“I’m not going to race him.”
A common impulse if you see a rare vehicle “in the wild” is to document it. Everything that makes it incredible is even more visible on the road: the power, the handling, the lines.
One California man learned a terrifying lesson about how not to document a rare vehicle sighting. CarsandCarl (@carsandcarl) is a car enthusiast who posts car content almost exclusively on his TikTok account. He was trying to get an up close and personal view of a rare Porsche Carrera GT as it maneuvered through Monterey. He may have gotten a closer look than he intended.
As the TikTok, which has racked up an impressive 1.5 million views starts, Carl is chasing the Carrera. He’s pleading with his sweetheart who’s filming in the passenger seat: “Just for the footage,” he says. “I’m not going to race him.”
He gets the footage.
As the two vehicles turn into a curve, Carl pulls alongside the driver’s side of the Porsche. But the lane the Porsche occupies is ending. As that driver goes to pull into the left lane, Carl speeds up, seemingly trying to get closer to the sportscar.
The result is a near collision. Carl comes within inches of the German sportscar. His passenger’s shock is visible in the passenger side mirror.
The internet seems to take Carl’s “just a videographer” stance with a grain of salt. Multiple users called him out for reckless and irresponsible driving. Several others urged his passenger to never ride with him again.
Then x4m.ghost explains what they saw happen. “POV driver fault, knowing the lane was ending and doing that is dangerous and unnecessary. The Porsche driver most likely watched them come up close but didn’t expect them to pull up side by side at the end of the lane, couldn’t even blame the Porsche driver because who in their right mind would do what [the] cam driver did.”
A former rare sportscar owner gave his reasons for selling his fast vehicle: “This is one of the main reasons why I sold my Viper. It’s not a 2mil dollar car, but people still acted like this. Every single time I took the car out someone almost wrecked into me trying to look or take a video,” said aj.foster.life.
The Porsche Carrera GT that Carl spotted is a legendary vehicle with a 5.7-liter V-10 engine that goes from zero to 60 in 6.4 seconds, and retails for about $3 million to $3.5 million dollars. It is one of 1,270 made between 2003 and 2006.
The record sale for one was made earlier this year. The buyer paid $6.7 million for a Gulf Blue edition with yellow calipers at the Amelia Concours d’Elegance auction in Fernandina Beach, Florida. Rumor has it that the car sold was one a South Dakota man commissioned. The color was so unusual, he purportedly had to argue with the Porsche factory for over a year before they acceded to his wishes.
The Porsche Carrera GT is considered special by collectors and aficionados because it’s a “pure driving machine.” Designed with few “creature comforts,” the power of the engine requires skill and respect on the part of the driver. But perhaps the most exciting aspect of the vehicle is how closely it hews to the racing engine. It originated from the never-before-used LMP 2000—a prototype originally developed for the World Endurance Championship. It’s actually designed to be a daily driver, or as Porsche puts it, “racing technology on the road.”
Given the relative rarity of the vehicle, it’s understandable that an enthusiast would try to grab a video. However, filming on the highway is tricky. Safety should always be the top concern—after getting that perfect shot.
Motor1 reached out to Carl via TikTok direct message. We will update this article if he replies to us.
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