It’s a rainy day in London’s West End. The traffic chugs and sighs down the affluent Park Lane. Pedestrians grumble along the pavement under grey umbrellas but then, a ruckus, three young guys are sprinting down the street…

“Quick!”

“It went this way!”

They have their smartphones in their hands and their legs threaten to leave the rest of their body behind as they wheel round the corner, arms flailing wildly.

Round the corner, and they have stopped. They are catching their breath and filming the car they have just chased for the best part of half a mile. They were lucky to find it parked – a rare Bugatti Veyron. Circling around it slowly, they photographing the body, the grill, the alloys… the thrill of the chase is over and they are silent in admiration.

With the advent of social media, the car-spotting craze has grown from small groups centered in wealthy areas such as LA or Dubai to cover the whole world with new enthusiasts joining every day… a glut of Bentley-loving Chinese are the latest addition to this thriving community.

This ragtag group of car-spotters who sometimes refer to themselves as the ‘Car-Parrazzi” have even been involved in police cases. When these cars go missing or are crashed, the authorities often turn to the car-spotters who are often the last people to photograph the machines intact.

Back on Park Lane in London and the three guys have finished filming the Veyron and are walking back down the street when one of them whirls around, an intent finger pointing back up the road…

“Porsche 911 Turbo!” He yells

And they’re off again.

Welcome to the world of Car-Spotters – an elite group of enthusiasts who pursue the fastest and most fantastic cars in the world in order to photograph and film them. They meet on sites such as http://www.carspotter.net to share tips, pictures and tales of their adventures. You can find them pounding the streets of the best cities in the world searching for that golden moment when they spot a rare breed like the Lamborghini Aventador.