Cops pull over some 100 luxury cars, write 30 tickets on Route 17

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Cops pull over some 100 luxury cars, write 30 tickets on Route 17
By John Sullivan Times Herald-Record Published: 2:00 AM - 11/15/10 Last updated: 10:10 AM - 11/15/10 Monticello — Hundreds of high-performance luxury cars, some of them doing more than 100 mph, flooded Route 17 Sunday, triggering minor backups, as police scrambled to pull as many of them over as possible for traffic violations. State police officials said that 10 officers pulled over some 100 cars and issued more than 30 tickets, some of them for speeding, to drivers of Porsches, Corvettes, Vipers and BMWs going over 100 mph. Lt. Erik Dauber of the Liberty barracks said police were responding to numerous reports about the cars, starting around 11:30 a.m., on Route 17. Most of the vehicles were stopped between Exits 116 and 109 westbound.

The majority of tickets consisted of equipment violations, such as tinted glass, as well as lack of inspections, Dauber said. "We've had high-performance vehicles in our area before, but nothing this big," he said. The vehicles were headed to the Monticello Motor Club, an exclusive racetrack, where the drivers had paid to take laps for charity. The motor club's president, Ari Straus, said that each participant paid $100 per person to take a lead follow lap, following a pace car, as well as an additional $200 to take faster laps around the raceway. Only those with track experience were allowed to pay for the additional laps, Straus said. Straus said it was the first time the group, members of an Internet social club called Exoticsrally.com, had used his track. Straus notified the organizers that speeding and other traffic law violations while getting to his track would result in expulsion from the facility. About a dozen or so of the cars could be seen leaving the club's front gate, where Straus met reporters around 2:30 p.m. Straus said that those leaving admitted to being pulled over by police. "This is a favor we did for a charity event, and we are absolutely flabbergasted that a few of them ignored the speed limit," he said. One of those leaving, a 29-year-old owner of a 2009 silver BMW, said he met members of the car caravan at a stop on the Thruway. Upon seeing his car, the drivers invited him to follow them to Monticello, he said.

The driver, who declined to give his name, said the caravan members consisted of mostly men in their 20s, some of them speaking Italian, who had traveled up from Long Island. According to its website, Exoticsrally.com was organized to "gather a group of people together with the same interests involving cars, travel, driving, night life, and many more social events."

Twitter feeds about the event Sunday said that more than 250 people would be attending. At 1:38 p.m., the website listed an update that said: "Turkey Run has begun! 250+ people tearing up I87 in NY!" "We were running a little late," one driver said to a Times Herald-Record photographer, when asked about the speeds at 100 mph and up.

A phone number for the club, with an address in Hicksville on Long Island, was listed as nonworking. The Monticello Motor Club is a private, four-mile racetrack, located on 170 acres about a quarter-mile from Route 42. Its members include celebrities, such as comedian Jerry Seinfeld and NASCAR's Jeff Gordon. Straus said none of the members of Exoticsrally.com belonged to his club. "This was a favor we did, and our members had to give up their track time for it," he said. jsullivan@th-record.com

 

Damn thats crazy!

Who would report such a thing!

 

Popo always gotsa ruin the fun

 

just like gumball... they always ruin in...

 

They were speeding on a public road, they deserved what they got.

 

^^ Well, that too. There's a time and place for everything!

 

100+ Mph packs on public roads?? No sympathy from me-- those that got tickets deserved them.

 

^^ agree. reckless to drive that fast on any public road.

 

Although I don't condone the speeds that were being done I bet listening to some of those cars fly by must have sounded pretty sweet... It sounds like some of them were responsible though. Only 30 tickets were issued. The cops must have been pulling over anyone and everyone in a nice car.

I wonder if any Acuras were present?

Probably not :-(

 

Wow....got what they deserved.

 

I thought this thread was about a mini van
like this

 

Like none of u guys have ever speeded b4. Keep it real

 

Every time something like this is posted, some moron crawls out from beneath a rock and tries to rationalize it.

 

Damn and I missed this I was only so close to where they got pulled over

 

jackpot for popo!

 

Maybe there weren't many other cars on the freeway

 

 

 

Agreed. Obviously, most, if not all of us have sped at one time or another, but going 100+ mph on public roads is wreckless and they deserve the consequences.

LOL, so did I!

 

Tinted glass ticket? Weak

 

doing that on public roads= not cool. I speed but when you are in a pack like that going at that speed, you tend to take chances that you know are possibly life threatening but do it anyway.

 

Those going in excess of 100 mph certainly got what they deserved, but I suspect the police were probably gearing up to pull over this caravan simply because they were exotics.

There was a similar thing that happened here in Ontario about a year ago, I think a Mini club had a charity drive, and they notified OPP (Provincial Police), of their route as a kind gesture. The entire group was pulled over and were issued tickets for going 120 km/h in a 100 zone, which on these highways is flow of traffic, and most police won't pull you over unless you're going in excess of 130-135 km/h. They then inspected all of the cars searching for something to issue more tickets for.

 

I did 100 once on a road (read - not a highway). It's never going to happen again.