The Ferrari Enzo may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it was a groundbreaking car in a number of ways. Indeed, it was the first Ferrari styled by a designer of non-Italian descent. That designer recently got into a lot of trouble for speeding in his home country of Japan.
Kiyoyuki “Ken” Okuyama narrowly avoided spending months in prison after being caught driving an Enzo 55 mph (88 km/h) over the speed limit. The driver was caught driving at 80 mph (128 km/h) in a 25 mph (40 km/h) zone.
To make matters worse, the incident occurred in the middle of the morning, at 10:50 a.m. on October 1, 2022, on a scenic mountain road in the Yamagata Prefecture, reports Japan Times. While the location hardly excuses the degree to which he was exceeding the speed limit, I think we can all understand how the throttle pedal might get pushed a little harder under those circumstances.
Read: Fernando Alonso’s First-Built Ferrari Enzo Goes to Auction, May Fetch Over $5.3M
At a trial earlier this year, Okuyama’s lawyer attempted to argue that he had to speed to help cool the Enzo’s 651 hp (485 kW/660 PS) 6.0-liter V12 engine. Despite the designer’s in-depth knowledge of the Ferrari’s cooling system, this did not prove to be a persuasive legal defense.
“The degree of speeding was considerable and was extremely dangerous,” said Judge Osamu Imai, and sentenced Okuyama to four months in prison, as prosecutors demanded. However, if the 63-year-old designer can keep his nose clean, he won’t actually have to step foot in jail, because the sentence has been deferred for two years, due to the fact that he admitted to the wrongdoing.
Along with copping to the charge, Okuyama apologized to the Japanese public, and swore to never speed so aggressively again.
