Top Gear - Best Driving Roads
 

I was going through my DVR and happened upon a new episode of Top Gear. The hosts took a Porsche GT3 RS, Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera and an Aston Martin Vantage N24; in search of the best driving roads in Europe.

This was a great episode. Aside from two breaks to detail a Monster Golf GTI with 640+ HP (short wheel base and too much HP = crappy handling car) and Helen Mirren... the whole episode was scene after scene of them driving the best roads in the Alps, northern Italy.

They drove through the following:

"Col De Turini

32 km rally stage starting from Sospel to La Bollène. It is the highest point in the stage standing at 1607 metres. This stretch of road is one of the most difficult and dangerous but also exciting stages in the WRC.

San Bernardino Pass

High mountain pass at an elevation of 2065 meters in the Swiss Alps connecting the towns of Hinterrhein and Misox.

Davos to Stelvio via Bormio

At 2757 meters it is the second highest paved mountain road in the alps. Regarded by the motorists as one of the most challenging roads in the world, it has 60 hairpins with 48 of them on the northern / eastern ramp. With the roads narrower on the northern side and the hairpins ridiculously tight, this is the toughest part. Roads are very steep on this side of the pass and the ascent is even more tougher with almost zero visibility to oncoming vehicles."

The only experience I had in Europe was driving along the Almalfi Coast of Italy in a rented Fiat.... beautiful roads along the coastline but all the traffic including the suicidal bus drivers made the experience memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Sooo.... what are some of the best driving roads you have been on? I have moved to the Chicago area just recently and I cannot find a single stretch of blacktop that is remotely exciting to drive.

I guess it is the crappy weather but I cannot help but daydream about taking the Porsche out for a long drive. :(

I watched that this evening. I love that show! Did you see the one where they made limos? That's one of my favorites, next to the one where they strapped a Robin to a rocket.
If I ever have enough cash and nothing better to do, I am going to fly to Stuttgart, buy a Porsche, and then drive it one all those roads. :cheers:

I just watched it too.. Made me wanna move home to where the nice roads are. But the US is not that bad after all :cheers:

Here is for all of you that need to watch it:

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Those guys are hacks - Reality TV meets the Horseless Carriage.

I was raised in Europe - They missed quite a few.

Hacks?
 

[QUOTE=Lil bastard]Those guys are hacks - Reality TV meets the Horseless Carriage.

I can think of so many other shows that are so much worse. I do not think of these guys as serious motorsports journalists. They are for entertainment. They are Hilarious. I like the mix of mostly serious evaluations of new sports cars and the stupid but really funny missions that they take on. Playing soccer with subcompacts, building limosines from sedans and trying to cross the English Channel in a truck.... pretty entertaining. Without them, I would have never seen a Bugatti Veyron hit 250+ MPH.

I was raised in Europe - They missed quite a few.[/QUOTE]

They were bound to miss quite a few. It was just a one hour show. You are lucky though. There were some beautiful roads and scenery in France and Italy when I was there many years ago. Just watching this show made me wish that it was spring already and I could get out there. :( We have just had a dusting of 5 inches of snow tonight in the Chicago area with more snow this week.

The best drive I have had was in a rented Sebring convertible :eek: up the pacific coast from San Francisco when my wife and I were younger and before kids. The car sucked but the beautiful weather, the ocean and miles of twisty roads that were essencially deserted... Ahhhh! what more can you say? :D

What are your favorite roads?

I have to agree, my favorite episode thus far has to be the Robin Shuttle Rocket. For a split second there, I really thought that the Robin would detach from the Booster and fall/glide to earth. The cost of that project must have been fairly stiff. I also liked the episode where they bought some old junkers here in the US and almost got themselved killed with the outrageously funny writing on the sides of their cars. It did not show Americans in a good light but someone should have warned them not to mess with the south and the good ole boys.

But back to the subject... Stuttgart/ Porsche/ Roads of Europe.... +1 :cheers:

I understand your wish for Spring but I actually wished for a little bit of snow.. But now its soon to be summer I suppose over here. Blue Sky and 75-85 until November :cheers:

On a side note, you all should visit Sweden and drive on some of the roads there. Loads of fun and beautiful scenery...

