Luxury Cars
Ben Chen Crashes Rare Gemballa Mirage GT in New York City
Published
9 months agoon
Ben Chen aka @bc crashes his rare Gemballa Mirage GT in a drug-fuelled joy ride through the streets of New York City, also taking out a Toyota Sienna and three other cars in the process.
Earlier this week a rare Gemballa Mirage GT driven by owner Ben Chen caused automotive carnage after a drug-fuelled joy-ride down the center of Midtown Manhattan, New York City.
In a city currently battling to contain over 81,000 cases of COVID-19 and at least 4,500 deaths, a Gemballa Mirage GT crashing into a Toyota Sierra van parked on the side of the road and then taking out a further three cars in the process was the last thing most people expected to see happening on the streets of NYC under a “Stay At Home” directive.
View this post on InstagramRough morning *photos taken by me*
A post shared by ronnie c 📷 (@ronniecnyc) on
The official NYPD account reads:
“On Tuesday, April 7, 2020, at approximately 0730 hours, officers responded to a motor vehicle collision in the vicinity of West 44 Street and 11 Avenue, within the confines of the Midtown North Precinct.
Upon arrival officers observed a 33-year-old male operator and sole occupant of a 2014 Porsche Gemballa Mirage GT conscious and alert. Further investigation revealed that the operator of vehicle #1 struck the rear of a parked unoccupied vehicle #2 and fled southbound on 11 Avenue in his Porsche The motorist proceeded to strike vehicles #3,4 and 5 that were also parked and unoccupied in the vicinity of West 44 Street where his vehicle came to a rest. The suspect was taken into custody at the scene.
The following individual was arrested and charged with the above incident:
Chen, Benjamin
33-year-male
[Address redacted]
Charges: Operating a Motor Vehicle Impaired by Drugs and Reckless Driving
In footage shared to social media, the Gemballa Mirage GT can be seen hurtling out of control through the near-empty streets of Midtown Manhattan and crashing into a parked Toyota Sienna before continuing out of the CCTV line of sight.
In another clip shared online, pieces of the damaged Mirage GT are seen flying off the car as he drives away from the first collision (running a red light in the process) and further reports note that he proceeded onto 11th Ave, leaving a “trail of damaged vehicles” in his wake before coming to a stop and being apprehended by police.
Ben Chen (also known as @bc online) is a somewhat well-known figure in the supercar community thanks in part to his incredible collection of supercars and his previous involvement in the Gold Rush Rally events that saw supercar owners participate in multi-day rallies across the continent while enjoying some of the best parties, hotels, and events along the way.
According to one Reddit user, his extensive collection has included some of following models: Koenigsegg Agera R, Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe, Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe Series II, Mercedes McLaren SLR GTR, Mercedes SLS Black Series, Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, Bugatti Veyron (Pur Blanc 1 of 1), Porsche Carrera GT Gembella GT, Porsche Carrera GT, Bugatti EB110 Super Sport, Porsche 997 Turbo S, Lamborghini Murcielago SV, Lamborghini Aventador SV, and a Range Rover Sport SVR
It’s not only his extensive supercars though have brought him notoriety in the past, but his propensity for crashing them.
To date Ben’s totaled a rental McLaren 12C Spider on a Gold Rush Rally in 2013, trying to swerve at high speed to miss a truck and crashing into a storage unit complex.
Then in 2016 he wrote off his 2010 Lamborghini Murcielago SV in Westlake Village Californa after speeding off from a car meet and there are reports online of several other crashes.
The Cobalt Blue Gemballa Mirage GT which is now his latest victim was a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT that was converted by German-based auto tuners’ Gemballa somewhere around 2013-2014. According to an interview with Dupont Registry not long after he had taken delivery of the newly converted Gemballa, the choice of the Cobalt Blue color was in honor of his late father who he had purchased his first exotic car with in the same color – a 2007 Porsche Turbo – and was planning on having all future Porsches finished in the same color. The Gemballa Mirage GT was also one of a few special cars that his father had thought about purchasing back in the early 2000’s when they first came out but had never done so.
