Wired is running a beautiful feature about the Gizmondo head Bo Stefan Eriksson and his constant and consistent scam-a-palooza that ended in the fiery explosion of a Ferrari Enzo.
The Enzo has less than 6 inches of ground clearance, and at that speed, it took only a slight scrape under the front bumper to launch the vehicle. The airborne Ferrari landed in a skid that in a blink became a sidelong drift. Tires shredding, the car bounced over the shoulder onto a grassy slope wet with dew. All Eriksson could do was hold on as the slithering, swiveling Enzo again achieved liftoff, then slammed broadside into a wooden power pole.
For those who forgot or don’t care, the Gizmondo team was populated by members of the Swedish mafia (I know!!) and burned through millions of dollars in a quixotic quest to create an advanced gaming platform that everyone knew would fail immediately. After holding lavish launch parties around the world and leasing expensive cars, the management team disappeared, the company fell into bankruptcy, and Eriksson nearly became a Swedish meatball.
The illustrations for this story are by Jae Lee and kick major ass.
Gizmondo’s Spectacular Crack-up [Wired]