[QUOTE=cbenitah]I just watched it too.. Made me wanna move home to where the nice roads are. But the US is not that bad after all :cheers:

Home? Sweden? I did research when I was in college with a biochemistry professor from Sweden. He is the one who got me hooked on Porsches in the first place. He is a true genius and in his spare time, he restored a 1975 911 to a pristine condition. He raced it in Sweden and took me out to a local racetrack here in the US. I never knew that cars could do some of the things that he was doing with his 911... scared the &@#$ out of me but this is when I got the Porsche bug. :D

You must have nice roads in San Diego? Has to be better selection than Chicago?

@hjkim550,

Well Baskin-Robbins didn't make money selling Ice Cream. They made money selling 31 flavors of Ice Cream - something for everybody. I guess the same aplies here.

I understand how some may find the show funny, enlightening, whatever.

But, what really did it for me was when Jeremy Clarkson trash-talked the Lotus Elise, said the handling was poor and overall the car was junk, comparing it to a Ford Fiesta. Then, a Lotus test driver took it and Jeremy around the test track and bested Jeremy's time by 11 sec. - Shows how little he knows about driving.

Helen Mirren, Michael Gambon, Hugh Grant, Gordon Ramsey??? What can they possibly contribute to a show about cars?

If I wanna go see people driving like fools, all I have to do is take a spin on the expressway.

I realize, everyone's opinion is not the same, but for me I can't watch this show. If I want current info. on new or upcoming cars, I spend my time watching some of the more credible shows.

Come and join me in Slovenia!!!!!!!!!!!

As an Australian (over policed/goverened roards!) living in Europe its a dream to own and be able to exploit the true handling capabilities of our cars.

Roads here are generally amazing...perfect and smooth. Lots of mountain roads. Lots of hairpins, lots of fast open straights.

Where I live is;
1.5 hours from the italian/Austrian alps
30 minutes from beautiful dalmatian coastline roads (from slovenia down into croatia).
Unpoliced highways for fast driving.(can sit on 180-220kph between Ljubljana and Coast for 35 minutes!!) Total distance about 105km.
Only 4 fixed speed cameras in the whole country!!

They spent a fortune of tax payers money developing the road systems over the last 8 years prior to joining EU.

There are many great drives in Italy near where I am but lots of police...and they dont like foreigners speeding(you have to pay fines on the spot).

So if anyone lives near Trieste (italian/Slovene border) let me know and we can go for a drive some day!! :)

Caio.

hjkim550,

Unfortunately there are not a lot of great roads here in Illinois, but here are some suggestions :

http://www.motorcycleroads.us/il.html

Blackjack Road and SR 71 are pretty good ( I have done both on the Harley )

Wisconsin does have some great roads :

http://www.motorcycleroads.us/wi.html

I've done Kettle Moraine Drive on the bike - another great road.

Hope this helps...

Nick

hey, sure there are more credible shows, but TG is VERY entertaining! it's also, incidentally, about the only car show you can get your girl to watch with you. plenty of episodes brought me to the brink of tears from laughter. i love it.

^ I've got to agree. It doesn't have much car news, but it's a fun show. Who doesn't like seeing a subcompact car being launched 2000 feet into the air, or a guy drive half a limo around London. :D

Nick,

Thanks again for your recommendations. It looks like there are not many twisties out here in our neck of the woods. But I will most definitely try out your recommendations.... especially the ones in Wisconsin.

Thanks again,

Hyung

You got me there. Trash talking the Lotus Elise. I think Jeremy is a little too sensitive in his hind quarters. He probably was paying a little too much attention to the stiff suspension rather than the true handling abilities of the Elise.

I know you do not watch the show but if you did, you would know that Jeremy cannot drive very well. He is good at inducing power oversteer with tire shredding drifts but precision driving... he does not do so well. There was this episode where Sabine (Queen of the Nurburgring) spends 2 days trying to get Jeremy to lower his time in a Jaguar. She then tells him that she could do the same time around the Nurburgring in a van and almost does it in a stock Ford Transit van!!!! Now that is entertaining.