REcording COMPOSITE VIDEO is certainly amazing, especially at the slow tape speeds. THAT works because the speed of the video recording head past the tape is much faster.You will not be even close to recording composite NTSC video on a fixed head!! At least not at any speed close to what is used for any sort of magnetic tape recording.

The tape path scheme of a modern video recorder/player is actually a "Mechanical Marvel", considering how cheap those systems are made.
It would educate all of us if somebody who actually knew how the present VHS scheme works, IN DETAILS, would provide an explanation. How does that spinning head speed relate tothe frame rate?? And how is the audio track matched to the video track so perfectly?? Certainly it is not simple.

you ask for some details
seems to be a bunch on line
surprisingly , wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHS

 

And this (lotsa overlap):

https://handwiki.org/wiki/VHS

ak