Guy sets speed record for loop around Manhattan

[The Big Ragu]

Maybe I need help, but I think this is neat. It has gotten a ton of news play, and I read that Ray Kelly, the NYC police commissioner said he is going to find the guy. Anyone who has driven this can probably relate.



Guy set what he claims is the record for a loop around Manhattan, starting at 116th Street, down the FDR, around the Battery, up Westside Highway, and back around past the Cross Bronx to 116th Street. The music in the video sucks, but the trip is pretty impressive.

He did it in 24 minutes, 7 seconds.

His route cuts off the top of Manhattan above the Cross Bronx, so it technically isn't really a loop of the island, but if you go farther up the Henry Hudson, there is no place to cut back around to the east without going into the Bronx.

About the only time you can do that route without running into some kind of congestion would be really late at night / early morning on a weekday.

I am not sure I'd want to try his loop, but I do like trying to see how fast I can make my way up and down the FDR when I am going somewhere. The Westside Highway can be quick, but the lights usually get you.

 

[Chef2]

Someone has a future in Nascar.

 

[YankeeFan]

He should have gone counterclockwise.

 

[YankeeFan]

Arrested: nyti.ms/1emHfxS

 

[joe]

I like the loop around Paris better because all you hear is the engine and exhaust. Jay Leno's loop through L.A. was pretty good, too.

 

[DanOregon]

Congratulations. Now a lot more idiots will try to beat it. Kelly would have been smarter to just say it was a hoax or carefully edited video.

 

[Starman]

****ing wonderful. That's what NYC really needs, is more mother****ers rolling through traffic at 80-100 mph.

 

[ColdCat]

so perhaps someone who knows NYC better than me (which would be everyone) can answer this, but under normal driving circumstances and following all (or at least most) driving rules, how long would this drive take?

 

[DanOregon]

During the day? At least two hours, maybe three depending on what is going on.

 

[The Big Ragu]

so perhaps someone who knows NYC better than me (which would be everyone) can answer this, but under normal driving circumstances and following all (or at least most) driving rules, how long would this drive take?

There really isn't such a thing as normal driving conditions. Sometimes (actually more often than not) you can hop on the FDR or the West Side Highway and you zip right up or down -- driving not much slower than he was.

Other times, you hit inexplicable pockets of congestion, so a few mile drive takes way longer than it should.

I just never thought to do a loop for the hell of it to see how fast you could do it. He averaged 66 mph, but he did stop at the lights on the West Side Highway, where it is a bit harder to drive fast, even without traffic. I can see averaging 50 to 55 mph and not doing it recklessly -- with the right conditions.

His route avoided the worst spot -- where you can't avoid congestion -- because his loop only covered Manhattan below 116th Street. That cuts off a significant chunk of the island in upper Manhattan.

If you really go around the entire Island, the Harlem River Drive runs down the east side and merges into what becomes the FDR -- the road he took south toward the battery. There is a spot at 125th Street where people merge onto the Triborough Bridge (to head toward Queens and Long Island) that can get really bad -- especially on weekends. I come down there occasionally from the GW Bridge and I can never get past there without hitting some congestion. Sometimes quite a bit.

 

[Boom_70]

Not bad but Rendezvous is still the gold standard. Hate the music soundtrack in Manhattan version. The sound of revving engine and change of gears is what makes Rendezvous.

Read that the guy who made Rendezvous was driving a Benz 450 automatic but dubbed in the sound of
a Ferrari stick. Girl at end looks to be about a 9/10