"there is a clear risk to life and limb."
Adeel Habib, aged 25, of Leeds, was jailed for 27 months for posting videos of street races in the city.
He is already serving a four-year prison sentence for drug offences.
But Habib was also behind the Certi Drivers YouTube channel, which posted videos of anonymous motorists driving high-performance cars at speed around Leeds roads.
Leeds Crown Court heard that in August 2020, police became aware of an Instagram account posting video clips of street races in and around Leeds.
A court was shown a clip of a car driving through a red light, as well as another titled Taxi Driver wants to Wipe Man Out of the Game where a car reached speeds in excess of 100 mph.
The Instagram account was primarily used to divert social media users to the main Certi Drivers YouTube channel, which featured longer and more detailed videos.
The court was then shown a video of a car racing against a green Honda CSX.
Many of the videos also included a pixelated speedometer.
Each video featured two disclaimers, one of which claiming the filming took place mostly in Mexico.
Anthony Moore, prosecuting, said: “Footage shows it is, as far as I can see, Leeds.”
Another video was posted during which a conversation between a driver and passenger can be heard, with one saying:
“It is a bit stupid, what I do, bro, but I understand my limits. I knew I could make that.”
The final video submitted as evidence by the police was posted on October 21, 2021, at which point the YouTube channel had 53,000 subscribers.
The channel provided an income to Habib, not only from the number of views but also from a financial services website he promoted in some of the videos.
Mr Moore continued: “While these videos are still live, there is a clear risk to life and limb.”
The offences were committed between December 2020 and October 2021.
Habib read out a letter via a video link from Armley jail. He said:
“I don’t wish to justify my mistakes, but they do not define who I am.
“Certi was something I built from my followers on social media. I would like to take full responsibility and my actions were wrong.
“I knew this type of video would give me a lot of views on social media. I apologise for this – it was childish.”
In mitigation, Rodney Ferm read out a letter from Leeds city councillor Zara Hussain.
It read: “Throughout the times I have known him, I have formed a positive opinion. He is known to be caring, friendly and trustworthy, and is prepared to go above and beyond expectations.
“I know him to be a hard-working young man who has had a lot of community involvement.”
Mr Ferm added: “He is serving his first sentence and he is 25-years-old.
“How much longer should this young man serve? He has a long time to serve already and he has shown he has an insight into his offending and a realisation that this offending can’t take place again.”
Habib pleaded guilty to both dangerous driving and encouraging or assisting in the commission of an offence (dangerous driving).
Recorder Gurdial Singh said: “Your business was encouraging people to drive dangerously.
“From my watching, it was like I was playing Grand Theft Auto.
“I have been puzzling over which is more serious – encouraging others to drive dangerously or doing so yourself.”
“It is disconcerting seeing these clips and what you have done – it is beyond belief that you would encourage others to drive dangerously.”
Habib was sentenced to 27 months in prison, along with a disqualification from driving.
Inspector Richard Horn, who heads the Leeds North-East Neighbourhood Policing Team, said:
“Habib has been shown to be someone who regularly engaged in dangerous driving on public roads with all the potential risk of harm to other road users that accompanies such appalling behaviour.
“He was absolutely shameless about it and showed utter contempt for law-abiding road users and the law by regularly posting videos of his antics to impress his many followers.
“Those videos and the notoriety that surrounded his ‘brand’ clearly had the ability to influence others to flout road traffic laws and put other road users at risk, and he was rightly charged with an offence that specifically recognised that aspect of his behaviour.
“His own arrogance was his downfall in that those videos provided us with a rich seam of material to present to the court and have him answer for his actions.
“We hope his conviction and the sentence he has received will provide some source of reassurance to the public who I’m sure will have been horrified by his glamorising of dangerous driving.
“It should also send a very clear message to those who think they can take part in and promote criminal behaviour in this way without having to face the consequences.”
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