An airline captain and another car enthusiast who filmed a "Top Gear-style" YouTube video of them showing off in Porsches in the Welsh countryside at ridiculous speeds.
Timur Khayrov, 30, the pilot, of Glasgow, had a channel called “Vehicle Villains”, Caernarfon crown court heard.
On Friday, prosecuting counsel Richard Edwards said: ”The defendants, perhaps taking their cue from the likes of Freddie Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness, produced films of themselves driving on the roads of North Wales, providing a running commentary on the performance of the cars.
“Unlike Top Gear the roads on which they were driving dangerously, at excessive speeds, were still open to the public.”
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The court heard a police inspector in Greater Manchester had spotted the online footage and tipped off the North Wales Police force.
Judge Nicola Saffman said: ”Part of this was on the EVO Triangle. There have been multiple fatalities involving vehicles or motorcycles driven by people who come to the area to drive at speed.”
She said David Murray, 30, of Aberdeen, reached up to 116mph in a 60mph limit while Khayrov reached 105mph.
The defendants had admitted dangerous driving in March last year. The prosecution said they recorded themselves driving fast on twisting B roads. Cameras had been mounted inside and outside the cars and clips recorded using a drone.
Khayrov was in a white Porsche 911 GT3 and Murray in a yellow Porsche 718. Mr Edwards said: ”In the footage the defendants can be heard referring to the EVO Triangle and expressing some disappointment that the majority of that road is now governed by average speed cameras.”
Footage from the B4501 was part of the EVO Triangle not covered by the average speed cameras. They then moved further into Snowdonia beauty-spots and on to the B4391 with 60mph limits.
There was 17 minutes of film as they enjoyed the so-called “greatest driving road in the UK".
“They comment upon the heat of the tyres and brakes of the vehicles, demonstrating how hard the vehicles had been driven,” counsel said.
Khayrov called it the “greatest road” and Murray declared: ”That was just unbelievable.”
Eight months suspended jail terms were imposed and the pair must do 200 hours unpaid work. They were each banned for 18 months with extended re-tests and have to pay £689 costs.
Judge Saffman told the pair, dressed in smart suits and ties: ”Had you not disposed of the vehicles you would have been deprived of those vehicles today. That’s a message that can be sent to everybody who comes and drives dangerously in this area.”
The judge said Khayrov’s online channel had 6,000 subscribers.
Judge Saffman remarked: ”The filming of the driving, it may not have been your intention of encouraging others to come to Snowdonia and drive in a dangerous manner, but that’s what you did by posting that very video. There must be a deterrent element to the sentence.”
Ben Rich, defending, said Murray was ashamed. It was the “stupidest” thing the car enthusiast had ever done, he said. It was heard they’d come to the area for a track event in Chester.
Mr Rich said there were “short bursts of speed” and the cars crossed the centre lines on occasions. “There was no racing going on here,” counsel said.
Murray was engaged and had done charitable work. “Prior to this Mr Murray was a decent young man with a responsible job,” his lawyer said.
Sophia Dower, defending Khayrov, also a car enthusiast, said :”His passion has completely blurred all sense of responsibility or better judgement.”
She added: ”It does beggar belief he could have been so stupid to behave in the way we’ve seen.”
Miss Dower told the judge: ”I wouldn’t want you to think this was a platform Mr Khayrov deliberately set up to host videos of dangerous driving. That would be beyond stupid on a public domain. At the time he did enjoy the prospect of having a lot of likes or comments on footage.”
She added: "The mark of a custodial sentence on his record is going to put him in a far worse position than if marked by a community-based punishment. He’s going to have a bumpy road going forward.”
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