Topic: Your best drive?

[Turbo Bob]

Seeing as we always have lots of threads about interiors and reliability lets have an enthusiast one for a change. (motivation from the other thread)

So tell everyone about the one route, time, occasion, vehicle, location in which you had the drive of your life?

Mine.  We were making our way back from Le Mans to the hotel we were staying in about an hour from the race track, and stumbled onto the most amazing twisty, deserted road we could possibly find.  The weather was sunny, the road was dry and there was nobody about.

In front of me was my dad on his Triumph Speed Triple, I was in the Exige with my younger brother, and behind me was my older brother on his bike and my dad's friend and his son in an Audi A6.  Very quickly my dad and I lost the other two vehicles, my dad was absolutely storming along, touching the ground on every corner!

So I kept a safe distance away, but kept up the speed... What followed was 30 minutes of the toughest, fastest driving I have ever done, the road was wide open, no blind spots, some sharp corners, some long straights, some sweeping off camber corners just to really test... It was amazing.

We came out directly opposite the hotel bar, man did I breath a sigh of relief, I had so much adrenaline going round me... We parked up, got some cold french beer, and spent the rest of the day watching the Lambo's, Ferrari's, Porsche's and all the other exotica come past.

It was a day I will never forget.

 

[No H2O]

So tell everyone about the one route, time, occasion, vehicle, location in which you had the drive of your life?

There are soooo many great roads in the Alps, one can't name a best route. They're all great.

I'm there on two wheels, but for you four wheeled types...one of the roads I ride...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIiUDPmwvp0

[Leviathan]

325 yards on a course at St Andrews Bay with a wicked tail wind (pardon).  

[Careener]

24hrs with a Vette ZHZ in and around Vegas. I visited the Las Vegas Speedway, Shelby factory, Hoover Dam, lake Mead and Red Rock. A perfect day on perfect asphalt with 436hp to play with.
The year before I had a Shelby GT-H to drive out to the Valley of Fire in. That route was gorgeous. 
My pics below.

[Dexer]

Mine was sort of a cannonball run on the August long weekend of 2007.

My next door neighbour (and friend since grade school), called me on a Thursday night and wanted to know if I was up for a road trip. There was a Porsche 928 in Calgary that he was interested in buying. The plan: leave Winnipeg at 4:00AM Friday morning in his Chrysler 300 and return Saturday with him in the 928 and me driving the Chrysler.

1800 miles of driving in a day and a half.

The return leg was the best part of the drive. We were late getting out of Calgary (had to fax back to Winnipeg to get temporary insurance for the 928). We got a couple of walkie talkies to cover ourselves and maneuver around cops and 18 wheelers. We stopped only for gas and potato chips....going to the bathroom while the cars were being fueled. Left Calgary around noon and pulled into the driveway in Winnipeg before midnight.

That's me beside the 300. My buddy is inspecting the 928.

[carcrazy]

Mine was the road featured in this video, including the part leading to the top section which is not really shown, but it is equally amazing (more than 50 km).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6efUwSFZBi0

Unfortunately I wasn't driving a Lambo, Austin Martin or Ferrari, but various Dacia with 5 speed and 56 hp on tap. The good thing was that many times, I was virtually alone on that road and I wasn't driving my own car (usually my father's business car) so I could drive reckless at times.
The road is indeed extremely beautiful (Clarkson does not exaggerate in this respect), but equally dangerous and even frightening for many.

On the side note, I grew up very close to this road and ON this road at times and I take a little bit of pride in the fact that my father was one of top engineers that built this road (it was a mountain foot path originally) and later on maintained it for 20 years (he knows the history of every inch of that road and what it took to build it).

[quadzilla]

One of my best drives was in North Carolina when I had my Protege5.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Little+Switzerland,+NC,+USA&daddr=35.83034,-82.085381+to:N+Carolina+226+S&hl=en&geocode=FUgEIwIdZmYb-ylfNA_ImKVQiDHp-252sUtZAA%3B%3BFexwIgIdDxwc-w&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=12&via=1&sll=35.816212,-82.054052&sspn=0.125001,0.21801&ie=UTF8&ll=35.831453,-82.072163&spn=0.062489,0.109005&z=13

Found it by accident and drove it a few times. I've done it with two different passengers and both were very green by the end.

Never got past third gear, lots of shifting, on camber, off camber, hair pin, sweeping and few straight sections but very quiet and little or no traffic.

I'd love to take the GTi there some day.

[Mitlov]

Boulder to Ward via Lefthand Canyon (not on the map), then follow the peak-to-peak highway (72 and 7).  Magnificent, especially with autumn colors:

[Turbo Bob]

Some great stories guys!

[ovr50]

One of my Best Drives occurred in 1979. I had lived since May of 1978 in Houston, Tx. Several things didn't work out, and I was returning to Alberta in late August, 1979. Just a week previously, my friend (now wife) and I took a week to drive a '79 Buick Riviera from Houston to Calgary. We didn't rush and had a lot of fun together - but that wasn't the Best Drive from a car POV. 

The Best Drive - Car came the next week when I had to drive my '78 Porsche 911SC from Houston to Calgary by myself. On this trip, I was trying to make the trip as quickly as possible. I had a radar detector, and a CB radio tuned to the best trucker's channels. I did one stint from near Austin, Tx to Springerville, Arizona and only stopped for gas, junk food and a washroom break. It was some 750 miles, and I averaged 94 MPH. Most of that country is open and little traffic so I was able to really crack off the miles. That was my longest day. I made Calgary in the early morning of the 4th day, driving it all myself. Included in that time, was a visit to the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Zion (which ate up a lot of time on the 2nd day). The 911 ran flawlessly and loved the long distance run. It was running the best it ever ran by the time I got to Calgary. 

