I set an overall Track Record at New York Safety Track and it was unsafe

Folks,

I took my car for a rip around New York Safety Track last Friday and managed to nab the overall track record by 1.1 seconds.  If you check out the video you'll see that putting 'Safety' in the moniker is merely fun and ironic as the track itself is not very safe at all. Frankly it's probably the most unsafe track I've been to.  I was getting some heat from some members of the Internet Safety Coalition who were quietly throwing some shade at me for even attempting a record at a track they deemed to be "unsafe."  

Here's a link to the actual lap in the Vlog we did on the thing, but if you're in to track driving I hope you'd find the whole video entertaining:

https://youtu.be/dVdUflkm8bo?t=377

Anyone here got some tracks that send somewhat of a shiver down their spine? I used to think Palmer in Massachusetts was one of the scariest tracks I'd frequent, but New York Safety Track now takes that honor!

 Mosport, especially turns 1, 2, and 4

Tremblant, especially turn 1-3 complex and the hidden horror of turn 7

In reply to LanEvo :

Haven't been to Mosport but it's a bucket list track for me!

Spent a lot of time peering over the hill at Turn 1 at Tremblant.  Love that place. Had an ABS failure send me off track at Turn 2 - there's more run off room there than you think!

LanEvo said:

 Mosport, especially turns 1, 2, and 4

Tremblant, especially turn 1-3 complex and the hidden horror of turn 7

I think 1-2-3 at Tremblant are my favourite corners of all the tracks I've driven.  Nothing quite prepares you for the elevation change until you drive it.

1-2 at Mosport wasn't very exciting in my Miata, but I could see them as being a little intimidating in a car with power.

I didn't even know about the New York Safety Track until last year.  It's not too far from me, and I've wondered about a visit.

Bridgehampton was the one place that I raced that if you went off it was going to go bad in a big hurry. Mostly because of the speed. It was a very fast track. Packing up a non bent car and a non bent you at that place always made me say a few words of thanks. 
 

The downhill at Limerock also has to be treated with a lot of respect. Lost a friend there many years back. Actually there are several places at limerock that going off is not recommended. 

AMT Motorsport said:

Haven't been to Mosport but it's a bucket list track for me!

It's phenomenal, especially in a high-powered car.

AMT Motorsport said:

Had an ABS failure send me off track at Turn 2 - there's more run off room there than you think!

Believe me, I'm intimately familiar.

ZOO (Forum Supporter) said:

I think 1-2-3 at Tremblant are my favourite corners of all the tracks I've driven.  Nothing quite prepares you for the elevation change until you drive it.

Me, too.

Sonoma is pretty scary when you start getting fast. Those walls are close.

Yeah, I live in NY, never made my way down to NYST, but I've always heard how absolutely sketchy that place is. People pronounce the acronym as "Nasty" for a reason.

Is it the depth of field of the camera, because that video looks sped up.

and it's a new track record.......

Every car I took up to Tremblant I had some sort of mechanical issue with.  Mostly large ones and none of the mechanics up there speak English worth a damn, which is how I'd also describe my ability to speak French.

Made things very interesting once...

A) Congrats Mark. Awesome achievement, especially at a track where working up to record pace took equal parts skill and courage.

B) Probably the scariest section of any track i can recall is the old esses coming off of the drag strip at Moroso Motorsports Park. They're gone now, but there used to be a good 2-3 inch drop off from the road down to the dirt along the entire section. And past the short runoff on one side was swampland (the water would actually come right up to the edge of the track after hard rains) and on the other side was a retention pond with at least a couple resident gators. They used to have to keep a boat stationed in the pond during races to both shoo gators away from the shore near the track and to rescue any drivers who ended up in the pond. Now that I've typed it all out like that it sounds like a bad reality show, but we used to run a 24 hour race there, so I guess it was real.

I'm guessing that was one heck of a lap, but I gave up on watching the video due to the music being distracting. Watching it with no sound was not better as then I couldn't hear the engine and tire noises.

Congrats on the lap record though. Any details on the car?

Also, I love it that a forum filter word made it into the YouTube comments.

