick he was trying to impress.

[meister brau]

@pitbullstew "What is going on with these cars where they come apart so completely?"

It's called engineering. By coming apart the automobile absorbs the impact, not the passengers. You should watch car races. Back in the 1950s, it was not unusual in a car accident to have the vehicle come out without a scratch but all the passengers killed instantly.

[hwydave]

A person afford to buy a car like this does not mean a person is competent to drive.

[mike]

This is not a 599
a 360 for sure maybe a challenge stradale

some people should not own ferraries

[AB]

"not yet known what caused the crash..." That's an easy one to figure out: Newport Beach + Ferrari + Crash = Ego.

[Moe L.]

I wonder if the engine is salvageable?

[DBrunetti]

Why can't the media get anything right? That's is not a "599 GTB Fiorano, with an all-aluminum V12 with a top speed of 205 mph and a price tag of about $300,000" but a 360 Modena with a 8 cylinder engine and a value of less than half of that. Google is yout friend...

[Al]

i think i saw this car leaving the spectum club park at Howard Hughes center last night at around 6 pm. How many red 599's can there be on the westside?
Another PR disaster for Ferrari, although they go to great lengths to offer driver training for new Ferrari owners.
Christian Rinaldo totalled his Modena in Manchester, England a few months back but walked away unscathed. This guy wasn't so lucky. Just because you're rich, doesn't mean you've got the driving skills to match.

[ndiggs]

It's definitely not a 599. There's a huge V12 in the front of that car, and you can easily see that an engine could not fit in that open hood compartment. It is most likely a 360 from the shape of the headlights, but could also be a 430. Hard to tell from the shot. Either way, they all go fast and old guys get drunk and can kill themselves in them. I'm just glad his date survived.

[sw]

he wasn't trying to impress just some chick. that chick is actually my sister and it was her boyfriend of 2 years. and he wasn't drunk. get the facts straight. the driver of the porche was drunk, the one that walked away unharmed. that is why he in jail for vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

[Mark]

Who is The driver was declared dead at the scene?

[calpoly]

first of all it wasnt just some "chick he was trying to impress" it is actually my sister and her boyfriend of 2 years. and he wasn't drunk, the driver of the porche was and that is why he is in jail for vehicular manslaughter. get your facts straight and start thinking about the families and friends are who divested and not what type of model the car actually is. u dont understand till it happens to you. my sister was my best freind and i can thank god she is still alive but i cant say the same for her wonderful boyfriend who we will all miss. r.i.p

[Ferrari]

How can people even think this is a 599? Stop posting about "definatley not a 599." The 360 and 599 look nothing alike, one has an 8 and the other a 12. Its just annoying listening to a debate about the 599. Quite possible its a Challenge Stradale though.

Regardless, this a tradgedy. Stop bashing the driver. He could have been Shumacher, everyone has thier bad days. My deepest regards go out to the family and friends of the driver.

[vc]

a human died who cares what type of car it was...

[LIAM]

who gives a toss what engine and what car it was, a good man has died here and his girlfriend is critical this man started from nothing and built up his company so he could afford the good things in life and all you dumbasses can go on about is the fact that he may not have been able to drive well and the reports getting the car wrong....jesus get a grip you unsympathetic idiots. I did not know this man personally but by all account he was a great guy who will be sadly missed. My thoughts are with his family and friends at this time (tapout fan England) RIP.

[Dan]

For all who do not know, the deceased at the scene was Charles Lewis, knows as Mask, from the Tapout crew.

[laura raskin]

I am very saddened by this event. However, I was driving on the 73 last weekend and I was overtaken by a RED Ferrrari, going over 110 mphs ... nearly missing hitting my car. ..
I thought to myself, this man is going to kill somebody.... the resemblance is Eerry -to say the least.-

[carlos]

Another person with too much money and ego whilst not enough experience to drive such machinery. Sad but true.

[Wenona]

He was a very true respectful man and he will be in all our hearts.