The only bad thing was I had to sell the 911 in Calgary to settle a divorce from former spouse. Bah, waste of a good car. 

[No H2O]

On the side note, I grew up very close to this road.

I've seen that road featured in my German motorcycle magazines a few times. Where exactly in Romania is it?

[carcrazy]

On the side note, I grew up very close to this road.

I've seen that road featured in my German motorcycle magazines a few times. Where exactly in Romania is it?

The road links Muntenia and Transylvania (two of the main regions of the country) over the Carpathian Mountains. On the South side is Arges County (where I'm from) and on the North side is Sibiu County (BTW: it used to have a large German population).

[Careener]

A few more pics..

[No H2O]

The road links Muntenia and Transylvania (two of the main regions of the country) over the Carpathian Mountains. On the South side is Arges County (where I'm from) and on the North side is Sibiu County.

Is it anywhere near here...
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=brezoi&sll=45.348767,24.23172&sspn=0.250935,0.617294&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Brezoi,+Vilcea,+Romania&ll=45.36469,24.235153&spn=0.250864,0.617294&t=h&z=11&iwloc=A

[carcrazy]

The road links Muntenia and Transylvania (two of the main regions of the country) over the Carpathian Mountains. On the South side is Arges County (where I'm from) and on the North side is Sibiu County.

Is it anywhere near here...
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=brezoi&sll=45.348767,24.23172&sspn=0.250935,0.617294&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Brezoi,+Vilcea,+Romania&ll=45.36469,24.235153&spn=0.250864,0.617294&t=h&z=11&iwloc=A

Very close. Perhaps 2-3 hours drive to the beginning of the road (no highway). One day trip should take you from Brezoi through Transfagarasan and back. I would suggest to make it two days and perhaps spend the night in Sibiu and come back the next day.
See where it says "Corbeni" (a bit East from Brezoi)? This is where the road starts on the South side (You would pass my hometown to get there and if you are into monasteries/medieval architecture plan to make a stop to visit one of the most beautiful monasteries in Europe and perhaps the world). Corbeni is the second last village before you enter the mountains. If you noticed the dam in Clarkson's show, it's 15 minutes or so from Corbeni. Even the  road from Corbeni to the top of the dam is very spectacular. The road continues on around the lake you see on the map. It's a nice drive with thousands of turns (the road looks like it is in bad shape these days though). Once you reach the north side of the lake you will continue on and reach the section you see in Clarkson's show. At the top of the mountain is a 1 km tunnel and then you start your descent on the North side which is also very spectacular. You'll have over 100 km of spectacular mountain roads if you do the whole loop.
Make sure you go there in the summer (July-August) because otherwise the road may be closed due to snow and avalanches.

[johngenx]

Flogged my Mercedes 190E 2.3-16V across (S to N) Montana when there were no speed limits.  Howling tires at 220km/h, legally, in North America?  Oh, baby.

Drove my Porsche 911 turbo along the Olympic Peninsula and down the coast of the US to northern California and back.  Not a fast drive (like in Montana) but incredibly satisfying.  Kept the AC off, the sunroof open, and loved every moment.

Rode my highly modified Honda CB-X from Haines Junction, Yukon, to Beaver Creek at the border to Alaska, along Kluane Lake.  One the finest roads in the world, and pretty much a complete secret.  Bursts of 250km/h to super tight first gear hair pins.

Various other trips through the Yukon and Alaska.

A number of track days with the PCA, flogging my 911 or Mercedes 16V.

The ten minutes it took to drive my daughter home from the hospital on July 10, 1999, in my Mercedes C230.

[vdk]

Cabot Trail, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. 140km!

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Cabot+Trail&daddr=46.630579,-61.013947&hl=en&geocode=FQIwxgIdGCZm_A%3B&mra=mi&mrsp=1,0&sz=10&sll=46.623034,-60.801086&sspn=0.40179,0.904999&ie=UTF8&ll=46.751153,-60.596466&spn=0.400839,0.904999&t=h&z=10


Breathtaking!

[sailor723]

Late 70's driving home to NB from Toronto via the US in a 74 TR6. It was October and the  mountains of New Hampshire and western Maine were breathtaking.

[inco]

Two 'events' stick out in my mind as the most fun activities that I recall - Gary Magwood racing school at Mosport and a rally that took us through Hockley Valley.

The Magwood school had us tearing around the track, with an escort at first so we didn't self destruct, or maybe they were just worried about their cars. The cars were Formula Ford and a step up from the Formula Vee class. That was so much fun flogging it down the back straight at 160 mph. Graduation day gave us a little race that somehow I managed to win. My wife and the kids were there - they loved it, the wife, not so much. Sigh.

I also used to rally and was sponsored in part by a Volvo dealer in Toronto. One of the events had us going through the Hockley at night. Fantastic all the way and scary with all of the twists and turns. I had a buddy who had a new Cooper S and he was ahead of us until.....he took one corner just a little too fast and rolled it. We went by with him standing by the road waving at us and his car sitting on it's roof. I think in that event we came second or third.

[Turbo Bob]

The ten minutes it took to drive my daughter home from the hospital on July 10, 1999, in my Mercedes C230.

I desperately wanted to bring Elliot home in the Exige, unfortunately I had to bring his mother home too.