At the best of times, the un-modified Porsche Carrera GT has been known to be a beast with Porsche test driver Walter Rohrl quoted in Drive Magazine as saying it’s “the first car in my life that I drive and I feel scared”, leading one to believe it should be handled with all the respect one would have approaching a raging tiger.
Based on the Porsche 980 Carrera GT, a project that was first developed for a Le Mans prototype in the late 90’s, the Mirage GT is an even more powerful vehicle upgrade starting at €300,000 that features 2 extra exhaust pipes, a roof-mounted air intake, a special Gemballa Sports Clutch, Gemballa wheels, and a completely new Gemballa body kit.
Before this spectacular misdemeanor only 25 of these Gemballa Mirage GT’s existed in the world, of which Ben Chen’s was the only one in USA.
After having been identified as the driver, Ben Chen was taken into custody, arrested and charged for reckless driving of his Gemballa Mirage GT under the influence of drugs.
Whether there are long term consequences or a change in the owners driving behavior (if he even still has a license now) remains to be seen given his previous driving offenses but one can only hope he will seriously reflect on these recent events.
The only upside of this story is that despite the extensive vehicle damage thankfully no one was hurt or killed.
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Luxury Cars
Ares Design Reveals New Porsche 911 964 Turbo Restomod
Published
5 days agoon
January 13, 2021By
Brenon MelseLuxury coachbuilder ARES Design Modena has revealed their latest project – a one-off restomod based on the Porsche 911 964 Turbo.
Coming off the back of a big year that saw ARES Design Modena release their first-ever wholly designed supercars (the S1 Project and S1 Project Spyder), ARES has started 2021 strong with the reveal of a new one-off restomod project based on the Porsche 911 964 Turbo.
Launched in 1991, the Porsche 964 Turbo took some time to fans over (thanks in part to the 930 that bore the Turbo badge before it) but eventually found a place in the hearts of enthusiasts largely thanks to the unmissable whale-tail spoiler.
For this one-off design project, ARES Design Modena has refined the exterior of the 911 964 Turbo by modifying the ducktail spoiler and added new Fuchs-inspired alloy wheels (made famous by the 911 Carrera RS 2.7 of the 1970s) for a retro feel. Meanwhile, under the hood, the Italian luxury coachbuilder has modified the 3.6-liter six-cylinder boxer engine with a more powerful turbine and intercooler to produce an upgraded 425Hp.
Inside, the cabin has been refitted with new leather and tartan houndstooth upholstery (inspired by historic Porsche race cars) along with new gauges and a PCCM infotainment system specially designed for classic Porsches.
As a one-off project, no price has been released for the Porsche 911 964 by ARES, but interested Porsche owners are welcome to contact ARES Design Modena for their own custom restomod quote.
Luxury Cars
First US Deliveries of the McLaren Sabre Revealed
Published
6 days agoon
January 11, 2021The first deliveries of the new US-only McLaren Sabre hypercar have begun with a papaya orange, blue and Malboro-themed model making an appearance.
The first deliveries of the new US-only McLaren Sabre hypercar have begun, with a few already having been captured on camera recently like this one revealed by MRJWW.
With a twin-turbo V8 engine producing 824bhp and 590lt ft and a top speed of 218mph, the twin-turbo V8 McLaren Sabre is the fastest and most powerful non-hybrid two-seater production car to date and has been homologated especially for US federal standards.
Developed under the code name “BC-03”, the new bespoke hypercar is a special 1 of 15 model that was created purely for a small group of West-Coast North American McLaren clients who desired a “show car made for the road” or as Neil Underwood Global Sales Manager of McLaren Special Operations describes the client’s request “ a car that has an enormous presence on the road but also wouldn’t look out of place on the concept lawn at Pebble Beach.”
Collaborating directly with the McLaren Special Operations (MSO) team for just under two years, the owners took an active part in developing the McLaren Sabre and were even given the opportunity to drive the test mule to ensure the owners were able to fully customize every aspect of the vehicle to their liking, before final delivery.
