Supercar driver totals Gemballa Mirage GT in massive NYC wreck

Police arrested the driver of Gemballa Mirage GT — an ultra-rare exotic based on the Porsche Carrera GT — after it struck several other vehicles and left a trail of destruction on 11th Avenue in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan Tuesday morning.

Police did not release the name of the driver, but said he was the owner of the vehicle and charges are pending, per reports. Road & Track did some sleuthing and reports that it was likely Benjamin Chen, a supercar collector and the co-founder of Gold Rush Rally, an annual rally of exotic and luxury vehicles that he once described as a “rolling party with over 200 of your friends.” And sure enough, the car looks just like the one he talked about in 2014 with the DuPont Registry Daily. There’s even an Instagram video of the hoodie-wearing driver, who resembles Chen, being ordered out of the vehicle. He initially appears to stumble when exiting the cockpit.

The car, a modified Porsche Carrera GT that can cost north of $750,000, had Massachusetts plates reading “Nine 80” and came to a stop at 11th Avenue and 44th Street on Manhattan’s west side, just north of the Javits Center, which is being used as a makeshift field hospital for coronavirus patients. The car looks to be a total loss, its entire front right corner sustained heavy damage, with the panels missing and the body structure badly mangled. Other photos showed the wheels cocked at different angles, windshield shattered, part of the rear fender missing and its hood lying on the sidewalk. Helicopter footage from Fox 5 in New York showed it surrounded by ambulances and other emergency vehicles after it was stopped.

One video showed it careening out of control at high speed down a mostly abandoned 11th Avenue and slamming into a white Toyota Sienna minivan, but then trying to flee.

Chen was involved in a wreck while driving a McLaren 12C Spider during the goldRush Rally in 2013 in Texas.