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Apparently, the folks at Monticello Motor Club are getting antsy for spring. As the calendar turned over to February, New York’s MMC threw open its gates for the inaugural “track day” of 2019, despite ski-worthy conditions at the Catskills-area road course. Track director and former rally champion Chris Duplessis spent a few nights plowing MMC’s 1.6-mile South Course to create a slippery-yet-drivable surface, while MMC’s multitalented Chris Szczypala captured the frightful, delightful winter action in this cool drift video you see above.
About 40 track members and guests drank hot coffee and drove hot cars, including a vintage Jaguar E-Type, various Porsches, an Audi R8, a BMW M3, a couple Ford F-150 Raptors, a Tesla Model 3, and a Mercedes-Benz G550 4×4 Squared. Skill levels varied wildly—as they tend to do when owners gather to carve snow angels with automobiles. So track instructors provided the teaching moments, including in MMC’s spec Mazda Miata, appropriately fitted with winter tires and a welded differential. (We’d love to see that Miata take on the burly G-Wagen on track.)
This season kickoff is also a lead-in for the MMC Winter Driving Experience, conducted in conjunction with the Porsche Sport Driving School in Quebec, running February 11-16. It’s happening at the awesome Mécaglisse facility north of Montreal, including miles of ice circuits. For fans of low-coefficient driving, it’s almost enough to make us hope the snow never melts. (Almost.)
As for that innocent old Jaguar, we at The Drive hope the owner gave it a warm bath—and a warmer blanket—after its time on track.