"Looks like a e36 m3 ton of fun, subbed"

LOL. Mark, 'e36 m3' in that context means the S word. The commenter was not saying anything about a BMW. They were saying you were having a whole lot of fun.

It's always cool to set a lap record, nice job.

  I watched the video and while the run-off is less than ideal (trees chain link fence close to the edge of the track) I didn't find it really scary. This, I'm sure, is down to my being an ex motorcycle road racer and also the driver being bang on making it look easier than it is. 

If I have to pick one it would be Riverside near the end of it's life. I ran an event there on the NASACAR course with it's mile long back straight. Doing 130 mph on a 125 was really cool but then doing a 130mph tank slapper from the kink all the way into turn 9 wasn't so cool. Also as you went over the tunnel in turn 1 at over 100 you had to sort of stand up in a tuck, there was a huge dip and using your legs as suspension kept the bike from bottoming so harshly.

Tom1200 said:

It's always cool to set a lap record, nice job.

  I watched the video and while the run-off is less than ideal (trees chain link fence close to the edge of the track) I didn't find it really scary. This, I'm sure, is down to my being an ex motorcycle road racer and also the driver being bang on making it look easier than it is. 

If I have to pick one it would be Riverside near the end of it's life. I ran an event there on the NASACAR course with it's mile long back straight. Doing 130 mph on a 125 was really cool but then doing a 130mph tank slapper from the kink all the way into turn 9 wasn't so cool. Also as you went over the tunnel in turn 1 at over 100 you had to sort of stand up in a tuck, there was a huge dip and using your legs as suspension kept the bike from bottoming so harshly.

"Ex motorcycle road racer" is not something a lot of people get to say. Sort of like "Ex Kamikazee pilot" or "Ex OJ spouse"

Also, what the hell does the New York Un-Safety Track look like ?!?!? Is it just covered in broken glass and cobras?

Looks like the Action Park of racetracks.

JG Pasterjak said:

Tom1200 said:

It's always cool to set a lap record, nice job.

  I watched the video and while the run-off is less than ideal (trees chain link fence close to the edge of the track) I didn't find it really scary. This, I'm sure, is down to my being an ex motorcycle road racer and also the driver being bang on making it look easier than it is. 

If I have to pick one it would be Riverside near the end of it's life. I ran an event there on the NASACAR course with it's mile long back straight. Doing 130 mph on a 125 was really cool but then doing a 130mph tank slapper from the kink all the way into turn 9 wasn't so cool. Also as you went over the tunnel in turn 1 at over 100 you had to sort of stand up in a tuck, there was a huge dip and using your legs as suspension kept the bike from bottoming so harshly.

 

"Ex motorcycle road racer" is not something a lot of people get to say. Sort of like "Ex Kamikazee pilot" or "Ex OJ spouse"

I will say when I still rode sportbikes years ago I hung out with a lot of guys that raced. Think the McDonalds of K&N fame, I would wager that 95% of the time when someone got injured, it was from riding dirt bikes inbetween races.

That track is great.  Just think of the legendary F1 drivers you could emulate if your car pitches off track into the woods and catches on fire.

JG, back the day I would have done the Isle Of Man in a heartbeat (they still ran the 125 class back then). Keep in mind before I started racing I used to slide my RD350 into corners on the street; I'd picked up this technique of using the exhaust pipe to unload the rear tire at full lean..........this made it easier to dirt track the bike into corners..............So I guess I am an ex Kamikazee . If you want a good laugh...........I'm terrified of heights to the point that I don't go up on the roof of a single story house.

Z31maniac I don't do wheelies on pit bikes because I've seen more guys, including factory riders crash and break the collarbones that way.

I'm sure rally guys would look at the video and think the track has huge runoffs.

Friends and I were supposed to do NYST with his Ambro but pandemic. I agree with Mont Tremblant turns 1,2,3. Fun in a Rabbit GTi. I like Palmer. The run down to turn 12 at Road Atlanta can be pretty intimidating. Especially coming over the hill under the bridge.

Isn't driving at high speed on any track dangerous ?  That's why we have mandatory safety gear?

Coming off the down hill at Lime Rock always kept me from trying harder.

That track looks fine.

You would have E36 M3 yourself doing a lap of Pacific Raceways in Seattle before they upgraded the track last year.