A high-speed smash that wrote off a Ferrari Enzo supercar in the Malibu area of California, during what was widely reported to be a road-racing incident, made the TV headline news across the USA yesterday. This report from NBC:

A speeding Ferrari whose driver may have been racing crashed Tuesday on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, prompting the closure of the roadway and an investigation to determine who was behind the wheel, officials said. Paramedics sent to PCH at Decker Road about 6:15 a.m. treated one person at at the scene for a minor injury, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Ron Haralson. That man, whose name was not immediately released, told authorities he was the owner of the Ferrari Enzo, but claimed that he was the passenger and that the driver ran off after the crash.

"The fact (is) that the passenger is the registered owner of the vehicle, from the Beverly Hills-Bel Air area. The passenger had blood on his mouth and both airbags on the car deployed, but only the driver's side airbag had blood on it, not the passenger side," said Sgt. Phillip Brooks. As of late Tuesday morning, there had been no arrests in the case, according to the watch commander at the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's Station. The Ferrari Enzo, a limited-edition vehicle worth between US$600,000 and US$1 million, has a published top speed of 225 mph.
 

"We have the passenger, who told us the driver did flee from the scene," Brooks said. "And we... followed some footprints up the side of the hill in an effort to locate the driver." Authorities believe the Ferrari "was travelling at least 100 mph and it will probably be a lot more than that once we conclude our investigation," Brooks said. Authorities said the driver of the Ferrari might have been racing a motorist in a Mercedes Benz.

The impact sheared the Ferrari in half, with the entire front section separated from the rest of the vehicle. "For a million dollars, you get a very good passenger-safety system, and apparently in this case it did work," Brooks said. Some electrical service was interrupted in the area after a power pole was struck by the car. At least one lane of PCH remained closed late Tuesday morning while crews worked to replace the damaged pole.