With the McLaren Sabre explicitly designed for the US market, the designers at MSO did not have to adhere to the lengthy specifications for global registration and were afforded a few more freedoms in design. Many aspects of motorsport racing have also been incorporated into the McLaren Saber design, with features like the central dorsal fin and a prominent front splitter included and, for the first time on a McLaren, a large active rear diffuser.
The first deliveries to make an appearance have included a Malboro themed McLaren Sabre at the McLaren Beverly Hills showroom, supercar collectors @sparky18888/@VTM_theking_4 bright papaya orange Sabre and @thetriplefcollection’s carbon modica blue edition as seen below.
Luxury Cars
Singer Vehicle Design Collaborates With Richard Tuthill On ACS Rally Porsche 964
Published
2 weeks agoon
January 6, 2021By
Brenon MelseSinger Vehicle Design and rally specialist Richard Tuthill have joined forces to create two exceptional ACS rally Type 964 Porsche 911’s at the request of a client.
Californian-based Singer Vehicle Design is known for some of the most unique and tasteful Porsche re-mods, and their latest ACS rally-style Porsche restorations created at the request of a long-term client are no different.
Partnering with UK based off-road competition specialist Richard Tuthill who has been rallying for decades and most recently won the 5000km 2019 East African Safari classic, Singer looked to the golden era of the 1980’s rally racing for inspiration to create their first-ever “motorsport-specification” restoration on a client’s 1990’s Type 964 Porsche 911s.
Led by Singer’s Design Office in California, a unique “All-terrain Competition Study” was undertaken as a collaboration between Singer Vehicle Design and Tuthill Porsche to ensure the client’s modified vehicles would be able capable of competing in off-road racing as well being able to demonstrate extensive all-terrain exploration capabilities.
With assembly of the vehicles occurring at Tuthill’s UK facility in Oxfordshire, the result was two different vehicles – the “Parallax White” version, which focuses on high-speed desert rallying, and the “Corsica Red” version, which has been configured for high-speed, high-grip tarmac events.
“So much of what we’ve done for the last decade has been inspired by Porsche’s competition success and the All-terrain Competition Study provides us the opportunity to showcase that idea literally and vividly,” shared Rob Dickinson, Founder and Executive Chairman of Singer Group.
“We at Singer are motorsport nerds in our hearts and demonstrating our understanding of the discipline required our off-road vision to display deeply legitimate competition credentials from the structural engineering, to the bodywork ethos, to the mechanical package. We’ve taken particular inspiration from the iconic Rothmans-sponsored 911 SC/RSs and 959s that conquered events like the Qatar International Rally and Paris-Dakar in the mid-‘80s and, at the request of our client, have reimagined these all-terrain 911’s in their honor while utilizing fresh perspectives and state of the art know-how.
As is our habit, we chose to tackle our subject thoroughly, and we are proud to have found the best in the world -always our ambition –to help us reach our goals. Like Williams Advanced Engineering before them with the Dynamics & Lightweighting Study, Richard Tuthill and his incredible team have allowed us to bring our vision for the All-terrain Competition Study to life in the most spectacular way. We feel confident this machine can appeal to off-roading enthusiasm of all kinds, whether it be in the pursuit of professional competition at the highest level of adventure and exploration. ACS advances Singer’s capabilities in forced-induction, all-wheel-drive, off-road ability and dynamic response -all of which will support our ongoing mission. This pursuit of focused competition studies is something you will see more of from us in the future.”
Both Singer Vehicle resto-mods have dramatically increased the ride height, suspension travel, and overall strength. Carbon fiber body paneling has also been incorporated to ensure quick replacement can be achieved under rallying conditions, and the addition of a long-range fuel tank, an FIA approved roll cage, and two full-sized spare wheels guarantee’s the rally-specific vehicle means serious business.
In terms of engine power, the Singer Vehicle ACS Porsche 911 features a twin-turbo 3.6-liter “Mezger” engine capable of producing 450hp and 420lb-ft torque and combines with a flat-shifting five-speed sequential gearbox.
While most of Singer Vehicles restoration’s are one-off designs, the commissioning owner of the two ACS restorations has kindly agreed to share the results of the “All-terrain Competition Study” with other clients who would like a Singer off-road design of their own.
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