We’ve been hearing a lot lately about racing and breaking speed limits due to the absence of traffic from the coronavirus shelter in place. But this incident goes way beyond what anyone would expect. At 7:30 this morning the NYPD responded to a wreck in Midtown Manhattan. The car was one of 25-built Gemballa-tuned Porsche Carrera GTs. This one happens to be a 2004 model. The driver struck a parked car fleeing southbound on 11th Avenue. He then struck three other parked cars on West 44th Street before coming to a stop.

The person involved in the incident according to an NYPD statement is Benjamin Chen. Besides being a well-known collector of supercars he’s the founder of the notorious Gold Rush Rally. He was “arrested for reckless driving and operating a motor vehicle impaired by drugs,” according to the NYPD police report.

The Gold Rush Rally founder being behind the wheel of this Carrera GT mayhem adds to the insanity of it all

The Gold Rush Rally is an annual supercar rally that has included arrests for speeding, impounding of cars, and multiple citations and warnings of note. All of this fun and it only costs $20,000 to enter. It is advertised as a “premier automotive lifestyle Rally,” which allows the reader’s imagination to go to all sorts of wild antics possible. 

Of course, social media lit up and there has been plenty of surveillance footage as well as phone video aplenty. In this Instagram posting, you can see the Carrera GT slam into a parked van for no apparent reason. Incredibly, in spite of the damage, Mr. Chen proceeded on his merry way. 

In the above posting, you can see the aftermath of the first crash and subsequent fleeing from the scene. Onlookers are stunned.

After continuing on West 44th Street his other three encounters with parked cars resulted in rendering the Porsche undrivable. It might have been deemed undrivable before Mr. Chen took possession of it based on the Carrera GT’s history.

The Carrera GT is notorious for getting away from its driver

Porsche Carrera GTs are notorious for getting away from their drivers, even seasoned ones. The most famous accident involved Fast and Furious actor Paul Walker’s death in 2017 driving a Porsche Carrera GT. While Walker’s was a merely stock Carrera GT, Mr. Chen’s was tuned by Gemballa. 

Gemballa cranks up an additional 70 hp out of the 5.7-liter V10 to 670 hp. They also lighten up the car and add adjustable coil-over shocks and gas-filled dampers. The suspension can be adjusted from inside the cabin. Clutch pedal pressure is also reworked for smoother gear changes. 

An infotainment system and satellite nav are added to the center console. Most Carrera GTs came before such systems were available. Acceleration, lateral acceleration, and deceleration can all be tracked from the added system.

With only 25 ever built the Gembala Mirage GT rarely comes up for sale

With only 25 built they don’t come up for sale much but estimates put a Gemballa-modified Carrera GT at a minimum of $800,000. Based on the images of the wrecked Porsche it will definitely be reconstructed without too much pain. When you’re dealing with these kinds of figures there is nothing that can’t be fixed to perfection. 

Mr. Chen’s reputation, however, will take a lot more to fix. That’s how things like this tend to go.